Beaches B Team Outnumbered At Districts The Beaches B team played in the USA Hockey Southeast District Championships this past weekend in Raleigh, NC but did not fare as well as they would have liked. The team lost their first game on Friday night 3-0 to the Chesapeake Bay Lightning, the team the Beaches beat in the finals last year. The Beaches were definitely out numbered in this game as the Lightning came to play with 15 skaters versus the Beaches 9. Despite outshooting their opponents, the puck just would not find the back of the net for the Beaches. Sue Eichler played well in net with 18 saves. The second game was a different story. The North Carolina Blades had already tied and beaten the Beaches this season but the Beaches were not going to lose to them again. The Blades scored first just 2 minutes into the game and then disaster struck. Angela Walker of the Beaches suffered a knee injury in a collision at center ice that would knock her out of the game. So now the Beaches were down to 8 skaters but that didn’t stop them from scoring. Tonya Sterk put the Beaches on the board with a great end to end rush. Susanne Lawson and Kirby Rosplock picked up assists on the goal. A minute and a half later, Linda Belanger tipped in a low shot from Jessie Frye to put the Beaches ahead by a goal. But the Blades scored again to tie the game up. The second period started and things got worse for the Beaches. Three and a half minutes into the period, Kirby Rosplock was whistled for an unintentional checking from behind penalty, a 12 minute penalty. The Beaches would have to play nearly the entire 2nd period with 7 skaters. The Blades scored to go ahead by one but with 3 minutes left in the second period, Sarah Caza tied the game with assists from Tonya and Meghan Dewire. All the while, the goalies from both teams were standing on their heads. Sue Eichler, who played spectacularly, made 37 saves in regulation time, many of them HUGE. The Beaches put on selective pressure due to the low numbers of players with 23 shots.  The Blades goalie made several stops on breakaways by Sarah Caza and held the Beaches at bay with many nice saves. The game went into overtime, and the Beaches were exhausted. But somehow, only two minutes into the overtime period, Sarah put the puck by the Blades goalie with a great wrap around shot. Sweet revenge for all the breakaway saves! Susanne and Linda picked up assists and the Beaches celebrated while a stunned Blades team looked on in disbelief. The Beaches would need a Lightning loss to the Blades to move on to the Championship game but it wasn’t to be as the Lighting beat the Blades 2-1 in the night game. Although the team did not make a return to Nationals being held this year in Buffalo, they learned a great deal about themselves and are looking forward to next year when the Nationals are in ……….  San Jose, California!!!!! So let’s work hard this summer and next year let’s take 2 teams to Nationals! IT CAN BE DONE!!!