Spaulding completes undefeated season to claim first D-I girls hockey state title

The first Vermont high school girls hockey program to seize a perfect season yearned for a more definitive claim this winter: Best team in the state.

Spaulding left no doubt on Wednesday night.

Three years removed from perfection in Division II, the top-seeded Crimson Tide reached the top of Division I for the first time in program history, skating to a decisive, 4-1 victory over No. 3 Burlington/Colchester in the state championship game at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

It's also the Barre school's first D-I state title in any sport since the boys hockey team won it all in 2010.

"I never would’ve thought we’d be D-I champs," senior star Rebecca McKelvey said. "Bringing home a D-I title for Spaulding, that’s something you don’t see everyday."

Amelia Healey broke the stalemate early in the second period, launching a four-goal blitz over a nine-plus minute span as the Crimson Tide (21-0-1) wrapped an unbeaten season in which they outscored opponents 117-19. Spaulding also beat the Sealakers (15-6-2) four times this season and won 15 of its 21 games by three goals or more.

"We have a sign in the locker room that says, ‘Get to the Gut,'" McKelvey said. "Couldn’t be happier for my team, couldn’t be happier for the seniors I’m graduating with.

"We wanted it more than anyone else and I think it showed all the way to the final buzzer tonight."

More:Live updates: Division I hockey championship doubleheader at UVM

The Crimson Tide were also motivated from last year's narrow, 3-2 defeat to BFA-St. Albans, the state's most successful girls hockey program. Spaulding is now 1-4 in D-I state finals.

"Our coach (Dave Lawrence) showed us a picture on one of the first days of practice of BFA hoisting the trophy and that has fueled us since Day 1 to get back here," McKelvey said. "We were hoping to get revenge on BFA. But beating BC is just as good. It’s a good way to end the season."

After a scoreless opening 15 minutes, Spaulding pounced on chances in the middle frame to pull away from the gritty Sealakers, who upset BFA 1-0 in the semifinals. Healey, an eighth-grader, flipped a shot from the point that evaded Sealaker goalie Olivia Dallamura (17 saves) for a 1-0 Spaulding lead 4 minutes, 58 seconds into the second.

"It really set the momentum for all of us and really got us going. We just needed that first goal," Healey said.

The goal unlocked the Crimson Tide's high-powered attack. Healey gathered a turnover in the offensive zone and fed the puck to Ruby Harrington, who offered a shot on net. Dallamura blocked the close-range attempt, but Peyton Laperle, another eighth-grader, swiped the rebound and finished on the backhand for a 2-0 margin.

McKelvey followed with a quick-snap one-timer at 10:32 of the period and Hannah King swooped in on a shorthanded breakaway to make it 4-0 in the final minute of the period.

McKelvey, who scored the opening goal in Spaulding's D-II championship win in 2020, said Healey's strike put a jolt into the crowd and the team.

"BC had a bigger student section than us and that didn’t stop us. We have Spaulding — the Crimson Crazies, that’s what we call them," McKelvey said. "They fueled us, we fueled them — it was just amazing to get that goal."

Rayna Long turned back 13 shots in the Crimson Tide net. Brooks DeShaw netted the Sealakers' lone goal late in the third period, but the deficit was too much to overcome.

"We came back and played a strong third period and showed that we could be in the game," B/C co-coach Molly Beauregard said. "We had an awesome year."

The combined attendance for Wednesday's D-I boys and girls hockey doubleheader championship was 3,488. Spaulding is just the second school not named BFA or Essex to win the D-I girls hockey title, and the first since Rutland in 2017.

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Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: VT H.S. girls hockey championship: Spaulding seals undefeated season