The Washington Pride is in a unique position as the only Tier I program in the Southeastern District. So its 14U, 16U and 19U teams are all headed to the Toyota-USA Hockey National Championships after not needing to qualify on the ice.

“We’re not really a Tier I hockey-rich area,” said Kush Sidhu, who is the program director as well as the 19U coach. “From top to bottom, we don’t have the numbers of Tier I players in this area that other parts of the U.S. are accustomed to.”

To prepare for nationals, the Pride teams play competitive, aggressive schedules throughout the year. The girls also take on plenty of boys’ squads.

Based in Rockville, Maryland, the Pride draw players from all around the greater Washington, D.C. area. The program starts working with its players at a young age and works them up through the rankings.

“We have to really work with all the players we have and get them up to speed so they can compete at the Tier I level,” Sidhu said. “But by the time they get to our U19 team, they’re real competitive.”

Generally, the girls come into the program as pretty raw hockey players.

“It’s a long process for us — a really, really long process,” Sidhu said. “Every single kid that we have to work, we can’t really depend on kids coming from other programs or tryouts where there are kids we don’t know about. We pretty much know every kid in this area.”

The 19U team (29-24-7) is coming off winning the Junior Women’s Hockey League championship on March 8. As the No. 8 seed in the tournament, the Pride knocked off three higher seeds en route to the title. The 16U team has a record of 19-27-8 this season, while the 14U squad is 16-23-9.

Sidhu believes his teams will compete strongly at nationals even though they didn’t play in districts.

“I think our U19 team will do well,” Sidhu said. “The other two teams, I think it depends on the draw. ... It will be a challenge for all three of our teams.”

Florida Vipers Making a Name for Themselves

The Florida Vipers program is trying to show hockey fans nationwide that Florida is a state to be reckon with when it comes to the girls game.

The Vipers qualified their 19U and 14U teams for the Toyota-USA Hockey National Championships after a big weekend in the Southeastern District tournament held on March 4-6 at the Panthers Ice Den in Coral Springs, Florida.

“This is my third trip to nationals, so for us it’s just a continuation of what we’ve been doing and trying to build within our program,” Vipers 19U coach Rob Weilert said. “Early on with Florida and girls hockey it was let’s just get there and be participants. Now I think we’re turning the corner and are more serious competitors every time we go out there.”

The Vipers 19U squad opened the four-team district tournament by beating the Montgomery Blue Devils 7-1. The next day, the Vipers outlasted the Reston Raiders 4-3. In the final game of the robin-round format, the Vipers took it to the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes 5-0. Katie Leffler had a huge game for the Vipers with four goals and was on the ice for her team’s fifth tally.

“She has taken her game and herself to a whole other level,” Weilert said. “I think this time a year ago she hasn’t quite hit that maturity level yet. Hockey was fun, but maybe not as serious. This year she’s really taken the girls on her back at times and has been a leader. Her game has really flourished over the last 12 months.”

In the championship game on March 6, the Vipers’ defense came up big again, shutting down Reston for a 2-0 win.

In the last two games of the tournament, the Vipers’ goalies played well. Mackenzie Nicholas shut out the Hurricanes and Megan McRae registered a goose egg in the title match vs. Reston.

“I always tell people, ‘We don’t have a No. 1 and a 2, we have 1 and 1A,’” Weilert said. “We’ve got good goaltending, and the girls feed off that pretty well.”

Weilert, who is in his third year coaching in the Vipers program, likes the balance his team displays offensively and defensively.

“This is the most talented team I’ve had on both sides of the puck,” Weilert said. “Offensively, we’ve got a top six that I think we can put up with anybody. Then you get what would be our third line and they go out there and grind. When we can run three lines for a game that gives us a lot of advantages over some teams.”

Defensively, the Vipers — who are 11-6 vs. girls’ teams this season — have a solid top-four players and are seven deep.

“One thing that’s different for us this year is our depth,” Weilert said. “In previous years, we’ve gone to nationals with 10, 11 or 12 girls, and we’re rolling in with 18 girls and two goalies this year. It gives us the ability to win games either way. If we need to score goals, we can score them. If we’ve got to keep them off the board and commit to defense, we can do that, too.”

14U Vipers Keep their Streak Alive

The Vipers 14U team will be making its fifth-straight trip to nationals.

The previous two years, the team didn’t have any opponents to take on in district play. This year, a four-team field determined which program moved on in Tier II.

“This year, we definitely felt like we earned it,” Vipers 14U coach Josh Hudanish said.

After beating the Montgomery Blue Devils 5-1 in the tournament opener, the Vipers fell 4-0 to the Northern Virginia Ice Dogs.

“The girls didn’t expect that,” Hudanish said. “They had a hard time in the locker room after that loss. A lot of emotions and a lot of yelling. We let it kind of simmer, and we played Carolina and they came out pretty mad. That night we spent an hour and a half watching video of the game. I told them after the game, ‘We didn’t get by anybody specific, it’s not like they had Gretzky out there. We were beating ourselves.’”

With both the Vipers and the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes sitting at 1-1 in the tournament, it was a must-win game for Florida. The Vipers thumped the Hurricanes 8-0.

In a rematch against the Ice Dogs for the championship, the Vipers were looking to avenge their loss. The Vipers trailed 1-0 and tallied the next two goals.

“I think after we scored our first goal, the girls thought they were going to win,” Hudanish said.

The Vipers were up 3-1 and hung on for 4-2 victory.

The team returns to nationals after logging its best showing at nationals in program history last season. The Vipers finished 4-0 in pool play and took momentum into the quarterfinals. Hudanish and his players are hoping to make it at least a step further this season.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.