U-19 Sentinels head back to Nationals
MARQUETTE – If there’s a way that a two-time defending state champions could sneak up on the field, the Marquette Sentinels City Insurance girls have found the plan.
The Under-19 AA hockey team made it three state titles in a row last weekend in Dearborn, needing overtime to defeat the No. 1-ranked team in the state in the championship game.
This all came despite coming into the tourney with a rather modest 10-27-3 record, despite having just 10 skaters and one goalie, and despite averaging less than 1 1/2 goals per game entering the event.
The Sentinels defeated Westland 3-2 in the extra period when at 6:05 in, Shae Blewett snapped off a quick shot that ended the tournament. She had taken a pass from Libbie Doney, who was fed by Ashlyn Steer as Marquette carried the play in OT.
That has catapulted the team to the 12-team USA Hockey U19 Tier II National Championship tournament taking place in Burlington, Vermont, from March 31 to April 4.
Coach Jeff Cornock has set up fundraising on an online GoFundMe.com site titled Mqt19UgirlsAA, and also plans at least one local fundraiser, tentatively scheduled for a Marquette-area establishment within the next week to 10 days.
Cornock said he had a fair amount of confidence entering the state tournament, as Marquette was ranked No. 2 in the state and nationally was closely ranked with Westland.
“We had been on a hot streak in our last 10 games and our ranking based on that actually would put us ahead of Westland,” Cornock said.
The team’s record was so poor because it had played mostly Under-19 AAA teams and equivalent squads from Canada, too, whereas Westland faces many Under-16 AAs on its schedule.
The third straight title might’ve been the toughest for Cornock and his girls after seven players aged out after last year, including Negaunee’s Allison Carlson, who scored 71 goals last season.
Just four players were added to the roster.
“We only had 53 goals going into the tournament, but we had 25 at the states,” Cornock said.
“It’s definitely been a team effort with our scoring.
“It’s been great to see some of the girls step forward and take a leadership role this year.”
Top scorers this year are Shae Blewett with 31 goals and seven assists for 38 points and Libbie Doney with 23-13-36.
“What we do have is maybe the best set of five defenseman in the country for our level,” Cornock said.
That quintet is composed of Sydney Cornock, Vivienne Kallio, Chloe Krause, Kaaren Liston and Alex Paquette.
They’re part of an 11-player group hailing from Marquette, Negaunee, Ishpeming, Munising, Houghton and Gladstone.
Cornock is cautiously confident about the national tourney, too.
“I think we’re at least a quarterfinal team,” he said about making the eight-team knockout round following three days of pool play.
He has reason to feel good about the nationals, as his team lost 2-1 in the national championship game two years ago on a fluky third-period goal, then fell in the semifinals last year after playing a triple-OT quarterfinal game earlier in the same day.
At this year’s state tourney, Marquette opened with a 6-4 win over Westland before dispatching the Grand Rapids Griffins 9-0 and St. Clair Shores 7-2 to earn the No. 1 seed for the championship.
In the finale, Westland got back its top goalie who had been out with a one-game suspension earlier in the event.
Nevertheless in that final, Paquette needed just 56 seconds of Marquette’s first power play to put her team up 1-0, though Westland answered just 59 seconds later to tie it 1-1 after one period. Kallio assisted on Paquette’s goal.
The second period was similar, with Doney scoring unassisted to give the Yoopers a 2-1 lead with about 11 minutes left before Westland retied it just 39 seconds later.
Marquette goalie Hannah Riesland kept the score at 2-2 through regulation, setting up Blewett’s heroics in OT.
Against Westland in the tourney opener, Blewett had two goals and two assists, while Cornock scored twice, Paquette and Paris Wegleitner had one goal each and Doney contributed a three-assist playmaker.
In Game 2, Marquette scored more goals than Grand Rapids had shots as Doney had a hat trick of unassisted goals, Blewett scored twice and Kallio, Cornock, Krause and Kara Salo had one each. Liston also had two assists.
Against St. Clair Shores, Doney and Blewett had hat tricks and Cornock scored a goal and had three assists. Wegleitner had two assists while among those with one assist was Ashlyn Steer.
Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.
