On Sunday June 11, the Yeshiva Middle School Sports Association middle school girls hockey league held its annual all star game, celebrating the accomplishments of the top players in the league for the 2022-2023 season. The Atlantics, made up of players from Ramaz, Yavneh, Westchester Day and Moriah faced off against the Metropolitans, with players from Kushner, Noam, SAR and RPRY. What followed was the most exciting matchup anyone could have imagined.
It was a spirited game, filled with good clean battles on the boards and in the corners, some fabulous breakaways and beautiful goals. There were some incredible saves by both goalies, Lucy Rosenfeld from WDS for the Atlantics and Shayna Waldstreicher from Kushner for the Metropolitans. Both goalies blew the packed house full of fans away with their incredible play.
In the first period, The Atlantics opened the scoring with an early goal from Livy Zwillinger of Ramaz. The Metropolitans responded with two goals late in the period, first Rya Leeds from Kushner tied it up and then Hadassah Ritch from RPRY gave the Metropolitans a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission.
The second period was filled with scoring opportunities from both teams that were turned aside by the goalies, but the Atlantics were able to tie the game on a goal by Yocheved Nagel from Yavneh to make it 2-2 going into the third.
The score stayed there for 11 minutes and 58 seconds of the third period, but with less than two seconds left, Emma Abish from WDS scored to secure a 3-2 victory for the Atlantics.
“It was a lot of fun, my girls were very happy to end the season on a positive note. And they mentioned that they made some new friends” said Julia Morreale, coach of league champions Kushner.
The creation of the all-star game, and the organization of this year’s event, was led by Michael Zemble, coach of RPRY, who also refereed the game. Coach Zemble said, “It was heartwarming to give girls who had been competing so fiercely over the course of the season the chance to join as a team, coming together to demonstrate not just a high caliber of play but of sportsmanship.”
Ari Loren, WDS coach and the other referee on Sunday, said, “having an opportunity to celebrate these young athletes is always a good time. The decision by Coach Zemble to mix the lines up so that the players were playing with kids from each school really makes a difference in creating new friendships, especially heading into high school when so many of the girls will be together in their new high schools.”
Huge thanks to Yeshivat Noam for hosting the game once again, and congratulations to all of the amazing all stars!
By Jewish Link Sports Desk
