An end-of-season bar-b-que was held at Coach Addison’s home on May 16th which was attended by the players and the coaching staff. In addition to the food, drink and fun, the Coaches handed out the team awards as voted by the players.
Goaltender Brie Scolarao and center/assistant captain Brittney Sheldon were both voted the team’s Most Valuable Player. This award is given to the player(s) who made the greatest contribution towards the success of the team.
For the third year in a row, the Best Defensive Player award went to Bethany Allik. This award recognizes the player that excels in the defensive aspects of the game and has contributed substantially to the success of the team’s defense and overall success.
The Most Improved Player award goes to the player who has improved most dramatically throughout the season due to hard work, dedication and perseverance. This award went to rookie Alyssa Welsh.
The Unsung Hero award is designed to recognize the player who, while representing the program proudly, does so in an unassuming manner. This player exemplifies the qualities of dedication, support and respect of her teammates with untiring optimism. This year’s award went to senior Denise Campbell.
And finally, the player who best represents the ideals of sportsmanship on the ice and is viewed as a true “team player” receives the Sportsmanship award. This season’s award went to team captain and president Amy Christinzio (this is the second year she received this award). In addition to receiving the Sportsmanship award, Amy received a marriage proposal from boyfriend Mike Laverty. The team was thrilled and honored to be a part of this special occasion.
Congratulations to the 2008-2009 UD team award winners and to our newly engaged couple Amy Christinzio and Mike Laverty!
To view photos of the end-of-season party and presentation of awards, click here
UD End of Season Party
Friday, March 13th 2009 3:51pm
The first annual UD Alumni Women's Ice Hockey Game was held Saturday, March 21st at the UD Arena. The '08-09 UD women's ice hockey team faced off against players from years past and secured a 3-0 victory.
This friendly scrimmage gave the current UD players a chance to meet players from previous years including the team's first captain and president Lindsey DiStefano. She was joined on the ice by two other founding members Lauren Duhigg and Sarah Kemp. Each of UD's graduating classes were represented on the ice. Alumni players included Rebecca Moore ('04), Meygan Young ('05), Theresa Moore ('06), Kelly Winther ('07) and Kathy Hanrahan ('08).
This was a great game to see how the "old" Blue Hens stacked up against the new. The women's team hopes to continue the tradition of playing the alumni each year.
Wednesday, February 25th 2009 9:30am
The Blue Hens entered the DVCHC Playoffs February 21-22 as the #2 ranked team. They held an impressive 8-2 record against their Division 1 opponents. On Saturday, the Blue Hens played against #3 seed, University of Virginia. These two teams faced each other earlier in the season with Delaware winning both games back-to-back (4-3 and 4-1 respectively). However, these were not easily won games with UVA outshooting Delaware 88 to 28 for the weekend.
Heading into playoffs Delaware was determined to limit UVA to fewer shots on net than the previous games. In addition, the Blue Hens had worked in practice to generate more offensive opportunities against UVA. Unfortunately for the Blue Hens, UVA took an early lead by outshooting Delaware 16 to 8 in the first period. The first goal UVA scored was a pass from the corner intended for a Cavalier crashing the low slot. Instead UD defenseman Bethany Allik got a piece of the puck to deflect it past her own goalie, Brie Scolaro. Shaking off this fluke goal, UD continued to fight hard to stay in the game. But UVA was on the board again early in the second period. UVA outshot Delaware once again with a staggering 20 shots compared to Delaware’s 4. At the end of two periods, the UD coaches wondered whether their team was actually going to show up, play and give UVA some competition. They were disappointed in their player’s lack of ability to get the puck out of their own end and their inability to make good solid passes.
An ice cut between the second and third period is just what Delaware needed. They reviewed their errors, discussed their plan to get back in the game and were ready to show UVA that they were a different team than the first two periods. UVA kept up the pressure and scored early in the third period to put them up 3-0. However, Delaware was now picking up the pace and more focused. They quickly responded to UVA’s third goal by scoring one minute later with a goal by winger Dani Laverty, assisted by defenseman Liz Patchell. Delaware felt a surge of hope and began playing much better. Four minutes later UD scored again when Katie Keeports took a shot from the far left side to put one past UVA’s netminder (assisted by Kim LaBella). UVA responded with a final goal at the 4:31 mark. UD was determined to keep playing until the final buzzer in hopes their efforts were not too late. Rookie Alyssa Welsh, put UD on the board again with just less than three and half minutes remaining in the game putting Delaware within one goal. Towards the end of the game, Delaware called a time-out in an attempt to tie the game. With a UVA penalty and the goalie pulled, UD had six players to UVA’s four for the last 47 seconds of the game. Despite their efforts UD was unable to score giving UVA the victory 4-3. The Blue Hens recognized their loss came from playing two weak periods. They played a great third period winning that single period 3-1 but it was too late.
The loss to UVA knocked Delaware out of the chance to win the DVCHC Championship and instead pushed UD into the Consolation Game against West Chester.
Realizing the hope of facing UPenn in the DVCHC Championships was no longer a reality, Delaware was determined to finish the season with a win. UD played West Chester in the Consolation Game Sunday morning and defeated the Golden Rams 4-2. Delaware seemed somewhat sluggish and had a little trouble getting going. Their usual speed advantage against West Chester wasn’t apparent early in the game. Despite this, Delaware was on the board first with a goal by center Brittney Sheldon from a cross ice pass from linemate Shannon McElhinney. The first period ended with Delaware up 1-0. West Chester rallied early in the second to put one past Blue Hen goaltender Brie Scolaro just over two minutes in the period. The second period ended with the game tied 1-1. Once again, the ice cut between periods gave Delaware a chance to regroup and focus on what was at stake. Delaware’s Head Coach Sharon Addison told the team “In twenty minutes you’ll be sitting back here in this locker room with the game outcome already determined. Right now, sitting in this locker room, you have a chance to affect that outcome. What are you going to do? You decide?”
It became apparent that Delaware had decided they would win the game when Sheldon scored her second goal just two minutes into the final period (unassisted). West Chester wasn’t giving up easily and took advantage of a power play when Delaware’s center Katie Keeports received a penalty for interference. Sheldon once again seemed to take matters into her own hands and earned a hat trick with her third goal of the game, just 25 seconds later (again assisted by McElhinney). Delaware was up 3-2 with eight minutes left to play. West Chester called a time-out late in the period and pulled their goalie in an attempt to win. With a perfect breakout pass from UD defenseman Kim LaBella, Keeports clinched the game with an empty net goal.
Falling short of making the championship game, Delaware was happy to end the season with a victory. Their bench was missing two strong defenseman: Sara Naguib was playing in a U19 team’s game crucial to making Nationals and Lauren Massey left Saturday’s game early with a severe stomach flu.
Delaware’s center Brittney Sheldon was awarded Most Valuable Player for the game.
While UD’s official season is over, they will have players representing them at the DVCHC All Star game scheduled for Saturday, April 11th at 3:00 pm at The Giant Center in Hershey, PA.
In addition, Delaware will be hosting their first annual alumni game on Saturday, March 21st at 11:00 am. This game will pit existing UD players against UD alumni from the past five seasons.
For team photos of the DVCHC Playoffs click here.
DVCHC Playoffs
Blue Hens
TBD