Archive: Sports

All three Ithaca Shooting Stars girls hockey teams competed last weekend in the Winter Classic XVII tournament hosted by the Adirondack Northstars in Glens Falls, NY. In addition to round robin, semi-final, and championship games at every age group, the tournament featured a skills competition.

The 19U Shooting Stars finished in second place after they were defeated in the 19U championship game by the CT Northern Lights, 0-3. They advanced to the semi-final game after going 1-1-1 in the preliminary round.  They shut out the Mohawk Valley Comets 5-0, tied the Perinton Edge 1-1, and fell to the Quakers 2-3.  The semi-final was a rematch with the Quakers but this time Ithaca won 2-0.  Goalies Sarah Eisenhut and Alison Pace shared the shutout against the Comets; Eisenhut stopped 80 shots in the five tournament games.

Emily Eisenhut scored assisted by Katie Long and Colleen Dillon against Perinton. Carrie Wilder scored two goals and one assist vs. the Comets, and Lauren Cole, Krystalyn Yonkin, and Long also scored with assists going to Lauren Herrick, Hannah Golay, Long, Eisenhut and Dillon.  Erin Grainger and Samantha Craig scored in the first matchup with the Quakers, and Cole and Wilder did in the semi-final game with assists by Eisenhut and Long. Although Ithaca was not able to score against the Northern Lights goalie in the championship game, they did out shoot the tournament champions.

The 14U Shooting Stars started the tournament with a 2-3 loss to the Greenwich Wings of CT.  Ismini Ethridge scored assisted by Anna Kirkwood and Anna Kirkwood scored with assist from Rachel Brock.  Caitlyn Whittaker had 27 saves in goal.  Whittaker made 19 saves in a 0-4 loss to the host Adirondack Northstars, and 22 in a 0-3 loss to the  Camillus Cougars.

The 12U Shooting Stars missed advancing to the semi-finals by a small margin. They opened the tournament with a 0-7 loss to the Connecticut Stars; goalie Devin Baylor had 30 saves in the opener as well as 58 in two other round robin games. In a 4-3 win over the Plattsburgh Roadrunners, Paige Johnson scored twice assisted by Madison Gneo.  Maddie Block and Julie Miettunen also scored assisted by Becky Urda and Gneo. In a 2-0 victory over the Barre Blades of VT, Lauren Duthie scored unassisted and Miettunen scored assisted by Johnson.

In the tournament skills competition, four players from each team competed with their individual skills but representing their team and association. Teammates cheered as players faced other individuals from the other 46 teams in five different age groups.  Two Ithaca goalies won their age division: Devin Baylor for 12U and Sarah Eisenhut for 19U.  19U’s Katie Long was the second fastest skater, and Anastasia Lyon was second in the 12U hardest shot event.  14U’s Rachel Block placed third in stick handling category.  Other participants representing Ithaca were 12U’s Samantha Pundt and Paige Johnson; 14U’s Ismini Ethridge, Aiya Taylor, and Caitlyn Whittaker; and 19U’s Samantha Craig and Lauren Cole.

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