Women's Hockey Starts Season With 4-1 Win Over NEC

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The MCLA Women's Ice Hockey Team opened their 2024-25 regular season this evening by welcoming New England College to the Peter W. Foote Vietnam Veterans Memorial Rink for a non-conference matchup with the Pilgrims. Alexandrea Bednar scored the Trailblazers' first goal of the season, while Carlen Bertrand scored twice and added an assist in MCLA's 4-1 victory.

THE BASICS:

• Date: Friday, November 1, 2024
• Score: NEC 1, MCLA 4
• Records: New England College 0-1-0 (NEHC 0-0-0) | MCLA Trailblazers 1-0-0 (MASCAC 0-0-0)
• Series History: NEC leads the all-time series 2-1 after winning both games of a home-and-home series on December 1^st and 2^nd last season. The Pilgrims won the first game in Henniker, NH, 7-3, and then followed it up with a 5-1 win in North Adams.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Senior center Alexandrea Bednar (Vita, MB / University of Wisconsin - Eau-Claire) was the first Trailblazer to light the lamp for the 2024-25 season after she came out of the MCLA defensive zone with a small chip shot ahead to herself and outskated a pair of NEC defenders through the center of the ice to create a one-on-one situation with the goalie. Bednar kept the puck low and went through the five-hole at 9:44 of the first period. Sophomore defenseman Carlen Bertrand (Timmins, ON / Sudbury Wolves) and first-year defenseman Breanna Patterson (Argyle, TX / Dallas Stars Elite) were credited with assists.
• The second period was an offensive barrage for the Trailblazers, finding the back of the net three times in the second frame. Bertrand started the scoring with MCLA on the power play after an NEC player had been called for roughing. She went coast to coast after the Pilgrims dumped the puck into the host's defensive end, powering up the left wing and flipping the puck off the underside of the crossbar into the net at the 3:34 mark of the period.
• Just over two minutes later, Bertrand did it again, picking up the puck behind her own net and outracing the Pilgrims through mid-ice along the right wing. As she crossed the blue line, she centered on the ice and got a wrist shot off into the top right corner of the goal. It was the second multi-goal game of Bertrand's career, having done the same thing during the Trailblazers' home opener last season against Hilbert College.
• NEC responded at 12:27 of the period. Mae Lafferty scored her team's only goal of the night, with assists credited to Jamie Blondin and Olivia Lindberg.
• Sophomore forward Maggie Danchak (Chalfont, PA / Philadelphia Little Flyers) scored the game's final goal with just under four minutes left in the period. Sophomore defenseman Mallory Stuart (Harpswell, ME / Casco Bay Mariners) blocked a Pilgrim shot, and the puck rebounded to sophomore center Rebekah Ade (Yucca Valley, CA / New Jersey Colonials) along the right boards. Ade chipped it ahead to Danchak, who barely stayed onside, before skating in on the NEC goalie and firing off a shot into the short side of the cage. The goal was the first of Danchak's collegiate career, while Ade and Stuart each picked up their first assists of the season.
• Despite the lack of scoring in the third period, it wasn't without its excitement. After the teams had nine shots in the first period, the Pilgrims outshot the Trailblazers 20-8 in the second and then 18-6 in the third.
• Sophomore goalie Kaitlyn O'Brien stopped 46 of the 47 shots she faced to pick up her second career victory and moved to 1-0-0 for the year. NEC's Amy Donnelly finished the night with 19 saves on 23 shots and fell to 0-1-0.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Shots: NEC 47, MCLA 23
• Saves: NEC 19, MCLA 46
• Faceoffs Won: NEC 30, MCLA 31
• Penalty/Minutes: NEC 4/8:00, MCLA 2/4:00
• Power Plays: NEC 0 for 2, MCLA 1 for 4

UP NEXT:

On Saturday, MCLA will be back in action when they travel to New England College for the second half of this non-conference home-and-home with the Pilgrims at the Lee Clement Arena. The puck will drop at 4 p.m.