The Big Green took on an excellent New Hampton squad at home on Friday night. With a good crowd in the stands, the girls were eager to play forty five minutes of smart and fast hockey. Though New Hampton scored on the first shift of the game, the rest of the period was a back and forth affair, and all three Deerfield lines generated excellent scoring opportunities. The pace of play was outstanding, and we did a fantastic job of breaking the puck out cleanly and taking away time and space in the neutral zone. The second period was more of the same, but the visitors were able to capitalize on our mistakes. New Hampton doubled their lead when a shot from the point found its way through Jordan Manning’s ’19 legs, and took a 3-0 lead when we left their top defenseman alone; she made no mistake in sniping the puck top corner. Still, we continued to press all over the ice, and came close to getting on the board on so many occasions. The bounces just didn’t go our way tonight, however, and so we ended up on the wrong end of a 3-0 score, despite playing excellent hockey for most of the night. Unselfish team play was really the story of the night, and this young team is really beginning to see what it is capable of. Manning had several excellent saves in goal for the Big Green, and the shots for the game were 28 from both sides. We hit the road again tomorrow to take on Taft, and will look to bring a similar energy and pace to our game. Many thanks to the Mullowneys for the pizza, fruit, cupcakes and drinks after the game, and to the Dougals for the chocolate covered strawberries!