It was a fitting end to the USA Hockey Girls Under-18 Select Player Development Camp in Biddeford, Maine on Friday as both the championship and third-place games would come down to the wire.
In the end it would be Team Blue capturing the title as they held on for a 4-3 win over Team Red in the championship. In the third-place showdown, Team Gold and Team White would go to a shootout after ending regulation in a 1-1 deadlock and the Gold squad secured the victory.
Team Blue 4, Team Red 3 — It would be all Team Blue in the opening two periods on Friday as Madison Mashuga (Andover, Minn.) gave her squad a 1-0 lead 12:04 into the first. Bailey Burton (Bloominton, Minn.) and Addi Scribner (Overland Park, Kansas) provided the assists on the score.
Team Red’s Kiara Zanon (Fairport, N.Y.) would tie things up with a goal off assists from Skylar Irving (Kingston, Mass.) and Jessica Schryver (Ansonia, Conn.) three minutes later, but Abbey Murphy (Evergreen Park, Ill.) responded with a goal for the Blue squad just 23 seconds later to make it 2-1.
The second period would be where Team Blue sealed their victory as Brooke Bink (Escanaba, Minn.) and Katie Pyne (Cohasset, Mass.) both scored goals to put them out in front 4-1 heading into the third.
Team Red tried to battle their way back — and they almost got the job done — as Kaitlyn O’Donohoe (Downington, Penn.) and Schryver scored in the third period to cut the lead to 4-3. Unfortunately for the Red club, that would be as close as they would get as Team Blue left the ice with the win.
Team Blue would get assists from Pyne, Bink and Abigail DeLaRosa (Hugo, Minn.) in the win. Hannah Hogenson (Anchorage, Alaska) made 14 saves in the net for the champions.
Sydney Breza (Faribault, Minn.) and Kiara Zanon (Fairport, N.Y.) provided assists for Team Red, which got 12 saves from Natalie Ferenc (Orchard Lake, MI) and seven from Makayla Pahl (Rochester, Minn.).
Team Gold 2, Team White 1 (SO) — Makenna Webster (St. Louis, Mo.) was the only player to beat the tough goalies in the shootout as Team Gold secured the victory in the third-place showdown.
All the scoring in regulation would come in the first period as Sydney Shearen (Hugo, Minn.) gave Team Gold the 1-0 lead just 5:15 into the contest. Makenzie Bachelor (Shakopee, Minn.) recorded the assist for the Gold squad.
Team White responded when Georgia Kraus (West Hartford, Conn.) scored 14:13 into the period to tie the score at 1. Madelyn Skelton (Isanti, Minn.) and Lily Delianedis (Edina, Minn.) had the assists on the play.
Reagan Carey, who is the director of women’s hockey for USA Hockey, was impressed with the players’ performance the entire week — especially in the final day of competition.
“(It’s gone) really well. The first games are always where you get the nerves out, and it gets better and better. You see the final games (and the players) are at the top of their game by the end of the week,” said Carey.