Washtenaw United Headed to D2 Girls' Hockey State Finals

The Washtenaw United girls' hockey team earned a spot in the Division 2 State Finals Wednesday evening with a 5-1 victory of host-team Regina/Lutheran North in the Michigan Girls High School Hockey League (MGHSHL) playoffs. 

Regina finished the regular season undefeated in league play, earning the top seed in the playoffs, while the United finished 8-3, good for 4th place in the standings. 

The United applied the pressure from the start, dominating play early and outshooting Regina early in the first. Regina was called for a tripping at 9:24, setting up the power play for the United. On the power play, Veronica Holmstrom (Dexter, ‘27) swept the puck behind the net after getting checked to the ice by Regina, Grant picked it up and stepped out in front, beating Regina goalie Kaitlin Garrett with a tough angle shot with 7:51 to go in the first.

The score would remain 1-0 heading into the 2nd period. Early on in the 2nd, with a faceoff to the Regina goaltender’s right, Cecilia Henriksen (Chelsea, ‘24) would win the faceoff to Sam Wawzysko (Saline, ‘24) on the outside, who would hand the puck off to defenseman Lilly Schlack (Saline, ‘26). Schlack drove low down the boards cutting to the net at the goal line finding Henriksen in front. Henriksen got a shot off, stopped by Garrett, but gathered her rebound and buried it glove side at 13:59.

Regina would answer with a shorthanded goal. Ella Barnhard picked up the puck at her blue line, skated through the neutral zone, and drove the Washtenaw net wide, beating Washtenaw Goalie Trista Tracy (Chelsea, ‘25) with a high shot over her blocker to cut the United lead in half. Tracy would turn aside 13 Regina shots before the night was over.

Before the end of the 2nd, at the 2:47 mark, Grant would beat the Regina defenseman to the puck just inside the Washtenaw blue line. Grant had speed exiting the zone and went untouched on a breakaway and beat Garrett with a low shot between the legs.

Washtenaw would successfully kill off a 4-minute power play, interrupted by 4 on 4 hockey thanks to a 2-minute Regina minor, at the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd. There was no scoring in the 3rd, until Regina pulled their goalie with time running down. Schlack would pick the puck up at her own goal line and fire it down to the other end, finding its way into the open net to extend the lead to 4-1 with 48 seconds to go. With the Regina goalie still pulled, Washtenaw would score its fastest 2 goals in team history. At the center ice circle, Henriksen won the faceoff to her left to Chloe Dillen (Saline, ‘24). Dillen would give it back to Henriksen at the red line who would fire a backhand into the empty net from the red line less than six seconds after the fifth goal.

After the game, United Coach Adam Winters had this to say about the win: “This was a great team effort today, we had everyone going up and down the lineup. Just excellent execution of our game plan. We came into this game not feeling like the underdog. We lost to Regina 2-1 a few weeks ago, and really dominated play in the 2nd half of that game, we just couldn’t find a way to get the puck in. We tried to play Regina’s game and got caught taking penalties and were distracted from what we wanted to do. We used two matchups against some Division 1 teams after the Regina game to work on our team defense, finalize our lines heading into playoffs, and put together some really strong portions of games against tough opponents. We knew if we could do that for 3 periods, we’d have a positive result. The team focused on what we needed to do to win, dictate play, and it showed today. I can’t say enough about the execution and effort today from the entire team.”

Washtenaw will face Cranbrook on Saturday at 10am at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth. 2-Seed Cranbrook defeated 3-seed Walled Lake 6-1 Wednesday. Tickets can be purchased through GoFan at the league website, 2024 State Playoffs (migirlshshockey.org). The game will also be streamed live by Arbor Broadcasting here Arbor Broadcasting - Sports Broadcasts, Play by Play, and on the MGHSHL Facebook page.