Ice Pack Thaws the Freeze

Jan 20, 2012 -

The Ice Pack "thawed" the always formidable Freeze Friday night in a thrilling 1 - 0 win. Sub goalie Melissa Conner was a standout as she toe saved, stick saved and stoned several quality scoring chances. Meanwhile, the Pack defense swept away rebounds, poke checked and interrupted passing lanes in tandem with the forwards who did an admirable job disrupting the excellent down low offensive cycle of the Freeze. The sixth man - staunch, loyal Pack fans - lined the bleachers braving the "freezing" conditions.

The game seesawed back and forth through two and a half periods with both teams getting great scoring chances only to be turned away by stellar goaltending. At one point there was grave concern as Sam Henderson was down for the count after receiving a hit to the "baby maker". But to the relief of all, she was able to skate to the bench on her own power and figure prominently in the eventual win. With about 3 minutes left in the 3rd period, powerhouse center Mary Bonnici and Sweet Melissa skated the puck deep into the Freeze zone. Mary let go a shot towards the goal - time moved in slow motion as the entire Pack watched the puck hit the goaltender - bounce up her left shoulder - and over to trickle into the net. With 2:41 left, the Freeze went into an offensive frenzy and the Pack went into a staunch defensive mode.

As time wound down, the Freeze pulled their goalie and marched into the offensive zone. Several well timed clearings of the zone forced them to retreat back over the blue line. The best chance for the Freeze to tie it up came on a drive to the net by Freeze player Stephanie Balch, #4. She drove in close to the goal and shot point blank on Conner. Conner made the save and lost her stick. However, not to be outdone, the stick made the second save as Stephanie attempted to bang in the rebound but hit the stick shaft instead. With 10 seconds left, the Pack cleared the zone, forcing the Freeze back over the blue line. They sent the puck back in directly to Sam. Rather than blindly send the puck back up the boards, Sam held on the the puck, skating backwards and behind the net. By the time the Freeze realized she was not going to relinquish the puck it was too late - the buzzer had sounded and the Pack had skated to one of their best wins ever.