BOSTON — It's almost like the puck had eyes. With roughly 10 minutes to play in a tied game, Shrewsbury defender Yasmine McKenzie fired a bullet from the point that went through a sea of players and right past St. Mary's goalie Angelina Catino to give Shrewsbury the late lead. No. 3 Shrewsbury never looked...
BOSTON — It's almost like the puck had eyes.
With roughly 10 minutes to play in a tied game, Shrewsbury defender Yasmine McKenzie fired a bullet from the point that went through a sea of players and right past St. Mary's goalie Angelina Catino to give Shrewsbury the late lead.
No. 3 Shrewsbury never looked back, adding two more goals and upsetting No. 1 St. Mary's, 4-1, to win the 2023 MIAA Division 1 girls hockey championship.
It's only the second time St. Mary's has been held to one goal all season.
The scoring started in the first period when Shrewsbury forward Taylor Ryder finished off a nice offensive zone sequence by one-timing a shot past Catino to make it 1-0.
It took until the third period for St. Mary's to respond. Just under three minutes into the final frame, forward Amanda Forziati smacked in a rebound to tie the game, 1-1.
After McKenzie's goal from the point, Shrewsbury played very strong defense to keep St. Mary's lethal offense off the scoreboard.
Shrewsbury defender Maddie Mrva decided to give her team some insurance. So, with just over two minutes left in the game, she dangled through St. Mary's defense and scored on the backhand to make it 3-1.
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Check out the full MIAA D1 girls bracket
And then, with 1:34 to play, Shrewsbury forward Paige Umile potted an empty-net goal to extend the lead to 4-1.
It's the first time Shrewsbury has won an MIAA state championship and head coach Frank Panarelli's team did it with an impressive commitment to defense.
