Natalie Vasileff
The Darien High School Girls Ice Hockey team had to deal with a great challenge in coming face to face with the New Canaan rams for the State Finals on Saturday the ninth. The Darien girls have won States for three consecutive years up until this year after they lost to the New Canaan team with a 3-1 score.
The first period started off slowly and the girls did not have a lot of energy. New Canaan was able to get to the puck a lot faster and the Blue Wave players felt like they were behind. Darien had trouble breaking the puck out and had a hard time moving their feet. The rink was filled with nervousness coming from the girls.
During the second period, the girls were able to get their confidence back and recuperate. The team started to move their feet more and get around New Canaan easily. Darien got more chances in scoring a goal than they had in the first period and found the same number of high chances in the third period. New Canaan got most of their shots from lucky bounces, so the Darien girls found themselves unfortunate in those situations.
Darien played with a lot more heart and courage in the second and third periods and the team was more aggressive.
The Darien Girls Ice Hockey players race for the puck at the State Finals. Courtesy of Dave Stewart.
Although the team had great intensity, they realized that because of the slow start they were a period late finding the confidence to be as aggressive in the later periods - it could have been what cost the girls the game.
“Although this season had a bittersweet note, we played our last game collectively as team together. We played for each other,” junior Caitlin Chan said. “We now know what we’re we need to do next season in order to come out bigger, better, faster, and stronger than ever before.”
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