The unprecedented achievements continue to be … unprecedented.
Elmira’s women’s hockey program is now two years old. They have now won two national championships, losing to just one Division III school along the way, including a 27-0-1 record at home.
To repeat last year’s recap — that’s just not supposed to happen.
But, it did. Again.
They reached their latest achievement by defeating Manhattanville, 5-1, in the national championship final, in a wide open end-to-end skating affair that left the crowd of 2,110 thoroughly entertained.
“I knew Manhattanville wasn’t going to come in and play defense because they have too many weapons,” said Elmira coach Jamie Wood. “I knew it was a game where both teams were going to get good scoring chances.”
“We weren’t putting pressure on them,” Manhattanville coach Nicole Kirnan said. “And they weren’t putting pressure on us, so you got a wide open game.” However, the coach didn’t want this style of play: “It wasn’t ideal for us.”
There were plenty of scoring chances before the first team even scored. Elmira’s Shannon Sargent had a point blank shot stopped by Renee Kirnan. Kirnan made a glove save on another dangerous shot. Manhattanville missed an opportunity right on the doorstep during a power play, and then missed two followup chances to stuff it in. Laura Hurd just missed tipping a shot into the Manhattanville net.
Both goaltenders, Edith Racine for Elmira and Renee Kirnan for Manhattanville, were doing everything they could to keep the opposition off the scoreboard.
Finally, somebody broke the ice, and it was Elmira that did so. Hurd fought for the puck in the corner, skated in front of the net, and backhanded it through the five-hole on a delayed penalty.
“Laura was hustling on that play,” Wood said. “And I always say good things happen to people who hustle.”
Hurd nearly scored again when she kept the puck on a two-on-one and pinpointed a shot for the near upper corner. It hit the post.
Manhattanville responded by coming out in the second period applying pressure to the Soaring Eagles’ defense. Nicole Stephens took a shot that Kristin Sahlem followed up, and after two attempts, knocked the rebound in.
“I just crashed the net,” Sahlem explained. “I tried digging at it. The ref didn’t blow the whistle, so I kept digging.”
Elmira responded two and a half minutes later to retake the lead when Charissa Gawant one-timed a shot off a pass from Hurd.
Renee Kirnan stopped an Elmira breakaway and two followup shots to keep the game close.
Surprisingly, shortly afterwards, Kirnan, the goalie, asked Kirnan, the coach and her older sister, to be taken out.
“I thought I was okay,” Renee Kirnan said. “But I just didn’t feel like I had it in me tonight, and I know how well Nicole [Elliott] played last night. I had to not be selfish.”
The goalie change was made, but Elliott couldn’t prevent Elmira from stretching the lead on a power play. Emily Sand fed the puck from behind the net to Shannon Sargent standing on the side near the post. Sargent quickly stuffed it between the pipe and the leg of Elliott.
The score was 3-1, but the quality scoring chances were well in the double digits for both teams.
“Sometimes the puck goes in when you have lots of chances,” Wood said. “Sometimes they don’t.”
The puck went in two more times for Elmira in the third period. Junior captain Michelle Rennie scored her first goal in a long time when an Amy Rudisill shot got behind Elliott who didn’t see where it was.
Lindsay Palmer wrapped up the scoring with a shot to the blocker side after receiving a pass from Rudisill.
Five different players scored for the potent Elmira offense.
“For the whole year, we’ve played with four to five lines,” Hurd said. “Everybody is dependant on everyone.”
“We just got a lot of depth,” Sargent said.
Edith Racine made 38 saves in the win, many of them on odd man rushes.
“I was so happy,” Racine said about the championship. “It’s just a great feeling. You have to enjoy the moment.”
Enjoying the moment they did, but is this a dynasty in the making?
“It’s nice to win it,” Wood said. “I don’t think too much about next year or even last year. We’re going to enjoy this year. It’s just a great year. It’s a lot tougher to do it after you’ve done it once because you have a large bullseye. It just proves that last year was not a fluke.”
Sargent agreed. “Just knowing that everyone is gunning for you, there is no slack,” she said. “You have to go every night.”
Elmira will certainly not sit still, as they will continue to recruit to round out the team for another year.
Rudisill said, “I think we are a stronger than last year.”
If they continue to improve, that doesn’t bode well for the rest of the teams in the country. Three in a row in their first three years?
No way. After all, this is just not supposed to happen.
