Girls varsity hockey won 3-1 against Braintree High School on Saturday, Jan. 25 at Warrior Ice Arena in their first “Hockey Fights Cancer” game. This was the first time the Warriors beat Braintree in 15 years.

Both the arena and fans were decorated in purple and pink to show their support for cancer awareness. The team made posters with names of loved ones who have battled cancer, and shoutouts were given before the game began.

The Warriors came out strong in the first period and were able to beat Braintree to the puck on many occasions. However, Braintree responded with a strong defense and aggressive shots, but all were blocked by senior and goalie Aurora Charbonneau.

Senior, captain and defender Etta Reed said the team played their hardest because the game’s cause meant a lot to them. However, she knows there is still work to be done.

“We need to clean up our defensive zone, we are relying on Aurora too much. We all need to step it up,” Reed said.

With just under 30 seconds left in the first period, sophomore and defender Jordan Gifford got the puck and skated up the rink passing it to junior and forward Clara Thibault who scored the first goal of the game. Thibault’s goal ended the first period with the Warriors up 1-0.

Going into the second period, the Warriors were aggressive on offense and kept Braintree out of their defensive end. The period was extremely back and forth. Despite fast breaks from senior, captain and forward Izzy Paes, as well as Braintree, neither team was able to capitalize and put one into the net.

With just over three minutes left to play in the period, senior and forward Shayna Chin stole the puck and raced up the left side of the rink. Chin then passed the puck to the center of the ice, where senior, captain and forward Suejin Koo was waiting to put it in the back of the net.

Mere seconds after Koo’s goal, Paes connected to Thibault who then scored her second goal of the night in the top right corner of Braintree’s net. Ultimately increasing the score to 3-0 going into the final period.

According to Koo, the team wants to advance their power rankings because it will give them a better chance of advancing into the playoffs.

“We want to finish the season off strong,” Koo said. “Hopefully we can win the rest of our games, they are all pretty beatable teams.”

Braintree came into the third period looking for a comeback. However, Reed and Charbonneau were able to keep the puck out of the Warriors net with strong stops and clears.

With just under two minutes left the Warriors were down a player due to a penalty received by Paes. Ten seconds into advantage, Braintree quickly shot and scored the puck. The game ended 3-1, Warriors.

Koo said the importance of the game for both the fans and team members. She said the team was super excited to participate in the “Hockey Fights Cancer” game.

Reed said that Thibault and sophomore and forward Selena Charbonneau shined during the game, fighting hard for the puck and getting many rebounds.

“We all worked really hard,” Reed said. “The game meant so much to us that we put everything into it.”