A Look at the Varsity Girls NYS Championships
Friday and Saturday, February 8 and 9 the New York State Girls Varsity Ice Hockey Championships will be held at HarborCenter in Buffalo,NY. Game one at 6 p.m. Friday pits Section VI Williamsville against Section X Potsdam and then at 8 p.m. Section III Skaneateles will faceoff against Section VII Plattsburg. The winners of those games will play for the 2019 NYS Championship on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Plattsburgh—making their first appearance in the Championship Series they beat Saranac Lake 3-0 in the Section VI Championships. They are peaking at this point if the season. They had a 9-6-1 season. Leading their scorers are Augusta Kramer with 9 goals and 9 assists; Captain Abby Boule with 7g/7a and Amanda Vaughn with 8g/4 assists. Ava. Julian has been in the nets and has a .9 save percentage and 2.4 GAA. She has made 329 saves in 376 shots.
Potsdam—according to Joe Stark they had a strong year going 16-2 overall. Their scoring lines are a mix of veterans and young players, who have contributed. They see Section 6 as a challenge. Potsdam is led by Eighth grader Kennedy Emerson who has 22 goals and 18 assists for 40 points. She is followed by Erica Sloan with 42 points; Alana McDonald who has 33 points; and Isabel Boyd with 23 points. In goal they have split duties between Senior Coryn Young and Sophomore Taylor Benda. Young has made 132 saves in 155 SOG and Benda, 79 on 91. Potsdam defeated Massena 9-1 for the Section X Championship.
Skaneateles—With a 6-3 win over Clinton, who made it to the Championship tournament last season, the Lakers went 6-3 overall for the season and outscored their opponents 82-19 this season. According to Coach Andy Rozak their goal is to play to their strengths but most importantly, “we want to be the hardest working team every game.” “I think our team has come together the last few weeks and has continued to grow both on and off the ice.”
Senior Megan Teachout has 45 points this season on 29 goals and 16 assists. She also has help from Sophia Burns with 13 goals and 11 assists. In goal is Freshman Evie Sheridan who faced 207 shots on goal and made 199 saves.
Williamsville—Their first-ever appearance in NYS Championship play comes after managing to make it to the WNYGVIH playoffs several times but losing in the Championship. They are coming off a snow-delayed make-up week of playoffs. In order to make it to this weekend they beat last season NYS Champions and WNYGVIH Section VI champions Frontier/Lakeshore/Orchard Park 4-3 in Overtime. That was just Wednesday night, so with one day off before the States it will be interesting to see what they do. Emma Roland has 32 goals and 22 assists this season and leads the league in points. She is backed up by Vanessa Willick with 20 points and Jenna Cavalieri with 16 points, both making a difference for the win Wednesday. In goal Elizabeth Timby has made 176 of 192 shots; followed by Sydney Olschewski with 150 saves on 164 shots. Olschewski was in net for the Championship game.
Potsdam, Skaneateles and Plattsburgh all have experience with the NYS Championship round and this is Williamsville’s first appearance, and only the fifth appearance by a WNYGVIH team.
Williamsville Head Coach Rick Hopkins is the “founder” of the Western New York Girls Varsity Ice Hockey Team.
