SPRINGFIELD – Going into Saturday afternoon’s affair, Pope Francis Prep’s girls hockey team was looking for its second consecutive victory, while their counterparts in Longmeadow were going for just their second victory of the season as a whole.
With 1:40 left in the third, and leading by one, it appeared the Cardinals (5-2-1) might get their wish. But the Lancers (1-4-2) had other ideas as Calleigh Johnson tied the score with just over a minute and a half left in the game.
Following a four-on-four overtime period that did not result in any scoring, the game ended in a 1-1 tie at Smead Arena. The first of the season for Pope Francis, and the second of the season for Longmeadow. Ironically, its second in as many games.
“I thought that Longmeadow took it to us for three periods today,” Cardinals coach Chris Connors said. “They showed up, they won every single one-on-one battle all over the ice. Our game plan was to get pucks deep on them.
“And typically, we like to take pride in our forecheck. And today it was like we were skating in quicksand today.”
Skating in quicksand is putting it mildly, as after the first period, the visitors were down 12-2 in shots on goal. Fortunately, they turned it around early in the second period. In fact, it wasn’t even a minute into the second period when Pope Francis got its first legitimate shot.
The Pope Francis and Longmeadow girls’ hockey teams competed against each other on 01/03/26.Zander Manning | sports@masslive.com
Twenty-four seconds into the second frame, Longmeadow’s Ella Rousou was called for hooking, giving the visitors a chance up a skater. Not even one minute later, the Cardinals’ Sophia Larsen found a loose puck in front of the net and slipped it past the Lancers’ goaltender Olivia Antico. Just like that, they were up 1-0.
“We take great pride in our power play. Our power play has had a lot of success this year,” Connors said of his power play unit. “All five players have had the ability to create (plays). I think our power play is running at 80% score rate. I’m proud of our power play.”
The story of the game, however, wasn’t about the offense. It wasn’t even defense, for that matter. Instead, it was the goaltending of Pope Francis’ sophomore netminder, Avery Savage.
Savage stopped the first 35 shots, including 25 in a row in the first period and a half, she faced before letting in the late goal to Johnson. In fact, Seeley finished the game with 36 saves total.
The 36 saves are a season high for Savage and two short of a career-high when she had 38 last season on Jan. 11 vs. Duxbury.
“Thankfully, we had Avery in the third period,” Connors said. “She made a few sneaky saves in traffic, and it could have been a different outcome.”
“(I) just stay(ed) focused,” Savage said of her success on Saturday. “Even though my team had a little bit of a rough time, I would try to stay focused and (put my) glove out, and (get) good angles.”
In between the first and second period, when her team was down in shots but without any scoring, Savage said the message from their coach was clear: “Have good passes and get open for each other.”
The Pope Francis and Longmeadow girls’ hockey teams competed against each other on 01/03/26.Zander Manning | sports@masslive.com
The messaging was clear, and it clearly worked as they scored early in the second. Despite it being the Cardinals’ only goal of the game, the goal was a huge momentum booster for how they carried themselves throughout the rest of the game.
“I think it was a really good energy booster,” Savage said. “We didn’t come up with as much energy as we needed, so it gave us more energy throughout the game.”
Connors attributed the stumble to it being a rivalry game. Both teams came into the day with very different records, but on the ice, it didn’t seem to factor in at all.
Savage added that while most of the girls are friends off the ice, they know that they have to put that aside when the puck is dropped.
“I think it’s a rivalry game, anything can happen,” Connors said. “That’s what we were preaching over the last few days, is that you throw records out in a rivalry game… Sometimes you have a team with a lesser record, but if they have the will to win for that particular day, anything can happen.”
Up next for Pope Francis is a matchup on the road when they take on Algonquin Regional High School. Puck drop in that one is slated for Monday, Jan. 5, at 6 p.m.
Longmeadow’s next opponent is ironically also the Titans. Instead, puck drop is on Sunday, Jan. 4 at 4:40 p.m.