U19 girls’ hockey wins two over weekend during home games

Seniors Tessa Wirsing and Faith Pederson honored

By Than Acuff

The WEHA/Grand Junction River Hawks u19 girls’ hockey team rallied in front of the hometown Gunnison Valley crowd to win two games during a four-game home stretch Saturday and Sunday, January 17-18.

With numbers down locally at the u19 girls’ hockey age group, six local skaters joined forces with the Grand Junction River Hawks to play a full season of hockey this year. As a result, full team practices are nearly non-existent but players from both towns still get workouts on their respective ice sheets meeting throughout the year for games.

That presents a massive hurdle for the team to build cohesion throughout the season, and they’ve struggled having won just one game heading into their only weekend of games in Gunnison. But fueled by the hometown Gunnison Valley crowd and looking to give local seniors Tessa Wirsing and Faith Pederson a final season boost, the team brought their A-game throughout the weekend.

After opening with a 2-0 loss to Durango/Telluride on Saturday morning, the WEHA/Grand Junction squad showed up Saturday night against the New Mexico Mustangs determined to get the win for their senior teammates.

They came out firing with heavy forechecking to keep the Mustangs off balance and create several early scoring chances. As the first period wore on, the Mustangs speed played a part to create their own scoring opportunities but WEHA/Grand Junction goalie, Corian Duncan who hails from Telluride, made the needed saves to keep the Mustangs scoreless.

WEHA/Grand Junction would eventually seize on the wide-open play as they finally reaped the reward of their first period effort scoring to go up 1-0. And with Wirsing, Pederson, Tati Collins and Haley Roberts all providing effort at both ends of the ice, they remained out front by the close of the first period.

The Mustangs stepped up their effort to open the second period pressing into the WEHA/Grand Junction zone and firing shots, but a compact and well-organized WEHA/Grand Junction defensive effort helped them hold onto their 1-0 lead heading into the third period.

WEHA/Grand Junction then matched the Mustangs effort in the third to turn the game back in their favor. Collins continued to work hard in the offensive zone with Wirsing shutting down Mustang breakouts up the boards, Pederson providing mid-ice effort and Roberts remaining unbeatable on defense and joining the offense. The WEHA/Grand Junction team would eventually hang on killing off a penalty in the final minute of play to seal the 1-0 win.

WEHA/Grand Junction faced Durango/Telluride Sunday morning looking for revenge and started out on the right foot as Collins assisted Jalie Colby for the opening goal. But Durango/Telluride tied it up midway through the first and scored again in the second period for the eventual 2-1 win.

They returned to the ice for their fourth and final game of the weekend, a rematch with New Mexico, looking to end it all on a high note. Once again, WEHA/Grand Junction opened the scoring early in the first period as Roberts assisted Colby for a 1-0 lead. But the Mustangs responded with two powerplay goals to take a 2-1 lead into the second period.

That would be it for the Mustangs though as WEHA/Grand Junction scored the next two with a goal in the second period and another in the third period to finish the weekend with a 3-2 win.