The NAPHA weekend took place in Burlington, VT from November 15th-17th at Cairns arena. This displayed good talent for the start of the prep season. Below is a write up of some of the players over the weekend.
RNS Prep Girls
Cassie McCallum #30 (Rothesay Netherwood, G, 2021): After facing a fair amount of shots at the hand of Gilmour, Cassie proved that she can hold her own in between the pipes. She tracks the puck well through traffic and looked comfortable at the top of her crease.
Katie Cameron #10 (Rothesay Netherwood, D, 2020) : Katie is a quick and smart defenseman who is constantly moving into spaces where she can be an option for her teammates during transitions and regroups. She moves the puck up ice well and shows great decision-making when it comes to pass versus shot selection as evident by her game-tying assist on a back door tap-in goal against Gilmour.
Arianne Roy #14 (Rothesay Netherwood, D, 2020): Arianne is a strong skater with sound defensive positioning and good size. She is calm with the puck and is a dynamic defenseman that uses her hockey IQ to either skate or pass the puck out of her defensive zone. She is vocal on the ice and is a good two-way defenseman who can seamlessly jump into the rush to create opportunities.
Sarah Taylar #8 (Rothesay Netherwood, D, 2022): Sarah is a good sized defenseman with great gap control and a strong presence along the boards. She excels in creating turnovers in the neutral zone by stepping into passing lanes, having good stick position, and winning board battles.
Livvy Dewar #16 (Rothesay Netherwood, F, 2022): Livvy is a quick skater with a great compete level. In their game against Gilmour, she showed some of her defensive skills and ability to make quick decisions under pressure. On the other end of the ice, she challenged Gilmour’s Apsite to make some big saves.
Olivia Eustace #9 (Rothesay Netherwood, F, 2020, Dalhousie): Olivia establishes a fast-paced, physical presence on the ice. She is a great skater that forchecks and backchecks with a purpose and is able to create offensive zone chances from turnovers. She has smooth hands that allow her to get quality scoring chances.
Lauren Fisher #13 (Rothesay Netherwood, F, 2022): Lauren is quick skater who is able to apply pressure and create turnovers in the neutral and offensive zones. She gets moving quickly with the puck, allowing her team to get on the offensive quickly. She makes tape to tape passes and sees the ice well.
Gilmour Prep
Kristiana Apsite #35 (Gilmour, G, 2020): Kristiana is a small goalie that does a great job of getting big in the net and taking away options from the shooter. She has great lateral movement, pushing post to post to make a couple of wraparound saves. She comes out of her net to play the puck and has a strong glove hand.
Alexis Nguyen #2 (Gilmour, F, 2020): Alexis is patient with the puck and strong on draws. When she doesn’t have the puck, she looks to take away passing lanes and positions herself well above the puck. Overall, she has good awareness on the ice and can use her speed to beat defenders wide.
Emma Pickering #4 (Gilmour, F, 2023): Looks to advance the puck wherever she can and is a quick, shifty skater. She uses her speed to apply pressure on the forecheck and despite being small, she has a good physical presence on the ice.
Alaina Giampietro #5 (Gilmour, F, 2022): Alaina is a smart forward who skates with speed with and without the puck. When she doesn’t have the puck she is skillfull at moving into areas where she can receive passes. She has a strong shot and is able to fire pucks to the net on the rush with accuracy.
Jenna Salminen #8 (Gilmour, F, 2020): From Finland, Jenna comes in with great size and good ability to protect the puck. She reads offensive zone plays well as they develop and looks to move into positions where she can be an outlet.
Beate Zagare #7 (Gilmour, D, 2020): Beate establishes herself as a physical presence on the ice in both the neutral and defensive zones. She shoulder checks to look for options before retrieving pucks. She is not shy when it comes to body contact and often skates through pins along the boards.
Julija Blazinsek #11 (Gilmour, F, 2021): Julija is a strong skater with a knack for getting into scoring positions. Her good stickwork and strong shot earned her a goal in Gilmour’s tie against RNS.
Ruby McCall #13 (Gilmour, F, 2020): Ruby is a defensive minded forward willing to step in front of shots. She saw a lot of PK time and excelled in reading plays and being in areas where she could pounce on loose pucks. She looks to create offensive opportunities by skating hard to the net.
Bridgit Terry #14 (Gilmour, D, 2021): Bridgit is quick to scan the ice with the puck, looking for her best passing option. She hustles hard in her own d-zone and looks comfortable in front of her own net. She is calm with the puck and rarely panics under pressure.
Elijeanna Turgeon #16 (Gilmour, D, 2020): Elijeanna is a strong defenseman who uses her body to her advantage in the defensive zone. She reads forechecking pressure well and is able to skate out of pressure well.
Roxee Hughes #17 (Gilmour, D, 2020): Roxee has good size and enters into board battles with good habits; she keeps herself on the defensive side and keeps one hand on her stick. She picks up sticks out front and is willing to put herself in front of shots.
Maggie Dean #19 (Gilmour, F, 2022): Maggie has great work ethic and never gives up on any pucks. She supports her D well by backchecking hard through the middle and putting herself in shooting and passing lanes.
Alexandria Cistolo #20 (Gilmour, D, 2023): Alex is a good skater who plays both defense and forward. As a defenseman she always makes sure to make her way back into the house to pick up players in front. She plays with her head on a swivel and is aware of other players on the ice.
Isabella Sprang #22 (Gilmour, D, 2021): Isabella is a quick skater who is able to move up the ice quickly to break up plays. She is a defensive-minded forward who is often the third forward high in the offensive zone and helps her D out a lot in her D zone.
Nichols
Alexa Carlon #3 (Niagara Purple Eagles/Nichols, F, 2020): Takes away opposing D’s passing lanes in the defensive zone by effectively pressuring with her stick in passing lanes.
Claire McGennis #6 (Niagara Purple Eagles/Nichols, F, 2020): Claire is a quick forward with good size. She buzzes around the offensive zone with and without the puck looking for opportunities. She looks to make quick passes to get her team out of the defensive zone and is able to change directions very well.
Maeve Hourihan #8 (Buffalo Bisons U16/Nichols, F, 2022): Maeve skates out of her zone with her head up, constantly looking for options. She is a good overall skater who hustles hard on the backcheck to create turnovers in the neutral zone and create offensive chances.
Paige Gross #9 (Buffalo Bisons U16/Nichols, F, 2021, Brown): Paige is a power forward that established herself as a strong forechecker, often making defense make decisions before they have any options. When she doesn’t have the puck in her defensive zone, she has solid positioning in passing and shooting lanes and is always ready to jump on a loose puck. In their game versus KES, she was able to show off her stick skills by netting a goal off of a quick release wrist shot just outside of the crease.
Julia Peters #10 (Nichols, F, 2023): Julia is a quick skater who uses her speed to put pressure on both the forecheck and the backcheck. She is often the first forward in the zone and the first forward back. Through her hustle she creates turnovers in the neutral zone to create more offensive opportunities for her team.
Maggie Pfalzgraf #11 (Buffalo Bisons/Nichols, F, 2021): Maggie is a small and fast skater who consistently makes smart puck plays, putting the puck into open ice for her teammates. Her skating was highlighted in multiple drives to the net with her stick down looking for scoring chances. She finds places in front of the net where she finds great scoring opportunities.
Courtney Staniszewski #12 (Niagara Purple Eagles/Nichols, F, 2020): Courtney has great size and uses it to establish physical contact below the red line in her offensive and defensive zones to separate players from the puck. Her skating needs work but with further development she will become a force to be reckoned with on the forecheck.
Sarah Waskielewicz #13 (Buffalo Bisons U16/Nichols, D, 2022): Sarah is a very mobile defenseman who is consistently looking for ways to get involved offensively whether it be by skating the puck end-to-end or by hoping up in the rush as a third or second forward. She maintains good gap and should look to continue developing her passing skills and ability to find her teammates on the ice to move the puck.
Lyvia Chambers #14 (Buffalo Bisons U16/Nichols, F, 2021): Lyvia is a strong defensive defenseman who maintains good gaps with good stick on puck habits. She held her own on multiple 1 on 1 and 2 on 1 rushes, either knocking the puck off of the forward’s stick or keeping them to the outside.
Anabelle Gicewicz #16 (Buffalo Bisons U16/Nichols, F, 2021): Anabelle is defensive defenseman with good size. She plays with her head on a swivel in the D-zone and saw some good time on the PK for Nichols which had a perfect record on the day.
Ava Provenzo #21 (Nichols, F, 2023): Ava is a small, shifty forward who uses her speed and ability to move quickly laterally to gain separation from defenders and break into the offensive zone. She is able to protect the puck to get around defenders and sets her teammates up in front for great chances. One of her many net drives resulted in an assist.
Emily Kasprzak #22 (Niagara Purple Eagles/Nichols, D, 2021): Emily creates good opportunities for her team using her speed and ability to protect the puck. In her team’s game versus KES, she created multiple scoring opportunities and showed that she be a playmaker as well as shoot the puck.
Alexandra Snow #23 (Niagara Purple Eagles/Nichols, D, 2020, Castleton): A stay at home defenseman, Alexandra demonstrates great d-zone habits. She consistently has her head on a swivel and her stick in a passing lane. She hustles hard wherever she is on the ice and has a good shot from the point. Her work ethic was rewarded with a 3rd period goal on a shot from the point against KES.
Cassie Borowski #25 (Nichols, D, 2023): Cassie is an opportunistic D always looking to advance the puck or step up to break up plays in the neutral zone. She is patient with the puck and provides good support to her defensive partner.
Ellie Simmons #35 (Buffalo Bisons U16/Nichols, G, 2022, UVM):Ellie plays with great poise for a young goaltender. She takes up a lot of net and is able to jump on any loose pucks in/around the crease. She has good lateral movement and is able to get up from her butterfly quickly.
Stanstead Prep
Portia Eldaun #2 (Stanstead Prep, D, 2020): Portia is a defenseman with good size and good movement across the blue line. In her defensive zone she is quick to move pucks up to her forwards and is strong on her stick under pressure.
Emily Holmes #7 (Stanstead Prep, D, 2020): Holmes makes her presence known at all times on the ice as an extremely vocal defenseman. Whether her team is in the D, neutral, or offensive zone, you can hear her talking to her teammates. She keeps her toes up ice in the defensive zone and demonstrates great poise with the puck.
Alexia Moreau #11 (Stanstead Prep, F, 2022): A hard and fast skater, Alexia moves north and south on the ice with great speed whether she’s on the forecheck or backcheck. She is able to create space between herself and defenders with quick, lateral movement which rewarded her with an assist on the game tying goal in Stanstead’s game vs RNS.
Isabelle Richard #16 (Stanstead Prep, F, 2020): Isabelle is a power forward with great size. She buzzes around the neutral zone to support the puck and get open for scoring opportunities. When she posts up in front of the net, she makes seeing around her a tough task for any goaltender.
Elodie Roy #17 (Stanstead Prep, D, 2023): Elodie is a smaller but strong defenseman with a great slapshot. She is very vocal with her teammates on the point and is not afraid to step up for an o-zone pinch. She created a grade A scoring opportunity by carrying the puck into the offensive zone, releasing a hard and fast slapshot to the top right corner.
Kennedy Wilson #22 (Stanstead Prep, F, 2022): Kennedy displays patience with the puck in the o-zone by creating opportunities for cycles below the redline and delaying to give her teammates the opportunity to move into scoring positions. She successfully moves the puck from low to high to open up the offensive zone and create new lanes.
Melianne Reynolds #24 (Stanstead Prep, F, 2020): Melianne is a small but powerful forward. She spent a good amount of time on the penalty kill in her team’s game versus RNS and showed her ability to read plays and anticipate. She is a quick skater who uses her speed to create opportunities off of turnovers.
Megane Pilon #33 (Stanstead Prep, G, 2022): A big goaltender that takes up a lot of net but is also capable of moving side to side to make close proximity saves.
KES Prep
Kaylee Hickey #4 (Kings Edgehill Prep, F, 2021): Kaylee is a forward with great size. Her stride is long and she is able to gain speed when she is given space on the ice. She uses her size to her advantage in the offensive zone to get into the gritty areas in the net front. She netted one against Selects Academy by bearing down in front and finding the rebound.
Hayden Lilly #5 (Kings Edgehill Prep, F, 2023): Hayden is a small and young forward with good speed. She supports the puck well and as the third forward high she looks to keep the puck in the zone by pinching along the wall. She is a good skater and sees the ice well in her defensive end.
Alli Martin #7 (Kings Edgehill Prep, D, 2021): Allie has great work ethic and looks to be a physical presence on the ice. She has a strong stick and moves the puck hard and fast to her teammates. She made some good decisions in her defensive zone to move the puck above the blueline off of chip plays. As her skating develops, she has the potential to become a strong defensive defenseman.
Sarah Hardy #9 (Kings Edgehill Prep, F, 2022): Sarah is a young power forward with good open-ice speed. She uses her size to win board battles and shows her great work ethic by establishing pressure on the forecheck.
Abby McCarthy #11 (Kings Edgehill Prep, F, 2022): Abby is a quick forward that uses her speed to apply aggressive pressure on the opposing team’s defense in even strength and shorthanded situations. She creates time and space for herself when she has puck with her speed and good lateral movement.
Abby Wamboldt #12 (Kings Edgehill Prep, F, 2021): Abby is a high-skill, intelligent, two-way forward with good size and great work ethic. Her skating ability compliments her hustle, making her a great forechecker and backchecker. She has good stick skills and executes tape to tape passes. She is able to evade pressure with good puck protection and speed.
Jaelyn Keiver #13 (Kings Edgehill Prep, F, 2022): Jaelyn is a good two-way center with good feet and good stick skills. She works hard below the redlines in the offensive and defensive zones. She is able to carry the puck into the offensive zone with speed and has a good shot. She works hard to create turnovers and never quits on a loose puck.
Josie King #14 (Kings Edgehill Prep, F, 2022): Josie is a strong skater and plays a solid two-way game. She uses her speed and hockey IQ to create grade A scoring chances for both herself and her teammates. She does a good job supporting her defenseman through great back checking habits.
Emily Coady #15 (Kings Edgehill Prep, F, 2020): Emily is a quick skater and is able to maintain her speed when handling the puck and is able to put defenders in vulnerable positions. She plays a sound positional game when she doesn’t have the puck and looks to find space to become a threat in the offensive zone.
Chloe McClean #16 (Kings Edgehill Prep, D, 2021): Chloe is an offensive minded defenseman who skates well and has a strong point shot. She is reliable in her defensive zone and is able to escape pressure well with the puck. She looks for opportunities to advance the puck out of her zone and finds lanes well.
Radka Sevcik #17 (Kings Edgehill Prep, F, 2020): Radka is a reliable defensive forward to looks to create opportunities from good defensive plays. She gets into shooting lanes to block shots and makes good decisions in her defensive end.
Annie Gillies #18 (Kings Edgehill Prep, D, 2020): Annie is a smaller defenseman with good awareness on the ice. When skating to retrieve pucks, she identifies pressure well through shoulder checking and makes sound decisions on where to move the puck based on that. In the neutral zone, she does a good job of getting her toes up ice before moving the puck.
Kennedy MacDonald #19 (Kings Edgehill Prep, D, 2021): Kennedy is a great offensive defenseman. She was able to create great offensive opportunities off of sound defensive play, netting a goal against Selects Academy from a blocked shot that resulted in a partial breakaway. She takes good angles through the neutral and defensive zones, is a great skater, and has good composure with the puck.
Elizabeth Hardy #23 (Kings Edgehill Prep, F, 2024): Elizabeth is a young forward with great size. She uses her size to establish a physical presence in front of the net to set up screens.
Jordyn MacIsaac #24 (Kings Edgehill Prep, F, 2020): Jordyn has great size and overall plays a good physical game that results in her winning 50/50 board battles along the half wall to help her team break the puck out.
Deanna Fraser #1 (Kings Edgehill Prep, G, 2020): Deanna is a strong goaltender who takes up a lot of net. She showed a great amount of resilience in KES’s game versus Selects Academy where she was able to rebound from a tough opening 10 minutes to make some game-changing saves. She challenges the puck well and gives her team a chance to stay in the game even when they are outmatched in skill.
