Email: "Mountaineers skate past Huskies in prep rivalry"
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LAKE PLACID — The National Sports Academy’s girls hockey team didn’t have its best performance of the season Wednesday, but the effort was good enough: The Mountaineers skated to a 3-1 win over cross-town rival Northwood at the Olympic Center.


    NSA controlled much of the contest and held a commanding 43-7 edge in shots on goal, but the Mountaineers weren’t able to enjoy any breathing room until senior Stephanie DeMars sent a  puck into an empty net with 48 seconds remaining to secure the victory.


    Kristen Kilian tallied in the opening period and teammate Allison Beall notched a second-period goal to lift the Mountaineers to a 2-0 lead.  Emilee Hazelden then buried a puck for the Huskies with 4:18 remaining in the third period to cut the Northwood deficit to a single goal.


    DeMars, however, ended the Northwood threat when she scored as time ticked off the clock on a shot from just over the blue line after NSA pulled goalie Paige Sasser.


    “You are always happy with a win against Northwood, but we could have played a lot better,” said NSA coach Bill Ward. “Northwood’s goalie kept them in there. We could have challenged her more. We let Northwood hang around, and then they snuck that goal in there, and all of a sudden, it’s a game again.”


    The Mountaineers grabbed a 1-0 edge with 2:24 remaining in the first period when Kilian tipped a puck past Sasser after collecting a pass from Beall in front of the crease. Then it was Beall’s turn to find the back of the net with 2:56 left in the middle stanza, scoring unassisted when she skated past the Northwood defense and ripped a shot past Huskies netminder Jennifer Hamel, who turned aside 40 shots in the game.


    Down by two goals, Northwood came to life in the final period, and the pressure paid off when Hazelden, a Saranac Lake resident, capped off a 3-on-2 when she wristed a shot past Sasser for the only Huskies’ goal.


    Northwood only combined for two shots on goal during the first two periods, but put five attempts on the net in the final stanza. Sasser made six saves to earn the win in nets for NSA.


    “Getting shots on goal, that’s going to be our Achilles heel this season,” said Northwood coach Andrea Kilbourne-Hill. “Playing NSA, we were a little passive during the first and second periods. NSA is solid, strong and fast, and I don’t think our girls were ready for that pace.


    “In the third period, our girls realized ‘hey, we can skate with this team.’ We only had two shots on goal in the first two periods, and then we finished up with five in the third period. That’s a step in the right direction.”


    With the win, the Mountaineers improved to 13-9-2, while the Huskies dropped to 3-7-1 with the setback. Both teams are now idle until after the Thanksgiving break.

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