Four games into the season, the story of the Westwood High girls hockey team could be told by holding up three fingers, which would represent the total production of its struggling offense thus far.
The Wolverines dropped their season-opener 4-1 to Whitman-Hanson followed by a 1-0 escape over Franklin, marking their sole victory. A week ago, Westwood was blanked by Boston Latin, registering a 0-0 tie.
Westwood’s scoring woes continued Saturday night, when they lit the lamp just 25 seconds into a non-league contest with Quincy at Canton, but failed to add anything further en route to a 3-1 defeat.
Westwood fell to 1-2-1 while Quincy, which benefited from Colleen Newcomb’s second period hat trick, remained unbeaten at 4-0.
Westwood head coach Andrea Boudreau agreed that aside from the tandem of Lauren Hillberg and Lauren Hall, there isn’t a whole lot of skating going on in the Wolverine ranks. She also admitted that, at times, her players were too deliberate with the puck when they should have been passing it off or dumping in the zone.
“This was a game that we definitely could have won,” said Boudreau. “It started out great and ended pretty well but through the second period, we just didn’t skate. There seemed to be a lot of standing around and watching. I don’t understand it. In practice, there are girls who can skate, they’ve played before, and they know the game. But for some reason, they’re finding the transition from practice to game difficult.”
Despite the second period dominance of Quincy, which featured a 15-0 shot disparity, Westwood was never out of the game. Credit goaltender Janice Michaud, who backstopped the effort and kept the Wolverines in range.
“Janice did a great job,” said Boudreau of her junior goalie, who turned aside 28 shots in the effort. “She’s been there all year. But I think it’s hard playing against a team like Quincy because although the quality of the shots might not be great, they’re getting a lot of them and we’re not doing a good job clearing out in front of the net”
A prime example of Boudreau’s frustrations took place when Quincy netted its second goal early in the middle frame, snapping a 1-1 deadlock and triggering a momentum shift.
Newcomb and linemates Christina Walsh and Laura O’Donnell were clustered in front of Michaud, hacking away at a rebound that squirted loose from the goalie’s grasp. The Quincy trio had four swipes at the puck before Newcomb finally knocked it home for what proved to be the eventual game-winner.
“We don’t just have individuals,” said Quincy head coach Kelli Doolin, who pointed out that her program chose not to adopt either school’s nickname when they combined to become Quincy North Quincy, which is also reflected on their jerseys as QNQ. “We have a great team as a whole. While one of Colleen’s goals was on individual effort, the others were team efforts, the way I see it.”
Westwood took a 1-0 lead on Mollie Brown’s goal just seconds into the contest. Hillberg flipped a quick wrister that caught the edge of Quincy netminder Shannon Coleman’s pads and dropped to her feet. Coleman lost sight of the puck, but Brown, camped out on the doorstep, had a bird’s eye view and chopped it into an open corner.
Quincy grabbed an equalizer early in the second, shorthanded. As Westwood attempted to transition out of the zone and set up the power play, Newcomb floated in, picked up an errant pass in the slot, and returned the gift to Westwood, planting it firmly behind Michaud.
At 2:49, just over a minute after they tied the game, Newcomb and company grabbed a lead they would not relinquish. But Quincy wasn’t about to sit on a one-goal advantage and launched a busy attack that yielded a dozen shots and eventually Newcomb’s one-timer off a feed from Walsh.
Boudreau agreed that her offense needs some tweaking but felt that the defense did their jobs. It was simply a matter of backchecking, or rather the lack thereof, which hurt the Wolverines.
“Our defense is not the problem,” she explained. “I think they have been the bright spot so far. The problem is our forwards are not skating which causes the puck to stay in the defensive zone the whole time.”
“Backchecking saves games,” said Doolin, nodding in agreement when it was pointed out that her team was very adept at this fundamental. “It’s obvious that allowing three-on-ones or three-on-twos can cost a game. It’s part of being a smart hockey player to backcheck and help out the defense.”
