Last year, the Armstrong Arrows girls’ hockey team got a taste of what districts are all about. The team came up just one win shy of qualifying for the national championships in its first season competing in Tier II 19U.

This year, the Arrows weren’t messing around. Armstrong finished 3-0 over the weekend at the Mid-American District tournament in its backyard of Kittanning, Pa., and advanced to the Toyota-USA Hockey National Championships, which are March 26-30 in Lansing, Mich.

“It’s extremely exciting,” Arrows assistant coach/team manager Homer Foster said. “We were hoping for the best, but we fell short at the end of the year last year. This year, the girls did a great job and we were able to get through to nationals.”

Foster has witnessed much progress from his girls over the past year.

“I think this year the girls really came out and they were really focused working as a team and much better as a team,” Foster said. “Even though we’ve had our ups and downs throughout the season, the girls did a great job and kept working.”

Foster felt like the team had a great shot at heading to nationals this year because they have played so well.

“We knew that we were capable of it, but we never wanted to assume that we would be there,” Foster said. “We knew that it’s pretty special to get there and it doesn’t happen easily. We felt like we had a good opportunity to do so. I would definitely say that we were not overconfident. We just tried to our best, that’s all.”

There are 11 girls on this year’s team who competed last year at districts. It was a special moment when they realized they would get a shot to win a national championship.

Armstrong, which is 17-8-3 this season in tournament play, advanced to nationals in the most exciting fashion. In a de facto championship game on Sunday, the Arrows trailed the Erie Lady Lions, 3-1. The Armstrong players didn’t let the deficit rattle them, and the girls came back to tie the game at 3-3. Eventually, the contest went into a shootout.

With Armstrong going first in the five-round shootout, Hannah Oliver scored for the Arrows in the second round. Armstrong goalie Missy Depippo then did her best stonewall impression and stopped every Erie shot to give her team the victory.

The Armstrong bench erupted and mobbed their goalie after the final save.

“We were very emotional,” Foster said. “The girls have worked so hard for a couple years now. To be able to do this for the first time for the program is huge.”

Armstrong downed the Steel City Select 6-0 in the district opener. In the next game, the Arrows beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-1, setting up Sunday’s shootout victory.

The Arrows used defense all weekend to win every game. In their last seven contests against Tier II opponents, the team has surrendered just 10 goals, noted Foster.

“I would definitely say our strengths are defense and goaltending,” Foster said.

Armstrong has used two goalies equally throughout the season. Megan Lydick earned a shutout in her team’s opening-round victory and started the final game between the pipes. Depippo gave up just a single goal while starting the second game and earned the win in the shootout in the last contest.

The Arrows received scoring from a variety of players over the weekend. Foster noted that Hannah Brady and Karrah McLaughlin scored multiple goals, and Oliver, who notched the game-winner in the shootout, tallied a big goal on a penalty shot to get her team going in the first game of the tournament.

Captain Sherine Diffendal also played well and has stepped up all season as a great leader, her coach said.

Now, Armstrong will focus on the national championships. Playing on the big stage will be an adjustment for the Arrows players.

“We’ll be learning as we go,” Foster said. “We obviously know there are going to be some great hockey teams there. We’re just going to do our best to try to focus and play the best hockey we can.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.