skip navigation

Steel City 14U Girls Display Teamwork on Way to Nationals

By Greg Bates - Special to USAHockey.com, 03/23/16, 2:30PM MDT

Share

Pittsburgh team uses all its weapons to advance

With its knack for winning close games, it’s probably safe to say the Steel City Selects 14U girls hockey team has a ton of grit.

The team pulled off three one-goal victories in the Mid-American District Tier II Tournament in Columbus, Ohio, to punch its ticket to the Toyota-USA Hockey National Championships.

“They were determined and they knew what they wanted,” Steel City Selects coach Bill Wilbert said. “They wanted to make sure they didn’t have a repeat of last year. They were very focused on what they wanted to do. I kind of told them, ‘All I’m asking is you give me your best game today.’ And that’s what they did. No one gave me less than 100 percent. I was real proud of them.”

Last year at the district tournament, Steel City Selects lost in overtime to the Gilmore Gladiators. It was a loss that stung for an entire year. With a chip on their shoulder, Steel City Selects had a showdown with Gilmore in the first round on Friday, March 11.

“This year our girls were really determined to try to make that the opposite and try to move on, and they knew that was going to be a big, challenging game,” Wilbert said. “It was the first game and we fought through it.”

About 10 players from last year’s Steel City team fell in the heartbreaker to the Gladiators. Steel City wanted a rematch and scored a 2-1 win.

The next day, Steel City (22-5-2) fell behind 3-1 to the Cincinnati Lady SabreHawks. Steel City then tallied a power play goal and another goal to tie it. In the third, Steel City scored again and held on for a 4-3 victory.

In the title game, Steel City’s Allisyn Arotin got a breakaway early in the first period. She was getting pulled down from behind but was able to tuck the puck past the Erie Lady Lions’ goalie. That proved to be the game winner. Steel City’s defense pitched the shutout to win the championship.

“Nothing was easy,” Wilbert said. “You wouldn’t expect it to be either.”

Steel City has relied on a balanced offense and strong defense all season.

“We’ve had some games that have been high scoring, but predominantly they been pretty close, one-, two-, three-goal games all year,” Wilbert said. “We focus a lot on fundamentals and sound hockey. Aggressive forechecking, but not overaggressive. We’ve really worked on the fundamentals all year.”

The team generally spreads around its goals. Isabella Hayes is Steel City’s top scorer. Wilbert noted she didn’t score in her team’s big victory over Gilmore, it was two other players who stepped up.

“It seems like they rotate around,” Wilbert said. “My three centers probably have for the most part the most goals.”

Steel City has received strong goaltending all season and relies on just one goalie, Madison Barker.

“That always scares me a little bit because there’s always a possibility of something happening,” Wilbert said. “We have a defenseman that’s kind of an emergency backup for us, but our goaltender is solid.”

Making it to nationals is a whole new experience for the 14U team. Despite being a newcomer to the big stage, Wilbert has set his goals high for the team.

“We are obviously going in not just to make a showing, but I know there’s a lot to learn and the experience there is going to be a lot different than probably what we’ve ever seen,” Wilbert said. “We’re hoping to get as far as we can.”

To play its best during nationals, Wilbert stressed his girls need to be focused on the ice.

“We need to stay focused on our game and not make the mistakes,” Wilbert said. “Typically, the goals we have given up are just because of breakdowns or mistakes or things just outside of what we have in our game plan. I think if we can minimize those, we can have a good shot to get fairly far.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.


Nationals News

Popular Articles & Features

Eleven different cities in ten states will crown champions nationwide

Carter and Maddux Charles each scored in the championship game to defeat Brookings Rangers.

Shattuck defended its Prep title with a 3-1 win over the Thunderbirds.