by Aaron Wallender
Special to USAHockey.com

The St. Louis Lady Blues had comeback wins in nearly every game they won at the USA Hockey Tier I 12 & Under National Championship, and they almost did it again on Sunday.

But in the end, the East Coast Wizards wouldn’t allow another remarkable comeback to happen.

The Wizards finished off a dominant run through the Tier I 12-U field, completing a perfect 6-0 record and holding off the Lady Blues 3-1 in the championship game at the Cornerstone Community Center in Green Bay.

The championship was the first USA Hockey National title for the Wizards’ 12-U program, a moment coach Cliff Abrecht said he and his players will cherish for years to come.

“This is the first time the program has won a national championship and we emphasize that this is the opportunity of a lifetime,” Abrecht said. “It’s not something that happens every year. It’s something that you work for and you hope you get the chance to compete for a national championship and to be in the finals is even better. Winning it is clearly something that these girls will remember for the rest of their lives.”

East Coast appeared to have the title all but sewn up with a 2-0 lead and less than three minutes left in the third period. However, the Lady Blues had one last comeback attempt in them.

Jincy Dunne, who led St. Louis with six goals in the tournament, put home a backhand with 2:41 left to pull the Lady Blues within 2-1. Things got even more interesting as the Wizards were called for a hold with 1:53 remaining to give St. Louis a power play and a chance to tie it up.

But East Coast and goalie Katie Burt were able to avoid a couple of close calls and seal the win with a shorthanded, empty-net goal by Jacqueline Diffey with 25.6 seconds remaining.

“It’s the first time the Wizards have won the championship for nationals … so it’s a really big (thrill) for us to win it,” Wizards forward Adriana Rossini said. “It felt great to win it, to know that you were the best in the nation, to know that you beat every other team that you could.”

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, the Wizards threw off their gear in celebration and piled on Burt, who allowed just four goals on 106 shots over the tournament and made 22 saves on 23 shots in the title game.

“We know that defense and goaltending is the key to championships, and that’s one of the things we emphasized all year,” Abrecht said. “Katie Burt is an outstanding goalie, so it’s always good to know that if you have some breakdowns that Katie’s there to stop it for us.”

Rebecca Gilmore got the Wizards on the board first with a goal at the 6:52 mark in the second period.

Just before the end of the second period, some crisp passing and a nice setup from Diffey got Rossini an open look at the net, which she buried with just 5.3 seconds to go in the second. That gave East Coast some breathing room and turned out to be important given the way the third period unfolded.

“We always talked about the last minute of the (period) on either side, defensive or offensive, they’re turning points of the game, so that’s great to get a goal like that, second goal at the end of the period,” Abrecht said. “It was a great passing play between that line and Adriana did a nice job of finishing that off.”

Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.

July 14, 2009

By Mike Scandura
Special to USAHockey.com

According to Scott Fusco, co-founder and coach of the East Coast Wizards, the Bedford, Mass.-based girls’ hockey organization has a “problem.”

“We’re pretty much at the maximum of teams that we’re going to have,” Fusco said. “At least in our area, there’s a problem in that there aren’t enough goaltenders out there. It’s hard to find enough goaltenders in order to have more teams.

“Basically, we have more than one team in each age group and it gets pretty hard after that. We’re pretty much capped out at where we’re at.”

Similar organizations should have such a “problem.”

Paul Kennedy, the father of two-time U.S. Olympian Courtney Kennedy, founded the Wizards in 2005. Fusco joined the organization midway through its inaugural season.

Initially, the Wizards suited up eight teams. But since then, they’ve more than doubled the number of teams in their four years of existence.

During the 2008-09 season, the Wizards encompassed 275 girls over 15 teams in the following age groups: U-8, U-10 Minor, U-10 Major I, U-10 Major II, U-11, U-12 Minor, U-12 Major I, U-12 Major II, U-13, U-14 Minor, U-14 Major I, U-14 Major II, U-16 Major, U-19 Minor and U-19 Major. The U-10 Major I team won its third Massachusetts state title in four years in March.

And during the summer, the Wizards run a program that caters to junior high-, high school- and college-aged players, along with an occasional national-caliber player.

“We actually work with a lot of girls outside of our program during the offseason,” Fusco said. “We have about 120 girls come to our rink during the summer.”

The obvious question is why have the Wizards virtually exploded on the girls’ hockey scene?

“One reason is we’re in a good location,” Fusco said. “We’re in a good hockey area in eastern Massachusetts. Another key is we have good coaches and we think we do things the right way.

“We focus on the development of the players and we’re not so concerned about wins or losses, especially early in the season. We know if we get players and we coach them the right way, they will get better and will have success.”

Fusco knows that each player has a limited time with the club.

“We play all of our players,” Fusco said. “We also realize that they’re going to move on from us. They’re playing for us for a period of time and, hopefully, they’ll go on and play in high school or college.”

Fusco realizes that no matter how much “good coaching” the Wizards receive, for some their playing days will end when they outgrow the organization.

“Our focus is on developing girls to reach their potential,” he said. “Some of these kids will go on to play Division I college hockey. Some will play Division III. Some will play high school and some won’t even reach that level.

“We focus on working with all the kids so they can get to whatever level they’re capable of reaching and have a good experience while they’re doing it.”

If the name Scott Fusco sounds familiar, it should.

A 1986 graduate of Harvard, Fusco received the Hobey Baker Award during his senior year. He also played on the 1984 and 1988 U.S. Olympic teams and was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame earlier this decade.

With the Wizards, he coaches the U-8 team and the U-12 Major I team.

“I focus on the basics of skill development and team play,” said Fusco when asked about his philosophy. “If they can learn the way things work, they’re going to get better.”

But, obviously, all athletes regardless of sport don’t learn at the same rate.

“I do get frustrated at times when players don’t recognize things that I think they should,” Fusco said. “But some players get that faster than others — things like if you have the puck and a defensive player comes to you, just naturally knowing where the puck should go.

“Some players get that quickly and, for some, it takes longer. We try hard to work with each kid because they’re all different. Hopefully, over time they’re all going to improve in that area.”

That being said, coaching a Wizards team does bring with it a great deal of enjoyment and satisfaction.

“The number one thing is seeing their improvement from September to March and how they improve as individual players, and how the team improves — and how you can see them learning the game as they get older,” Fusco said. “Secondly, there’s the excitement they have when they come to the rink every day. Players are excited to come to practice, which is the way hockey should be.

“If you can’t have fun doing it then there’s something wrong. The excitement you experience when they come in two or three times a week for practice makes you feel good. You’ve got a good group of kids that want to be there, that want to work hard and that want to get better.”

Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.


 

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