Ladies first
Burrillville/BV out for Storm revenge
The puck is set to drop on the girls’ high school hockey tourney, with Mount-Cumberland and Burrillville in action.
BURRILLVILLE – Head coach Cortney Lacey and her Burrillville/Ponaganset/ Bay View Co-op hockey squad don’t need any more motivation than they already have entering their best-of-three R.I. Division I quarterfinal set beginning tonight at 5:30 at Levy Rink.
Last March, the “BPBV Bunch” dropped an emotion-crushing 2-1 overtime verdict to the South County Storm in the state D-I final’s rubber tilt at Brown University’s Meehan Auditorium, thus yielding a title they were so close to grasping.
“That came on a Sunday; we were supposed to have the championship game on that Monday, but there was a storm coming, so the people in charge of the tournament decided we’d play it on Sunday,” Lacey said Wednesday night. “We had won the first game, but then lost big (5-0) on Saturday.
“I thought moving it up a day hurt us because we had to play three games in 48 hours against a really good and fast team,” she added. “We could’ve used more time.”
When asked if payback had been brought up over the past week during workouts, Lacey stated only, “Every once in a while, they bring it up – how close they came to winning. They don’t say it a lot, but I know the kids want revenge. You should’ve seen them in the dressing room after (the final contest); they were heartbroken. I had to give my end-of-the-year speech, and everybody was crying – including me.
“To say our year (2016-17) was great, I’d say that’s an understatement,” she added. “It was unbelievable, incredible, awesome. We went undefeated (in regular-season league play) and made the finals. The way the kids played all year, and going 19-4 overall, it was amazing.”
It could be said the Broncos have already gained a bit of revenge on the Storm this time around, as they have fashioned consecutive 5-0 and 3-1 victories against their upcoming foes after dropping a 4-2 decision back on Jan. 6.
BPBV will go into the set as the No. 4 seed and with a 9-7-0 mark, while South County (7-9-0) claimed the fifth seed.
“I’ve been telling the girls, ‘I know you want payback, but you all need to focus on the moment, and that begins (tonight),” she noted. “We have to take it one game at a time. We know, if we win (the series), we’d play (topranked La Salle/Moses Brown Co-op), which I shouldn’t even say now. That (school) name has been off limits all week.
“The fact we’ve gone 2-1 against them, sure, it gives us a little bit of confidence; we know they’re hurting in the injury department,” she continued. “I believe they’re only going to have 10-11 players, but we know all too well they’re dangerous.
“They’ve got arguably the best player in the state in (North Kingstown senior) Emma Rial. She’s an outstanding defenseman; the way she plays, the way she sees the ice and can plan three or four passes ahead, it’s unbelievable. She’s so smart.
“If the coach (Dave Cannon) tells her, ‘Go the length of the ice and knock it in,’ she’ll do it. She also makes all of the other players on the ice better. We have to know where she is at all times.”
In addition, Lacey indicated goalkeeper Peyton Newman is rock solid, someone “who doesn’t give up a ton of rebounds and makes the opposing offense work, and work. She claimed the defense, though soft in numbers, is healthy in talent.
On the other side, she has complete faith in junior netminder Emily Etheridge, who yielded only 29 goals in 17 games this campaign.
“The big thing we need to do is stay out of the (penalty) box,” she said. “It’s been an issue for us this season, despite the fact we gave up, I’d say, only two or three goals on the PK. We’ve been very good, but when you’re constantly shorthanded, it’s really hard on the rest of the kids who have to be out on the ice.
“The other thing we have to avoid is turning over the puck. That’s been a big-time problem, but there’s a rather simple remedy. All we have to do is pick ours heads up and make more accurate passes.
“When we practiced on Monday and Tuesday, we worked on defensive-zone coverages, and I thought the girls looked good. I know they’re chomping at the bit to get this (set) going. On our side, we need (senior) Caysie Gautreau and (junior) Meg Buxton to show why they were chosen captains and lead by example.
“You know, the kids on the team really look up to them and follow what they do and say. If they’re honed in and ready to play, the team will be, too.”