Ithaca girls hockey gears up for postseason

The phrase ‘a tale of two halves’ is often overused in the world of sports. But when examining the regular season for the Ithaca High School girls hockey team, it certainly fits the bill.

The first part of the Little Red’s campaign was excellent, boasting a 4-2-1 record and were looking as strong as last season’s team that won the Section III regular season title.

But then… injuries. And lots of them.

In their regular season finale at Oswego, the Little Red had only eleven skaters at their disposal. Their 4-0 defeat to the Pirates extended their losing streak to four games.

Given the extremely difficult circumstances, it can be easy to be demoralized even with the postseason still ahead to look forward to. But that’s been far from the case, with spirits remaining high throughout the team, including with second-year head coach Tyler Wagenet. He’s taken inspiration after reading a book by a fellow coach: the legendary Bill Walsh of the San Francisco 49ers.

“The concept is if you do the right things, you play the game the right way and you do all the little things, the score will take care of itself, and whether or not you come out on top, it is what it is,” Wagenet said. “But playing the game the right way and doing the little things is really kind of the message that we’re trying to send to our team and make sure they all understand that, ‘Hey, the score may not always work out in our favor, but if we’re doing the right things and the little things, eventually things are going to start to turn.”

A lot of the credit for maintaining their strong level of support and energy has been with their three captains: junior Natalie Wagenet and seniors Cammi Behonick and Jordan Sheehan. Even though Behonick and Sheehan aren’t from Ithaca—Behonick is from Vestal while Sheehan hails from Horseheads—it goes to show how tight-knit the team is despite multiple schools being represented, also including Lansing and Trumansburg.

“Cam and Jordan have been extremely integral this year,” Wagenet said. “They’ve really held the team to an accountability standard with each other, not anything demeaning or anything bad, but just saying, ‘Look, if you make mistakes, own your mistakes. It’s not a bad thing.’ It shows character, and it shows the drive to be able to say, ‘Hey, I messed up. I’m going to go get it again next time. I’m going to do better on the next shift.’ They’ve really been pushing that concept, and the interesting part is that even though we do have a bunch of different girls from different schools, it doesn’t matter once they get in that room. It still is that really deep-seated friendship. It’s a family, it really is.”

Perhaps the closest relationship on the team resides in the net with the two goaltenders. Shelby Howells and Fallon Mount have been a reliable tandem in between the pipes for the Little Red, and Wagenet has nothing but praise for how they’ve performed and have grown together.

“They compete for each other in practice,” Wagenet said. “They work hard together. When they get to the games, if one goaltender is starting and playing the whole game, the other one is on the bench, running the door, screaming her heart out, helping out and continuing to support. The senior leadership aspect from Shelby has just been really, really fun to watch, because Shelby knows she’s graduating and Fallon is going to be that junior stepping into the role hopefully next year. Shelby’s really taken Fallon under her wing, and it’s been a really awesome thing to watch Shelby be.”

With the roster decimated with injuries, the Little Red have had to embrace the ‘next player up’ mentality, and that’s especially been evident with the underclassmen. From eighth grader Myan Paulino to freshmen Ana Kiely and Adele Wrisley, that’s just a few of the many players who have stepped up during such trying times.

“I’m just super proud of these girls for the resiliency that they’ve shown when the chips have been down in the past two or three weeks,” Wagenet said. “They’re just forging on and they’re just pushing ahead, and they’re not forgetting about what the ultimate piece of this is, which is making sure to forge those long-lasting memories and those bonds through the game of hockey.”

The good news for the Little Red? They’ll have plenty of time to recuperate for the postseason. Since they’re the only girls hockey team in Section IV, they’ve been given an automatic ticket to sub-regionals against the Section III champion, which will take place on February 17. While getting players back healthy is the glaringly obvious key to a deep postseason run, there are other things Wagenet has in mind to make this roller coaster of a season even more special.

“The key right now is going to be continuing to have an incredibly aggressive forecheck and being able to keep the puck into the offensive zone as much as we can,” Wagenet said. “Whether it’s our gameplay or because of a forecheck and we’re creating turnover opportunities, that’s going to be the thing that’s going to vault us forward.”