The crowd awaited in high anticipation as the girls varsity hockey team stepped onto the rink at the Walter Brown Arena for their final game of the season. For the senior athletes on the team, this meant that the 5-0 loss against the Leominster Blue Devils on Feb. 19 was an unfortunate yet tenacious end to their high school hockey career.

The first of the three 15-minute periods commenced with strong offensive efforts from both the Warriors and Blue Devils as the puck was shared evenly among the two teams and neither defensive wall let opposing progress be made.

However, with five minutes to go in the first period, the Blue Devils’ offensive line executed several interceptions and made consecutive attempts at scoring. Senior and goalie Rozalin Carew-Lyons blocked each shot on-target, but the saves did not come easily.

Carew-Lyons said that regardless of the Warriors’ slow offensive start to the game, she is proud of her technique and she feels she did the best she could.

“It wasn’t my best game as a goalie, but I’ve been playing better. I was super proud of the way I controlled my rebounds. The highlight of my game was probably making the needed saves and how I got and saved a lot of shots during the power-kills,” Carew-Lyons said.

As the game progressed, neither team successfully seized an opportunity to score. With under a minute left in the first period, the Warriors missed a shot and Blue Devils’ forward Kelly Paquet brought the puck around the Leominster net. Paquet skated towards the other end of the ice, but her shot was ultimately blocked by Carew-Lyons, and Warriors’ senior and captain Julia Janowski took back possession of the puck. The buzzer sounded before the play could progress, leaving the first period in a scoreless draw.

The majority of the puck possession continued to be held by the Blue Devils in the succeeding periods.

The Warriors’ first attempt of a shot-on-target in the second period was swiftly blocked by goalie Carina Eshbaugh. Blue Devils’ forward Rachel Simkewicz then took possession of the puck and secured the first goal of the game.

With just over one minute remaining in the second period, Simkewicz seized an open opportunity and shot the puck smoothly into the Warriors’ net, past sophomore and goalie Aurora Charbonneau. This brought the Blue Devils to a 2-0 lead as the buzzer sounded, marking the end of the second period.

The last period followed after both teams broke off from a tight huddle and into a faceoff. Despite Carew-Lyons’ multiple blocks early in the period, the Blue Devils managed to send the puck flying into the back of the net three more times by the end of the 15 minutes, giving them a 5-0 lead.

The Warriors had several scoring opportunities during the third period, but the Blue Devils’ defensive wall prevented the Warriors from successfully scoring any points for the rest of the game.

Carew-Lyons said that in the end, the Blue Devils’ offense and defense were too strong for the Warriors, but her team’s ability to work collaboratively shined throughout the game, and she is proud of their work on the ice.

“Leominster’s offense was really good: they created great scoring opportunities and had some really good players. I also think their goalie had really good movement,” Carew-Lyons said. “We did really well at passing the puck and finding the open space on the ice. We could have gotten our shots off a bit earlier, but overall we did pretty well.”

Janowski said that she will always be thankful for the support that her coaches and teammates showed her over the years and that the bonds formed within the hockey community will leave unforgettable memories.

“We really came together as a team and even though the outcome wasn’t what we wanted, we didn’t go down without a fight. That can only happen with a team that supports each other as much as ours,” Janowski said. “There is endless love, support and laughs from this team, win or lose, and I could not have asked for a better group of girls to play with.”