By Bill Schleper
One year after the tragic death of teammate, Mikayla McCarvel, the Saber Girls’ Hockey team played an inspired 3rd period to top the Eastview Lightning in a come-from-behind 6-3 victory on Thursday night.
The Sabers (7-6 conf., 13-8-1 overall) and Lightning (2-10 conf., 6-13-2 overall) paid tribute to Mikayla, who passed away in a tragic car accident one year ago, with a pre-game round of applause instead of the more traditional “moment of silence”, because of McCarvel’s inspiration to the team. That inspiration was evident tonight!
Eastview (2-20) opened up the scoring at the 6:17 mark of the first period as senior forward Sari Cords punched in the first goal of the game. The Sabers answered just 16 seconds later as senior forward Elisabeth Canny found the back of the net with the assists coming from Sr. Def., Callie Peterson and Sr. Fwd., Hannah Grabianowski.
The Lighting scored a lone goal (Ella Schaefer from Cords and Brielle Clardy) in the 2nd, and then went up 3-1 early in the 3rd period as Schaefer scored again, this time from teammates, Ireland Murphy and Sari Cords (again!). Cords factored in all of the Lightining scoring, as she had a goal and 2 assists, and it looked as though the visiting
Lighting were in control and cruising early on in the 3rd. But that’s when the McCarvel Magic kicked in for the Sabers, as the locals went on a tear - scoring the next 5 goals in a row with under 10 minutes to play in the game!
Hannah Grabianowski took the pass from Carmen Benedict (8th Grade Fwd), and Soph.Def., Morgan Berg, and got things rolling for the Sabers with 9:22 remaining on the clock , pulling the Sabers within a goal, at 3-2. The Sabers popped another one into the net, as Sr. Fwd, Emerson Young scored to tie the game up at 3-3 with the first of Young’s THREE 3rd period goals, as she completed the third period HAT TRICK with all three of her goals coming when the Sabers needed it most! The assists went to Benedict (2nd of the game), with the second assist to 8th-grader, Sage Siebenaler, and the Sabers found themselves on top, 4-3.
With just 1:47 remaining, Canny again found the back of the net - this one a shorthanded goal - for her 2nd of the game. Assist was credited to Sr. Def., Paige Hillman. Hillman had 2 assists on the night.
Then it was, Young once again connecting on a pair of unassisted open-netters to cap off the scoring in the final minute of play to give her the one-period hat trick and seal the deal for the Sabers, as they came away with an impressive and inspiring performance that their teammate, Mikayla McCarvel, would have been oh, so proud of!
Sabers’s Goalie, Brooke Frey, posted a .870 save rate, stopping 20/23 Lightning shots on goal, while playing all 51 minutes.
The Sabers sit in the middle of the pack in the South Suburban Conference, with the season winding it’s way down, but appear to be starting to gel with the playoffs on the horizon. It could get interesting.
The Sabers take on Prior Lake at home this Saturday (1/18) afternoon at 2:00 pm, then host Brainerd during Hockey Day Minnesota Week at ValleyFair! on Thursday, 1/23, and will finish off the regular season at Apple Valley on 1/30.