Cougars take two Mid-Atlantic Coast banners back to the Barn
07/10/2013 07:57AM ● By AclStanding: Coach Cullen, Katie Anderson, Hannah Close, Maddie McDonough, Kaelen Speck, Anna Nolan, Alyssa Finaly, Taylor Stenz, Rosy Sieglaff, coach Dreisbach, coach Loftus. Kneeling: Annie McDonough, Jordan Hower, Maddison Miles. Front row: Mia Imagliazzo, Taylor Cullen, Morgan Cullen, Caroline Keller, Ada Plumb.
The Chester County Skating Club’s 12U Girls Ice Hockey team, with an undefeated season, has taken both the Mid-Atlantic Women’s Hockey Association League and District Titles back to their rink, The Barn.
The 12U Girls who have played together for four years scored more than 140 goals this season. During the Polar Bear Tournament in New England over the holidays, the team played in the Tier 1 division, making it to the finals by tying up the game in the last six seconds of play.
At districts, goalie Morgan Cullen had three shutout games, sweeping a three-game win in a round-robin format. Ada Plumb had two goals and an assist in a 7-0 win over the New Jersey Colonials in the first of the three games, plus a goal and two assists against the Quakers in the final game.
All the scoring in a 3-0 win over the New Jersey Rockets in the second game came on special teams. Center Annie McDonough assisted defenseman Taylor Stenz, who took a slap shot from the point, scoring the first goal. Kaelen Speck scored on a power play assisted by Annie McDonough, and defenseman Anna Nolan assisted Speck on the last goal.
Rosy Sieglaff made sure the offense clinched a victory against the Quakers in the final game, scoring five goals, including the final four in a span of 6:40 of the third period, in an 8-0 victory over the Quakers.
Between League and District playoffs, the team won a 14U Tournament in Warwick, Pa., continuing their success. The club team is made up of 12U girls from Unionville Elementary/Middle School and Upland Country Day School, who started playing together five years ago. Coach Todd Cullen has coached most of the girls on co-ed teams the first years, and later convinced the club to start a 10U Girls team. Last year, coaches Cullen, Loftus and Dreisbach entered the girls in the 12U Tier II division of the MAWHA League, traveling the East Coast to play girls' teams.
Last year, at their first league game in Long Island, they were crushed by the Lady Long Islanders. That night, they strategized and came back the next day to a 2-1 defeat, prompting the Lady Long Islander parents to clap the girls off the ice.
At the 2011-2012 Championship game against the Princeton Tiger Lilies, the Cougars led the game 1-0 until the last five minutes of the third period, when the Tiger Lilies tied it up on a power play. The game went into overtime and an 11-round shootout that attracted a standing-room-only crowd around Rink 2 at Iceline. The Tiger Lilies won, and went on to Dallas, Texas, for the Nationals, while the Cougars headed back to the Barn with silver medals and a banner in their first year in MAWHA.
This year’s Nationals in San Jose, Calif., did not include 12U teams due to a league decision that it was too much pressure for that age group.