It was a stormy night in Hudson, N.H. as the Elite Women’s Summer Hockey League dropped the puck on Week 5. This was a low scoring affair as Team Blue defeated Team Red by a score of 3-0 as they have now won two games in a row for the first time this season.
Team Blue goaltenders Kassidy Sauve and Dana DeMartino combined to record the second shutout in league history as it was a role reversal from Week 2 when Team Red got the shutout. Sauve and DeMartino stood on their heads stopping the high flying Team Red offence at every turn.
The first goal of the game came early as Maureen Murphy opened the scoring just 18 seconds in the first half. It was Murphy’s second goal of the season which proved to be the game-winner. Murphy’s goal was the fastest goal in EWSHL history and now has goals in back to back games. It was another weird goal that Murphy scored as the puck snuck past Team Red goaltender Katie Burt. Murphy was not done, her legs were flying all game long as she was able to sneak behind Team Red’s defence not once but twice, but only the post and crossbar stood in her way from registering more goals.
Speaking of Katie Burt. She played an excellent game for Team Red like she has done all season. She was the reason Team Red was only down 1-0 in the first half. After a stellar first couple of weeks, the only thing to stop Katie Burt is Katie Burt herself. She has given up two flukey goals in back to back weeks and this time it cost her team the game. But after that Burt was lights out for Team Red.
At the other end, Kassidy Sauve made her debut for Team Blue. Man what a game she had. Sauve was able to keep Alex Carpenter off the board that is something no goalie has done this season. Not to mention she stopped the high flying Frechette sisters. Sauve’s biggest save came late in the first half when she stopped Carpenter with only seconds left. This turned out to be a huge turning point.
Just like in the first half, Team Blue opened the second half with a goal. This time five minutes in a goal a power-play goal by Erin Kickham. Kickham was named the player of the game as she had a big hand in Team Blue’s second consecutive win. Emily Field, who registered two points on the night, iced the game with an empty-net goal tying her with Alex Carpenter for the lead league in goals with four. She also picked up an assist on Murphy’s game-winner, which gives her six points on the season. Field and Carpenter are tied atop the leaderboard for most points.
The story of the second half was the goaltending. Dana DeMartino switched teams this week and played for Team Blue and Jessica Strack played for Team Red. Both goalies were outstanding. Strack only surrounded the one goal. DeMartino also held Carpenter in check. One thing that was noticeable was that Team Red was missing on scoring chances they connected on in the prior weeks. Give credit to the goaltending of Team Blue, to make them try for a tougher shot.
With the victory, Team Blue goes to 3-2-0, while Team Red drops to a record of 2-2-1.
Join us next week at 6:30 pm for Week 6 of the EWSHL.
Box Score:
1st Half:
Team Blue – M. Murphy (2) from E. Field (0:18
2nd Half:
Team Blue – E. Kickham (3) from M. Turner (5:12, PPG)
Team Blue – E. Field (4) from M. Keller (24:19, ENG)
W – K. Sauve (1-0-0)
L – K. Burt (2-1-1)
