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Blue Bombers girls fall just short against defending champs

Lake Placid junior Allie Chamberlain skates toward the Lady Islanders’ goal during the second period of Friday’s game at the Olympic Center. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

LAKE PLACID — With less than a minute left, the Lake Placid girls hockey team pulled its goalie in an effort to tie the game, but came up short against the defending state champion Lady Islanders and had to settle for a 5-4 loss.

The Lady Islanders are a joint team made up of players from the Alexandria Bay and Thousand Islands school districts.

After a flurry of shots on the Lake Placid goal which were deflected by freshman Brooke Paries, senior Kyleigh Prance scored the go-ahead goal for the Islanders with just over four minutes left in the third period. With Paries out of the net for the last 53 seconds of the game, the Blue Bombers attempted to tie it up, but couldn’t find the back of the net, as the Lady Islanders walked away with the win.

Lake Placid put a lot of pressure on eighth-grade goalie Jenna Christopher early in the game, but the Islanders were the first on the scoreboard when Annika Balk snuck a slap shot past Paries. But Blue Bomber Tess Stanton answered that with her first goal of the night about 30 seconds later. Stanton had a strong showing on defense as well for the 0-3-1 Lake Placid team.

“They are a really good team,” Stanton said after the game. “So we just wanted to work really hard and I think the lines worked really well for us.

Lake Placid sophomore Taylor Hackett squares up on Lady Islander Taylor Hudon during Friday night’s loss at the USA Rink in the Olympic Center. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

“I think this was our best game we’ve played. We talked a lot, we worked a lot and it was really good.”

Lake Placid’s Taylor Hackett worked a fast break later in the first period, but Christopher smothered the attempt. Junior Blue Bomber Faith Fell was strong on both sides of the puck throughout the game, and was a big factor in the middle of the ice.

Going into the second, the Lady Islanders upped the pressure on Paries, and after a flurry of shots, eighth-grader Elly Gamble found the back of the net to put the Islanders up 2-1 just over five minutes into the second.

With two-and-a-half minutes left in the second, Lake Placid had a good scramble in front of the Islanders net, but couldn’t put the puck away. Eighth-grader Lydia Bullock scored on a rebound for the Bombers with 21 seconds left in the period after Christopher stopped a slap shot with her face mask and couldn’t get control of the puck. Bullock’s goal put the score at 3-2 going into the final period.

Bullock again showed strength on the ice, starting off the third period with a charge on goal, but Christopher again came up big for the Lady Islanders.

The puck slides past Lake Placid freshman goalie Brooke Paries as teammate Lea O’Brien defends Friday night against the Lady Islanders. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

A little over two minutes into the third, Balk got the puck past Paries on an assist from Renzi Youngs to make the score 4-2. Thousand Islands freshman Lydia Cantwell put a strong challenge on the goal, but Paries fended her off. Stanton then scored her second goal of the evening on a joint assist from Karli Casler and Bullock to bring the Bombers back within one with a little over 11 minutes left in the game.

Paries was helped in the back by eighth-grader Lea O’Brien, who played solid defense over the course of the game, while junior Allie Chamberlain came up with a few key breakups to disrupt the Islanders’ offense.

Lake Placid tied it up with about seven minutes left in the third, but Prance scored the winning goal on a messy scramble in front of the Bombers’ net to give the Lady Islanders the non-conference win.

“It was a close game, and Lake Placid came out hard,” Islanders coach Brian Hudon said. “We had a few breakdowns I’d like to see the team improve on. Our shot percentage I didn’t think was that great. They always seem to want to wait and make that extra pass. But it comes with experience. We’re kind of a younger-side team this year, so we’ll keep working hard and keep battling away.”

Lake Placid coach Mike Bringley was pleased with his team’s effort in the loss.

Lake Placid senior Kevin Geesler skates up the ice Friday against Fayetteville-Manlius in the Blue Bombers’ first win of the season. Freshmen Tyler Hinckley and Hunter Wilmont each recorded their first career varsity goals in the game, according to a Twitter post. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

“Going in, I just hoped that they would be able to compete, not knowing how (Alexandria Bay) was and knowing that they’re the defending state champs, but I was impressed with how our girls played,” Bringley said.

“You’re always nervous, especially going up against a state champ and you’re sitting on winless record, you’re nervous that you could take a pummeling in your own rink. But they showed a lot of guts. They weren’t intimidated, that was for sure.

“I thought we outplayed them in the third but just came up short.”

Bringley said pulling Paries at the end of the game was a calculated move and was just disappointed that it didn’t work out.

“You gotta do something when it’s 5-4 with 50 seconds left. You’re gonna lose by one goal or lose by two goals or you’re going to tie it up. So it’s worth a shot.

“I think our girls are learning that they can compete with anybody. If they play their game, I think there’s nobody that we can’t play with. They’re not the kind of team that backs down from a challenge.”

Lake Placid takes on Beekmantown Monday night at home.

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