Girls 19u t2

Enforcers beat Kentwood, 4-3, in double OT on March 11 in Marquette

Age is just a number to Devyn Fitzhenry.

The 13-year-old scored the game-winning goal after 25 minutes, 6 seconds of sudden-death overtime to lift Gaylord over Kentwood, 4-3, in the Girl’s 19 and Under non-national bound state final on March 11 at Lakeview Arena in Marquette.

Fitzhenry said when she shot the puck from the right faceoff circle, she didn’t think it had much chance to go in. At 4:54 of the third overtime, it trickled past the goalie and the red goal-light came on.

“I was crying, I was so happy,” she said.

It was her second goal of the game, helping her to be named as the tournament’s most valuable player.

“At first I thought that I wasn’t going to get any ice time (on the team), but I busted through and I got ice time and I scored,” Fitzhenry said.

Although she is 13, Fitzhenry is actually the second-youngest player on Gaylord’s team – by five days. The rookie learned quick, as between the second and third overtime period, Gaylord coach Rich Bonnee told his team to keep putting the puck on the net.

“You never know what’s going to happen,” he said.

Bonnee said he enjoys the team dynamic of having older and younger players together.

“The older girls are taking the younger girls under their wing, trying to show them the way. I think a big part of this team is the camaraderie,” he said.

Although Gaylord is young, the Enforcers control the puck well.

“We can compete with most of the teams,” Bonnee said. “We’re just not physically big enough, strong enough, but we do have talent. We have good skaters and puck handlers.”

The Enforcers controlled play early in the first period and Alison Shrift put back a rebound off Courtney FitzGerald’s shot for a 1-0 lead at the 6:22 mark.

“We’re trying to teach them to be a puck position team, kind of like the Red Wings,” Bonnee said. “We want them coming after us. We don’t want to be chasing them. So we go hard to the puck every time.”

Gaylord goaltender Allison Aown made several nice saves near the end of the period to keep the one goal lead.

Fitzhenry scored on a putback of Sam Fahl’s shot at 2:02 of the second period to make it 2-0. Kentwood’s Cora Turrell got free for a breakaway on a Gaylord power play, took a shot, grabbed her own rebound and scored a shorthanded goal to cut the lead in half later in the period.

But Jess Campbell gave the Enforcers a 3-1 lead when she flipped the puck in from the right circle at the 13:21 mark of the period.

Kentwood continued to play hard in the third period to force overtime. Sarah Sokolski took a shot from the right circle for a third-period goal at 5:26, assisted by Turrell and Sara Meyer, to cut the lead to 3-2. Rebecca Allis knotted the game at 3-3 when she got free for another shorthanded goal by Kentwood. The shot came from the right circle 8:05 into the period.

“I was a little upset we had a 3-1 lead and it ended up going into overtime,” Bonnee said. “That kind of killed us. But you just try to keep the mental focus on the team and try not to hang your heads down when you get scored on and come back twice as hard.”

Both teams killed off power plays over the next three overtimes before Fitzhenry scored the game winner.

The victory gave the team a third state title in a row. Previously, the Enforcers competed as the Traverse City Habs. They moved to Gaylord to be more centrally located, as girls from throughout northern Michigan play on the team, Bonnee said.

Girls 19U Notebook

Kentwood beat Gaylord, 2-0, in the premliminary round on goals from Rachel Ross and Sokolski… Also at the four-team tournament, Gaylord shut out Ann Arbor, 6-0, earning a shutout for Aown. Campbell scored two goals and had an assist… Gaylord also toppled Belle Tire, 4-1. Hayley Betker and Sam Dunwoody each had a goal and an assist in the victory. Heather Giuliaualli scored the Belle goal… Kentwood doubled up Belle Tire, 6-3, as Turrell and Tina Walter each had two goals. Tes Mowczan had two goals for Belle Tire… Kentwood also shut out Ann Arbor, 4-0. Marsh earned the shutout. Becky Adams, Lindsay Burch, Christina Walter and Audrey Reenders scored… Ann Arbor got an unassisted third-period goal by Kristina Lince to slip past Belle Tire, 3-2. Scoring for Belle Tire were Rebecca Kuhns and Krysta Brooks.

Top of Page