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Published: April 09. 2010 2:00AM
Lady Lions win, move to 1-1 at USA Hockey 19U tourney
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The Erie Lady Lions topped Team Wyoming 4-3 on Thursday to rebound from an opening-day
loss at the USA Hockey Tier II Girls 19U National Championships.
The Lady Lions, who lost 12-0 to the Massachusetts Spitfires on Wednesday, built a 4-1 second- period
lead on goals from Erie natives Jordyn Parmenter, Jessica Vybiral and Mary Necastro and Meadville's C.C. Flowers. Parmenter
had a goal and assist.
Wyoming scored twice late in the second to slice Erie's lead to a goal. But the Lady Lions, behind Meadville
native Julia Fair (35 saves), silenced Wyoming (0-2) the rest of the way despite being outshot 18-6 in the third and 38-24
overall. The Lady Lions (1-1) complete pool play today at 6:20 p.m. against the Perinton Edge (0-1-1), a Rochester, N.Y.,
team.
The Lady Lions need to finish among the top four in their pool to qualify for this weekend's single-elimination
round. They are tied for third with the Biddeford (Maine) Lady Breakers (1-1). Each team has three points, two ahead of Perinton.
Each team earns three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime win, one for an overtime loss and none for a regulation
loss
| "They are a good team and it is their chance |
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| Have FUN with the experience for the memories will last a lifetime! |
Published: April 04. 2010 1:15AM
Close-knit Lady Lions seek national title
Jessica Vybiral hoped to make new friends this season on the Erie Lady Lions 19-under Team
Now she has 14 older sisters who will always support her on and off the ice. "We're all a family," said
Vybiral, 14, of Erie, the youngest Lady Lion on a team filled with players at different stages of their teenage lives.
Normally, 18-year-olds have little in common with 14-year-olds.
"Do they all socialize with each other after hockey? No," said Yevet Anderson, the team's coach and the
program's founder in 1993. "I don't expect 13- and 14-year-olds to socialize with 18- and 19-year-olds. But our girls take
each other in. They are absolutely a team."
This week, the Lady Lions will make team history.
They will join 11 other programs from across the nation at the USA Hockey Tier II Girls 19U National
Championships, set for Wednesday through Sunday in East Lansing and Dimondale, Mich.
Anderson said the Lady Lions are the first Erie girls team to compete for a national title and the first
team -- boys or girls -- to reach a national tournament since an EYHA boys midget team in 1971.
Rick Chartraw, who won four consecutive Stanley Cup titles with the NHL's Montreal Canadiens (1976-79)
and another with the Edmonton Oilers in 1984, headlined that team.
"They came together as a team," Anderson said. "They are the closest (team) to my original Lady Lions."
That compliment means as much to the players as the trip to nationals.
Anderson's first team included Sarah Backstrom, one of Anderson's most beloved players who died in 1999
at age 18 after fighting leukemia.
"This team is just all best friends. Everyone gets along with everyone so well," said assistant captain
C.C. Flowers, 17, a Meadville native. "On ice, we're business and we're always looking out for each other. Off ice, we bond
a lot. We're one giant family. That helps us."
Several players have been together for years. Joining the team this season were Vybiral; Butler native
Emily Levesque, 17; Slippery Rock's Ashley Lindey, 17, and Lisa Roberts, 15, of Hinckley, Ohio.
In December, Roberts contacted Anderson about joining the team after experiencing problems with the Ohio
Flames, a 16-under AAA team in Avon Lake, Ohio. Roberts knew Anderson from past goaltender camps.
Given Roberts' time with the Flames, she wondered if the Lady Lions had cliques.
"We couldn't blend, and we had all 15- and 16-year-olds," Roberts said of the Flames. "Here, everyone
blends with each other really well. When you've got a 14-year-old talking to a 19-year-old, that shows that everyone cares
for each other and we've got your back."
The Lady Lions, who have a 23-22-1 record, understand the significance of reaching nationals. They feel
like pioneers blazing a trail for future female hockey players, much like past Lady Lions did for them.
"We had to learn everything from scratch," said assistant captain Stacey Hiles, 16, of Erie. "We kept
building from that. If we could do that, anybody else could."
Right now the Lady Lions are living in the moment, not the past.
"We get to be together and have more time as a team," said captain Sarah Evan, 18, of Bemus Point, N.Y.
They want to win a national title. But if they don't, Evan said, "We've had so much fun on the way."
On March 21 in Warrendale, the Lady Lions thought their season was over.
They lost 3-2 to Indianapolis in their final game at the Mid-American Tier II Girls District Playdowns.
"I saw their faces," Anderson said. "They worked so hard. But there was disappointment."
Then Pittsburgh's Steel City Selects beat Columbus in the tournament's last round-robin game, securing
the Lady Lions' spot at nationals.
Although past Lady Lions' teams fell short of nationals, these Lady Lions made it their ultimate goal.
"It's just a dream come true," Hiles said. "It's pure excitement."
ERIE LADY LIONS STACEY HILES
| Hiles fights cancer to join her Erie Lady Lions Tier II 19-U teammates |
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April 6, 2010
By Chris Adamski
Special to USAHockey.com
By all accounts, Stacey Hiles needs to have her
skates on to surpass 5 feet in stature, and, as her coach put it, she weighs “80 pounds — soaking wet.”
But
that doesn’t stop the Erie Lady Lions’ defenseman from taking on much bigger opponents, sacrificing her body to
block shots or going into the corners to win battles for loose pucks.
“This girl is not afraid of anything,”
Lady Lions coach Yevet Anderson said.
And when you hear her story, you won’t argue that point.
Hiles,
who will join her team at the USA Hockey Tier II 19 & Under National Championships April 7-11 in East Lansing, Mich.,
took on and beat an opponent much more imposing than the biggest defenseman or burliest winger.
Hiles beat cancer.
Hiles
was diagnosed with thyroid cancer last January and was forced to undergo two surgeries as well as three days of radioactive
iodine therapy.
But as difficult as it is to endure challenging treatments and be saddled with the emotional weight
and fear associated with being diagnosed with cancer, