Holy Molie, Who's the Goalie?

By Tom Obert, Cub Reporter, Nashville, Indiana, December 20, 2006

Thanks to the fine on-site coverage of the CRIT, we have been able to follow the exploits of the Cardinal girls hockey team while on our Indiana roadtrip. Before we left home last Thursday, our stalwarts upended St. Apollo/Cathedral/Herdans, et al by the score of 6 - 0. That made their record 9 - 0 as they headed to Moorhead to play the Mighty "Big School" Spuds on Saturday. Last year the Spuds handed our Cards one of their two regular season defeats by the score of 4 - 0 - but as the Moorhead paper noted, Alex had outscored their first 9 opponents this year by the combined score of 79 - 8! That means, of course, that we have been properly highlighting the scoring exploits of our star juniors and tri-captains, Abby Williams, Kathryn Del Zoppo, and Ashley Holmes - but we haven't noted enough the work of their fellow junior star, Danielle Justice, in goal. Danielle had 5 shutouts going into the Moorhead game, and, according to at-the-game coverage by the CRIT, was responsible for the 5 - 2 win against the Spuds.
The Mighty Spuds apparently had a 2 - 1 advantage in shots-on-goal, but Danielle was spectacular in turning away 39 shots. The CRIT said in one instance Danielle stopped a shot by the Spuds star player, lost her goalie stick, was handed another stick by on in-ice teammate, made two more stops with that stick while teammates retrieved her goalie stick. So here's to Danielle - a player who is so petite that we believe her goalie equipment weighs more than sh e does . Last night the CRIT reported the Cards moved to 11 - 0 with an 8 - 0 victory over Willmar - back-up goalie Nickie Hvezda pitched this shutout. Abby and Del had two goals each while their freshman linemate, Michelle Anez, had a hat trick. We hope to be home in time for the girls holiday tournament after Christmas.