Madeline Hubbard ’19 | Sports Editor
This past weekend, Smith College ice hockey had a packed weekend with two competitions: the first doubleheader weekend of the season and the team’s second and third contest. The team faced off against Mount Holyoke’s club team Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at the Fitzpatrick Arena. In the past, Smith has had a strong game against Mount Holyoke and has won every game against their program for the past five years. This year’s matchup was no different. The starting line included goalie Anna Freund ’20, senior captain Raegan Stokes at center and wings, Shaia Bierman-Cow ’20 and Florence Zhang ’20, along with the defensive pair Eleanor Donaher ’20 and Elizabeth Muirhead ’20. The second line was sophomore captain Kate Ginder with Olivia Sheets ’22 and Sophia Foster ’20 and defensemen Rebecca Schaffer ’19 and Natalie Schindler ’19. The third line of the game included Meghan Johnson ’19 and Jocelin (Jojo) Ong ’22 on wing with Madeline Hubbard ’19 centering and Hannah Vogel ’21 and Sophie Guthrie ’20 on defense.
The team came out strong with a goal from the third line off a breakout from the neutral zone and a cross-ice pass to Meghan Johnson ’19 to one-time it in with four minutes elapsed in the first period. The Smith team went on to dominate the first period with goals from center and captain Kate Ginder and junior defenseman Elizabeth Muirhead. The second period, two minutes in, Shaia Bierman-Chow slipped one past the Mount Holyoke goalie. The next goal was scored later in the period, when that line went out again, by Raegan Stokes. Defenseman Sophie Guthrie also took one in and scored that period. The next goal, with 58 seconds left in the period, came off of a set up by Jocelin (Jojo) Ong from a battle in the corner with a quick one-time top net by Madeline Hubbard. Raegan stokes brought the score to an even 8-0 off of a face-off in the zone with 45 seconds left in play.
In the third period, Mount Holyoke came out aggressive and hungry. Olivia Sheets was able to counteract that energy with a goal minutes into the third. Mount Holyoke’s Emily Gitlin scored off an assist from her teammate Sophie Brooks-Randall just a minute after. Both teams managed to skate and hold off any more goals for the remainder of the 17-minute period. The Smith team left the ice tired but ready to face some fierce competition in the Norwich game at home the next day.
The Norwich game began at noon at Smith’s home rink, Lossone rink at Williston School in Easthampton. The first line included Eleanor Donaher at center and Meghan Johnson and Kate Ginder as the wings. The second line was comprised of Raegan Stokes at center and Hannah Vogel and Madeline Hubbard on wing. The defensive pairings were Elizabeth Muirhead with Rebecca Schaffer and then Sophie Guthrie and Natalie Schindler. The team played a hard first period, holding Norwich to a 0-0 period. The team had a 1-1 record with the team last year, beating Norwich 3-2 away in December and then losing 8-3 at home in January.
In the second period, Norwich turned up the heat, and the team had some breakdowns while in the defensive end. The Smith team also struggled to get some rebounds off at cage and struggled to possess in the offensive zone. Norwich scored four times throughout the period, sneaking the last goal past with two seconds left on the clock. Smith came out ready to fight back for the third after the second-period lull. Two Norwich players took out two Smith players with illegal hits and were sent to the penalty box, giving Smith a 5-3 advantage. Kate Ginder drove the net to assist Eleanor Donaher’s goal to take advantage of the numbers up situation. The team kept fighting hard, Cece Gianmo ’21 in goal not giving up anything until the last two minutes in the game. The Norwich team had a 3-1 breakaway and netted one last goal to make the final score 5-1 Norwich.
Commenting on the weekend’s games, captain Raegan Stokes said, “I think we learned a lot from our games this weekend. There’s a lot to learn from losses and wins, and I’m excited to tackle some things in practice. But most importantly, I think we all had a lot of fun on the ice, and that’s really what it’s all about!” The Smith team is still early in their season and hoping to work hard at practice and bounce back from this loss next weekend. The hockey team will face off against Norwich again away this coming Sunday. This will be their last game before the holiday break, but they will be back in January to tear it up on the ice.
