The Penobscot Pioneers burst onto the schoolgirl high school hockey scene last year with a terrific first season of existence.
The Pioneers, which includes girls from Bangor, Brewer, Hampden, Hermon, John Bapst, Old Town and Orono, went 14-3-1 during the regular season to finish second in the Class A North Heal Points standings.
The team won its first ever playoff game, 6-3, over the Winslow cooperative team and then lost to top seed Yarmouth/Freeport 3-1 in the A North championship game. The Clippers’ third goal was an empty-netter.
The Pioneers haven’t missed a beat this season. Even though they have lost one more regular season game than a year ago, they are still 11-4 and appear to have again locked up the second seed behind Yarmouth-Freeport.
The Pioneers lost to Yarmouth-Freeport 6-5 on Tuesday night on a last-minute power play goal.
The Pioneers still have an outside chance to claim the top seed and will travel to take on the Clippers on Jan. 30.
Jarrod Williams is in his first season as the head coach after serving as an assistant and then the interim head coach last year. He took over as the interim head coach when Michael Keim stepped down at the end of the regular season.
He has been pleased with his team’s season so far.
“They have played great. We have had a couple of down games and we talked about that in practice this week. But we’ve figured those things out. Stay positive, keep the energy on the bench and keep moving forward,” Williams said.
The Pioneers had lost to once-beaten Class A South leader and defending state champ Cheverus-Old Orchard Beach-Windham 7-2 in the game before the Yarmouth-Freeport contest.
Penobscot senior defenseman Anna Molloy from Orono said their bounceback performance in keeping the game close against Yarmouth-Freeport in the wake of the Cheverus-Old Orchard Beach-Windham loss was a positive development.
“We took some good steps today and I think we can keep going. We’re going to try to focus on playoffs and keep playing like we’re going to play in the playoffs,” Molloy said.
The Pioneers will play their final home regular season game on Friday against the Winslow cooperative team at the Penobscot Ice Arena in Brewer at 5 p.m.
Following the Yarmouth/Freeport game, they will travel to play the Gorham cooperative team in the regular season finale on Feb. 3.
Molloy and leading scorer Jordin Williams said they expect the team to keep getting better over the next three games leading into the playoffs.
“You’re going to see a lot of improvements,” Molloy said.
Williams, the daughter of the coach, has followed up an outstanding sophomore season in which she notched 30 goals and 25 assists with an exceptional junior year. The dynamic center from Brewer has 26 goals and 23 assists.
Brewer junior Paige Oakes centers the second line and has 24 goals and 7 assists. She had four first-period goals in the loss to Yarmouth-Freeport. Oakes had 16 & 16 a year ago.
Hampden senior Meghan Delahanty (16 goals, 9 assists) is the left wing on Oakes’ line and Old Town freshman Ella Davis (4 & 11) is the left wing. Delahanty had 17 & 16 last season as the team’s third-leading scorer before she suffered a season-ending injury the week before the A North title game.
Emma McNeil, the team captain who had a team-high 31 goals along with 17 assists, graduated. She is now an assistant coach along with Kim Shelley, Meghan MacDonald and Jim Zetes.
Williams is flanked on a line by Hermon junior Delaney Carr (10 & 10) and Old Town senior Hannah Marsh (1 & 0). Marsh has just returned off a long injury absence.
“It’s good to have her back,” said coach Williams. “We’ve got to get her back into game shape. She will be a real good addition to the team.”
The defense corps has been hurt by the loss of smooth-skating Hampden sophomore Bella Saucier due to a season-ending collarbone injury. She had a goal and four assists in 11 games.
Molloy headlines the defense corps. She has had an exemplary campaign with 10 goals and 10 assists. Orono senior Kaylin Morrison (1 & 3) has been a reliable defender and John Bapst of Bangor’s Isabelle Brideau (5 & 15) has had a great freshman season and has been moved back to defense from forward.
“[Brideau] has been an offensive spark this season and I’m not sure she’s going to stay on defense,” coach Williams said.
Old Town sophomore Lily Rand and Hampden sophomore Tatum Cousins have provided depth on the blue line.
Orono sophomore Abbie Derosier has played in all 15 games and has a 2.51 goals-against average and a .890 save percentage. She had an 8-2-1 record, a 1.97 GAA and an .865 save percentage as a freshman last year.
Delahanty, Williams, Morrison and Molloy are the captains.
“We play well as a team. We connect well with each other and we have that chemistry most teams don’t have,” Oakes said.
Yarmouth-Freeport coach Dave Intraversato, whose team is 3-0-1 against the Pioneers with the three wins being decided by a total of four goals, said Penobscot is “fast and a pretty strong team for their second year in the league.”
Other players who have appeared in at least eight games for the Pioneers have been Orono senior forward Sophie Hepler, Hampden sophomore forwards Olivia Veves and Jess Sass, Old Town freshman defenseman Alyse Sapiel, John Bapst sophomore forward Erin Pierce and Old Town freshman forward Kara Leclair.