Rice Prep
Leo Clark #1 (Rice, G): Throughout the weekend, Leo consistently gave her team the chance to win. She has great size in the net and moves well. She is able to see the puck well through traffic and came up with some big time saves that helped sway momentum in her team’s favour.
Emma Laroche #2 (Rice, F): Emma is a young and physical power forward. She has great size and is a smooth skater who moves North-South on the ice well. She moves the puck well, often finding her teammates cross-ice on the breakout or in the neutral zone. She is skillful at taking away options in her defensive zone and battles hard for loose pucks. As she continues to grow and develop, she could become a great two-way forward.
Kat Hoff #3 (Rice, F, 2021): Kat is a junior forward who is strong on her feet and competes hard on the ice in open-ice situations and in board battles. She is a good skater and uses her speed and poise to create turnovers in the defensive zone in puck battles against defenseman and in the neutral and offensive zones.
Vivian Lanfear #4 (Rice, D, 2020); Vivian is able to consistently showcase her ability to get pucks off her stick quickly from the blueline. She is a threat in the offensive zone, getting the majority of her shots to the net through traffic and is constantly talking to her defensive partner and forwards.
Saige Biddle #11 (Rice, F, 2020): Saige is a good skater and an opportunistic forward. She looks to create chances off of defensive and neutral zone turnovers by applying hard and fast pressure to defensive players.
Abby Chauvin #17 (Rice, F): Abby is a fast-moving forward who shows her speed well through great North-South movement on the ice. She has great positioning in her own defensive end and makes smart decisions with the puck when she gets below the red line in her offensive end whether that be by moving the puck to the front or holding onto it to create better options.
Brianna Conger #22 (Rice, D): Brianna is a smart D whose first instinct upon puck retrieval is to get her head and toes looking up ice. She is smart in her defensive end and makes smart passes on the breakout.
Northwood
Kira Cook #2 (Northwood, F, 2023): Kira is a good skater with a great work ethic. On the forecheck and backcheck she scans the ice well and looks to take away as many options as possible. She communicates well with her teammates and drives the net hard to create scoring opportunities.
Miranda Bookman #4 (Northwood, F, 2020): Miranda is an opportunistic forward with good size and defensive awareness. She maintains excellent F3 positioning in the offensive zone while also looking to be an option for her teammates. She was able to find space on the power play for a quick shot on net which resulted in a Northwood goal.
Marina Alvarez #5 (Northwood, D, 2021): Marina is a great two-way defenseman that rushes the puck with speed whenever she finds a lane. She created a lot of Northwood’s offensive chances for over the weekend, earning an end to end goal. She is a strong skater and has excellent hockey IQ and good hands. She is able to protect the puck well while also able to hold her own in one-on-one defensive situations.
Ashlyn McGrath #6 (Northwood, F, 2020): Ashlyn is a good skater who takes advantage of opportunities as they come. She is sneaky on the ice and was able to get behind defenders for breakaways on multiple occasions. She uses her speed to gain and maintain distance between herself and defenders.
Kate Hagness #7 (Northwood, D, 2022): Kate is a solid defensive defenseman who evades pressure well. She is able to control the puck and keep her head up to find options on the breakout.
Ella Fesette #10 (Northwood, F, 2022): Ella is a good skater who maintains a great gap as a forward in the offensive zone when she does not have the puck–a skill she used on multiple occasions to create grade A scoring opportunities off of turnovers. She was rewarded with a goal versus Rice in the team’s tie.
Hadley Swedlund #14 (Northwood, F, 2020): Hadley has great size and moves the puck well. Her hockey IQ is shown through her ability to move the puck to a teammate and then move to a scoring position, expecting the puck back. She wins 1 on 1 stick battles and hustles hard on the ice.
Maggie MacNeil #15 (Northwood, D, 2020): Maggie has good size and high hockey IQ in her defensive end. She has great net front presence and uses her size to win battles for space and the puck. She makes good passes along her offensive blueline and has a good shot.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images
