Invaluable intangibles offset inexperience for Northville icers

They’re gritty, determined and fearless.

The ingredient most members of the Northville High School girls hockey team is lacking, however, is experience — but that’s not about to slow down or get down the smooth-skating Mustangs.

On Thursday night at Livonia’s Eddie Edgar Ice Arena, Northville fell behind a solid Livonia United team, 2-0, after the first two periods before storming back to cut its deficit to 2-1 on Zoe Repotski’s power-play goal 7 minutes and 38 seconds into the third period.

The Mustangs nearly cashed in on a second power play moments later, but couldn’t quite solve Livonia goalie Madison Alfonsi, who preserved the 2-1 victory.

“The highlight for me tonight,” said Northville Head Coach J. Lee, “was how the girls walked out of the locker room after the game with their heads held high and feeling good about themselves. Seeing that was a win for me.

“We’d rather win, obviously, but we want to win the right way and we want to lose the right way. Losing 2-1 to a team that has several very talented players shouldn’t ruin these players’ day.”

Previous experience is nice, not required

Of the Mustangs’ 16 players, Lee estimated only six played even a smidgen of travel hockey before they started high school.

That said, the players aren’t using their lack of ice time as an excuse in the wake of losses.

“This is a great group of girls,” Lee emphasized. “They have a lot of heart. They play hard every second of every game because they don’t want to let their teammates down.”

Among the Mustangs’ stars against Livonia was freshman goalie Autumn Clark, who turned away a flurry of shots to keep her team in the game until the final horn sounded.

“Autumn is very competitive; she fights to keep every shot out of the net,” said Lee, who added his players’ talent gravitates well beyond the hockey rink.

They make music, too

“For instance, Autumn is a sweet viola player. She performed in a Christmas concert the other day. And Mya (Chapman) plays upright bass, so these girls are multi-talented.”

“I know it’s a cliche, but we tell them, ‘Get better every day’. We play Farmington Hills Mercy (Friday), so we move on from this loss and don’t look back.”

Unlike some Northville athletic teams that attract waves of talented athletes, the hockey program faces an annual battle to convince experienced players and students who have never held a hockey stick before to jump on board the program.

“Hockey is an expensive sport, especially having to pay for ice time,” Lee lamented. “What we tell girls is, ‘If you want to give it a try, just get to the rink and we’ll supply the gear for you.’

“If they like the sport, like most girls who come out end up doing, and they want to purchase their own equipment, we’ll take back what we loaned them so someone else can use it.”

Including exhibition games, Northville is currently 2-3, with convincing victories over Plymouth-Canton-Salem (8-0) and Sacred Heart (5-2).

Close calls

All three of the Mustangs’ losses were by identical scores of 2-1.

Lee said he is amazed daily by his players’ resilience and refreshing attitudes.

“During the second intermission tonight,” he said following Thursday’s game, “we had a couple of players ask if they could say a few words to the team, which I love. One of the players who spoke was Zoe Repotski, who then went out and scored our only goal. I mean, stuff like that is beautiful.”

Half of this year’s Northville roster is made up of freshman, which bodes well for the future.

Senior leaders

The team has four seniors — Elise Mavrinac, Akia Jozaki, Katerina Vrahnos and Rebecca Nordbeck — all of whom play significant roles.

“Katerina played club hockey until this year when she decided to join the team,” Lee said. “She’s a stalwart on defense. Elise and Rebecca are two of our players who had never played hockey before high school, but now, four years later, they’re captains and really good players.”

Throughout the bulk of the regular season, Lee and his assistants (Ben Hoyt, Paul Candela, Jenna Carpenter and Ryder Lee) play all of their players (except for the goalie) close to equal minutes, regardless of their experience level or age.

“When we get to the playoffs, that will probably change,” Lee said. “But, hey, they all paid the same amount of money to play, so they should all play.

“Our message to our players every day is we’re looking for a consistent ascent — get better every day, work hard and have fun. With school and everything else, these young ladies have a lot of pressure on them. When they get to the rink, they should have fun.”

Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.