Junior Pirates fall to US Women’s National team

GORHAM – It was a once in a lifetime moment for the Portland Junior Pirates U-18 squad as they faced off against the United States Women’s National Team Friday night at the USM Ice Arena on the Gorham campus of the University of Southern Maine.

“It was a true honor to play with a team that caliber,” said Jr. Pirates’ forward Mitch Donovan. “They are some of the best women in the country and I’ll definitely be watching them on TV this winter.”

The U-18’s dropped a 4-0 decision to Team USA, but held in tight with the women’s team for nearly fifty minutes before a pair of goals were scored by the US late in the third period, setting up the final outcome.

“It was a great opportunity for these young players who are at the beginning of their career,” said U-18 coach Jeff Tory. “A lot of them hadn’t played in a crowd like this before, never mind playing against Team USA. The whole event was about enjoying the experience and playing a very quality opponent.”

“Playing against the boys’ team is good for us,” said Team USA forward Monique Lamoureux, whose twin sister Jocelyn is also a member of Team USA. “It was a great pace. It was really our first game on olympic ice this season and they made us work hard for everything we got tonight.”

The game is the start of the pre-olympic tour for Team USA as they prepare for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia in Feb. The ‘Bring on the World’ tour features Team USA face a combination of international opponents taking part in the Four Nations Cup – an annual tournament between Team USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland – and boys’ junior and preparatory school programs.

“My assistant coaches I give them all the credit because Bobby Jay and Hillary Whit are really the ones along with (Team USA General Manager) Reagan (Carey) who really crafted this schedule, not just our international schedule that we’ll start playing next week with Canada, but trying to mesh that (schedule) with the boys to find the best suited competition for us,” said USA coach Katey Stone.

Team USA currently has 25 players on the active roster, most of which play NCAA Division I hockey. Several players including long time USA star Julie Chu play in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, which consists of five teams in Canada and Boston.

USA Hockey, who are training in Massachusetts before leaving for Russia, will make one more round of cuts to get down to its final 18 skaters and three goaltenders that will take part in February’s Winter Olympics for US women’s team. They plan on announcing their final roster in Dec.

The decision to add in a mix boy’s junior and prep school programs was one based on the level of competition they provided. For many of the players on Team USA they enjoyed playing against the high caliber programs in the Northeast US.

“When you start to play against teen-aged boys, especially when they reach 17 or 18 years old, size wise they are about the same size as us if not bigger, said Chu, who didn’t play in Saturday’s game. “It’s great for us because they are quick, they have great shots so it’s a good workout for the goaltenders and they help us improve. It was a good game to see and they’re a classy organization to help us in our development as we move forward.”

With the game tied 0-0 after one period, Team USA opened the scoring in the second period off a goal by Annie Pankowski. Gigi Marvin sent an outlet pass to Kendall Coyne, who spotted Pankowski barreling down the wing. She took the puck and pulled back, sliding it just to the inside the left skate of Jr. Pirates’ goalie Dylan Schoen for the 1-0 lead at the 2:51 mark of the period.

Team USA added a power-play goal to make it 2-0 about five minutes later when Hillary Knight sent a blast from the point past Schoen.

The Junior Pirates settled down at that point and had several opportunities to get on the board as the US took a pair of penalties, giving the U-18’s an extended five-on-three for 1:06. Just as the first penalty expired, Team USA took another penalty to keep the U18’s on the two-man advantage for another 10 seconds, but the US killed off all penalties, ending the second period with a two-goal lead.

With five minutes left in the game, Team USA added goals by Monique Lamoureux – her brother played for the Portland Pirates of the AHL during the 2009-’10 season – and Knight with her second of the game with less than five minutes left to seal the victory, but the U-18’s maintained their composure despite being down by four goals.

Despite losing by four goals, the U-18’s made sure to absorb in the moment and the experience of playing against a team with the USA crest on the uniform.

“It was pretty cool to be playing the Olympic team that will be on TV soon,” said U-18 goaltender Chris Storey. “It was a good game. You could tell they’ve been a team that’s been together. Just to see the USA on the jersey is a pretty cool thing.”

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