AMHERST, N.Y. — The Vermont Shamrocks Under-16 team, including Middlebury Union High School freshman defenseman Carlisle Brush on the ice and MUHS girls’ hockey Coach Matt Brush behind the bench, on Monday won the USA Hockey Girls’ Tier II National Championship. The Vermonters defeated the Baldwin-Riverfalls Black Cats from Wisconsin in the final, 5-0, in Amherst, N.Y.
The Shamrocks compiled a 5-1 record overall in the tournament. They qualified for the playoffs with a 2-1 round-robin record in games played on Thursday and Friday, and then defeated the Bay State Breakers, 3-0, in a Sunday morning quarterfinal, and the previously undefeated Junior Flyers, 5-0, in a Sunday afternoon semifinal.
Carlisle Brush played all six games on defense and did not record a point. She had assisted the last-second game-winning goal in the New England title game that allowed the Shamrocks to qualify for the national tournament.
The Vermont Shamrocks U-19 team did not fare as well, compiling a 1-2 round robin record and failing to qualify for the playoff round. Three Middlebury-area players laced up their skates for the U-19 team — Alexis Bartlett, Abby Gleason and Aleta Mathers — and MUHS boys’ Coach Derek Bartlett helped coach the group.