U-19 Sentinels head back to Nationals
MARQUETTE – If there’s a way that a two-time defending state champions could sneak up on the field, the Marquette Sentinels City Insurance girls have found the plan.
The Under-19 AA hockey team made it three state titles in a row last weekend in Dearborn, needing overtime to defeat the No. 1-ranked team in the state in the championship game.
This all came despite coming into the tourney with a rather modest 10-27-3 record, despite having just 10 skaters and one goalie, and despite averaging less than 1 1/2 goals per game entering the event.
The Sentinels defeated Westland 3-2 in the extra period when at 6:05 in, Shae Blewett snapped off a quick shot that ended the tournament. She had taken a pass from Libbie Doney, who was fed by Ashlyn Steer as Marquette carried the play in OT.
That has catapulted the team to the 12-team USA Hockey U19 Tier II National Championship tournament taking place in Burlington, Vermont, from March 31 to April 4.
Coach Jeff Cornock has set up fundraising on an online GoFundMe.com site titled Mqt19UgirlsAA, and also plans at least one local fundraiser, tentatively scheduled for a Marquette-area establishment within the next week to 10 days.
Cornock said he had a fair amount of confidence entering the state tournament, as Marquette was ranked No. 2 in the state and nationally was closely ranked with Westland.
“We had been on a hot streak in our last 10 games and our ranking based on that actually would put us ahead of Westland,” Cornock said.
The team’s record was so poor because it had played mostly Under-19 AAA teams and equivalent squads from Canada, too, whereas Westland faces many Under-16 AAs on its schedule.
The third straight title might’ve been the toughest for Cornock and his girls after seven players aged out after last year, including Negaunee’s Allison Carlson, who scored 71 goals last season.
Just four players were added to the roster.
“We only had 53 goals going into the tournament, but we had 25 at the states,” Cornock said.
“It’s definitely been a team effort with our scoring.
“It’s been great to see some of the girls step forward and take a leadership role this year.”
Top scorers this year are Shae Blewett with 31 goals and seven assists for 38 points and Libbie Doney with 23-13-36.
“What we do have is maybe the best set of five defenseman in the country for our level,” Cornock said.
That quintet is composed of Sydney Cornock, Vivienne Kallio, Chloe Krause, Kaaren Liston and Alex Paquette.
They’re part of an 11-player group hailing from Marquette, Negaunee, Ishpeming, Munising, Houghton and Gladstone.
Cornock is cautiously confident about the national tourney, too.
“I think we’re at least a quarterfinal team,” he said about making the eight-team knockout round following three days of pool play.
He has reason to feel good about the nationals, as his team lost 2-1 in the national championship game two years ago on a fluky third-period goal, then fell in the semifinals last year after playing a triple-OT quarterfinal game earlier in the same day.
At this year’s state tourney, Marquette opened with a 6-4 win over Westland before dispatching the Grand Rapids Griffins 9-0 and St. Clair Shores 7-2 to earn the No. 1 seed for the championship.
In the finale, Westland got back its top goalie who had been out with a one-game suspension earlier in the event.
Nevertheless in that final, Paquette needed just 56 seconds of Marquette’s first power play to put her team up 1-0, though Westland answered just 59 seconds later to tie it 1-1 after one period. Kallio assisted on Paquette’s goal.
The second period was similar, with Doney scoring unassisted to give the Yoopers a 2-1 lead with about 11 minutes left before Westland retied it just 39 seconds later.
Marquette goalie Hannah Riesland kept the score at 2-2 through regulation, setting up Blewett’s heroics in OT.
Against Westland in the tourney opener, Blewett had two goals and two assists, while Cornock scored twice, Paquette and Paris Wegleitner had one goal each and Doney contributed a three-assist playmaker.
In Game 2, Marquette scored more goals than Grand Rapids had shots as Doney had a hat trick of unassisted goals, Blewett scored twice and Kallio, Cornock, Krause and Kara Salo had one each. Liston also had two assists.
Against St. Clair Shores, Doney and Blewett had hat tricks and Cornock scored a goal and had three assists. Wegleitner had two assists while among those with one assist was Ashlyn Steer.
Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.