Staff report
Woodstock’s varsity girls’ hockey team defeated Hartford’s 5-1 in the Division 2 state championship game on Monday evening, March 7. It was the program’s first championship in its history.
The game was held at Gutterson Fieldhouse, a 4,035-seat hockey arena in Burlington, where the UVM Catamounts men’s and women’s ice hockey teams play — the largest indoor arena in the state.
Hartford entered the championship game as the second seed with only one regular season loss, which came at the hands of Woodstock. Ironically, Woodstock also had only one loss, which came at the hands of Hartford.
Both teams exchanged a goal in the first period. Hartford freshman Emma Bazin scored first with 4:08 left in the period, besting Woodstock goalie Meridian Bremel for the first and last time that night. Woodstock junior Isabel Konijnenberg matched that goal 42 seconds later. The second period was scoreless until just 11.2 seconds left to play, when Konijnenberg got another past Hartford goalie Sydney Stillman to give Woodstock a 2-1 lead to end the period.
Woodstock pulled away in the final period after scoring three more goals — junior Lily Gubbins, and sisters Skylar Haley (senior) and Kassidy Haley (freshmen) were each able to find net.
The first seed Hartford boys varsity hockey team will take on Milton in the Division II championship game on Friday, March 11, which will also be held at UVM’s Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington.