It was a moment five years in the making. The ConVal girls’ hockey team first took the ice in the 2012-13 season, and ever since, they’ve been waiting for what happened Tuesday night — the program’s first win.
The offseason merger with Conant certainly helped, as the team (now called the ConVal-Conant Griffins) added senior Kelsey Simoneau to the roster. Simoneau made the tough choice to leave the Conant swim team (and her twin sister Kristyn) behind and pursue her first love, hockey. It paid off Tuesday, as Kelsey led the team with two goals and three assists as the Griffins beat Manchester Central 9-3.
Simoneau started the scoring in the first period, and with the Griffins up 3-0 after one, coach Courtney McKay urged her team to hold that lead.
“The girls really took it to heart that they couldn’t become complacent and let up,” McKay said.
Manchester briefly closed the lead to 5-3 in the third, but that only fueled the Griffins further, and they pushed ahead for the 9-3 final.
“It was apparent they weren’t letting this win out of their hands,” McKay said.
First-year goalie Izabelle Leahigh made six saves in net. Also scoring for ConVal-Conant were: Taryn Wing (2 goals, 2 assists); Jordan Kania (2 goals, 1 assist); Sarah Perrault (1 goal); Clara Colby (1 goal), Hannah Garfinkle (1 goal), Samantha Yeaw (2 assists), Emma Mellon (1 assist), and Carly Storro (1 assist).
“It takes a lot to constantly get beat like we have, but they always hold their heads up, and give everything to each new game they play,” McKay said.
ConVal-Conant (1-3) faces Concord (0-2) on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Winchendon’s Jason Ritchie Ice Arena. The boys’ team follows that game at 3 p.m. when they take on Somersworth.