BURLINGTON — Upper Valley hockey fans driving on Interstate 89 North on Monday passed through thick banks of fog as they headed to and from the University of Vermont’s Gutterson Field House and the Vermont Division II girls hockey final between Woodstock High and Hartford.
By the clash’s conclusion, however, one thing became clear: After engineering a 5-1 victory and the first state title in program history, the Wasps are the class of their classification.
Isabel Konijnenberg scored twice and added an assist and was the game’s best player. The junior center and her family moved from Lexington, Mass., during the summer of 2020 in a bid to escape the comparatively dense population of the Boston suburbs.
Konijnenberg helped Woodstock go 6-1 last season, its only loss a playoff quarterfinal setback, before leading them to a 21-1 campaign this winter. The Wasps’ lone loss came at Hartford late in the regular season, but the setback paid long-term dividends.
“It would have been nice to go undefeated but it humbled our players a bit,” said ninth-year coach Ian Coates, whose program struggled mightily early in his tenure. “It’s better to lose before the playoffs than in the playoffs.”
Konijnenberg echoed her coach’s thoughts.
“That was a rough one emotionally,” she said of Woodstock’s loss. “It was a reality check that we weren’t unbeatable. That pushed us the last couple weeks of practice; it gave us a drive.”
Hartford (19-4) lost at Woodstock by three goals on Dec. 27 before winning the rematch by a goal two months later. Coates said his team was deficient on faceoffs and the forecheck that night, so the Wasps focused on those facets in preparation for the neighboring rivals’ third meeting of the season.
“They were able to get the puck out on us too easily,” Coates said. “We played a little more defensive-minded tonight and then we finally broke through.”
Hartford opened the scoring, moving the puck up ice while a delayed penalty on Woodstock was indicated and goaltender Sydney Stillman exited for an extra attacker. Emma Bazin glided through the left circle on the rush, and displayed patience before whipping a wrist shot over goaltender Meridian Bremel’s glove and inside the far post.
The Wasps answered 42 seconds later, Konijnenberg skating in on Stillman from the netminder’s right and beating her with a low shot that seemed to hit her pads before wobbling across the goal line.
“Isabel’s a good two-way player who doesn’t always get recognized for her offense,” said Coates, who earlier this season moved center Skylar Haley back to defense and Konijnenberg from the wing to replace her. “She has great vision on the ice.”
Hartford held a 10-4 shot advantage during the second period. However, the Hurricanes also surrendered the stanza’s only goal and trailed, 2-1, with 15 minutes to play.
The sturdy Konijenberg skated up the right wing and almost to the goal line before dipping her shoulder and muscling past eighth-grade defender Braelyn Park. Konijenberg continued to the crease, where she slid a shot underneath Stillman.
“We worked on that move yesterday,” Coates said. “You don’t want to stickhandle or cut in too soon. You don’t want to be cute, just find the lane to the net. (Konijnenberg is) a very confident and powerful player.”
Said Konijnenberg: “We needed any chance we could get to try and gain the momentum. I just used my strength and grit to get around (Park), rather than trying to take the puck through the middle.”
The game turned fully in Woodstock’s favor when an ill-advised Hartford rush three minutes into the third period ended in a turnover at the red line. Wasps junior Lily Gubbins claimed the puck, took it back through the near circle and fired a shot that struck Stillman, flipped over her shoulder and bounced into the net.
Coates chuckled while describing how Gubbins compulsively watches publicly-available game video of Woodstock opponents to discern opponents’ collective and individual strengths, weaknesses and tendencies
“She is so prepared for games,” the coach said. “When she got the moment, she was determined to take advantage of it.”
Haley pushed the lead to 4-1 with five minutes to play, skating diagonally across the offensive blue line and drawing two backskating defenders to her. The senior stayed a step ahead of them before using her right-handed shot to send a 30-foot shot over Stillman and under the crossbar at the far post.
Woodstock freshman Kassidy Haley closed the scoring with a minute remaining, slapping home a low shot from the left circle. Hartford finished with a 19-17 shot advantage but not enough true scoring chances.
“There are a lot of experienced players and coaching staff for Woodstock and when I looked at our team in the third period, I saw a lot of young girls,” said second-year Hartford coach Kylie Young, whose squad featured five eighth-graders, four freshmen and will lose three seniors to graduation.
“That makes a big difference and it will be to our benefit in the coming years.”
Young, a 2002 Hartford graduate who led the Hurricanes to their only other finals appearance as a senior, took over a program that had gone 4-56-3 during its previous three seasons. The 2019-20 team was 1-19 and that victory snapped a 27-game losing streak. During the decade from 2010-20, Hartford won roughly two out of every 10 games.
“We got down by two goals and it felt like we lost our mojo at that point,” said Young, whose 2020-21 team was 5-5. “But by getting here, we won. We said the same thing last year when we got to the (semifinals). The program keeps growing every year.
“It hurts for our seniors, but there’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll be back next year.”
Notes: Two players remain on the Woodstock roster from the squad that lost in the 2019 finals: seniors Sophie Yates and Brighton Martsolf-Tan… Hartford is 9-20 all time in postseason games while Woodstock is 12-14… Hartford High athletic director Jeff Moreno brought the car license plate of the Hurricanes’ late medical trainer, Luna Ricker, with him to the game. Ricker died in 2019 after 46 years of widespread service to her alma mater. “Luna lived for weeks like this,” Moreno wrote in a social media post. The Hartford boys hockey team plays in the Division II finals Friday at UVM… Woodstock was 7-13-1 during the 2019-20 campaign and beat Hartford, 7-1, during the playoffs’ first round… The Hurricanes bench featured 17 players, four hockey coaches, a medical trainer, a mental skills guru and an in-house photographer. Woodstock had 12 players and three hockey coaches.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.