Sports

MUHS girls’ hockey leashes bulldogs, 5-1

MUHS SOPHOMORE DEFENDER Ryley Olsen stickhandles through traffic during the Tiger girls’ hockey team’s 5-1 victory over visiting Burr & Burton on Tuesday. The Tiger defense allowed just seven shots on junior goalie Lydia Deppman in the team’s opener.

MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury Union High School girls’ hockey team took charge early on Tuesday in its season opener vs. visiting Burr & Burton on the way to a 5-1 victory.
The Tigers scored twice in the first 5:05 of the opening period and then iced the game with three goals in the second period.
Eighth-grader Bella Gale led the attack with a pair of goals and an assist in her varsity debut, including the opening goal 1:37 after the puck dropped. Juniors Camille Malhotra and Audrey Schnoor also found the net, as did senior Merry Kimble as the Tigers dominated the action. Their official total of 21 shots appeared to be low.
Coach Matt Brush said he believed his team outskated Burr & Burton.
“I thought we had two or three players more than they had, and that showed in the course of the game,” Brush said. “So we overwhelmed them with our speed early in the contest. Some of our speedy players, Merry Kimble, Avery Gale, Ella Tucker, Bella Gale, we have some speed up front, and once they get a step on you it’s really hard to contain them.”
Bella Gale’s goal came on a feed from Tucker, another 8th-grader, into the high slot. Gale’s 15-foot wrister found its way past the Bulldog goalie through traffic into the upper right corner. Avery Gale, a sophomore, picked up the second assist on the play.
Brush was not surprised to see production from the team’s 8th-graders.
“Bella and Ella, when they were 7th-graders, played U-12 with MAHA, and they had a prolific season. I want to say scoring goals was something they did often,” he said. “I would suspect they would have that continued success at the high school level.”
Malhotra made it 2-0 at 5:05, with senior center Taylor Moulton doing the heavy lifting. Moulton broke up a Bulldog play along the boards at center ice and skated into the left-wing circle, with Malhotra on her right on a two-on-one. Moulton led Malhotra with a well timed pass, and Malhotra flicked the puck home from just outside the crease into the upper right corner.
At the other end the Tiger defense of Schnoor, senior Izzy Pistilli, sophomore Ryley Olsen, and freshmen Hana Doria and Nyna Cole allowed just one shot on junior goalie Lydia Deppman in the first, two in the second, and five in the third.
Gale, from Tucker, made it 3-0, at 3:12 of the second before the Bulldogs got on the board two minutes later on Penelope Francomb’s unassisted strike.
The Tigers put the game out of reach later in the period, when Schnoor stepped into the attack and converted a Bella Gale feed at 10:29, and Kimble capped the scoring at 12:10, with an assist from 8th-grader Erin Mulcahy.
The Tigers went into a three-back look in the third period to lock down the 5-1 lead, sending in just two forwards deep to forecheck. 
Brush said he and assistants Duncan Rollason and Erin Robinson are still looking at whether to use a three-forward, two-back formation, or a two-forward three-back look most of the time. They could use both.
“We changed our forecheck in the third period, just to see how we would respond to it, and while I think we were a little more responsible, we lost some of our offensive punch,” Brush said. “So we’ll evaluate what we think is more responsible to play more often. But in general, it’s nice to do two, change it up in the middle of a game if you have to.”
Brush also said he was mostly pleased with the Tigers’ puck movement.
“A couple of our players, specifically Ryley and Audrey, made some really good adjustments and came out of the zone nicely and moved to the right spot,” he said. “In the offensive zone I thought there were times we really clicked, we snapped it around. There were times when we were moving the puck hoping someone was there. And some of that is early-season hiccups. But once some of these girls play together a little longer hopefully those passes find the sticks more often.”

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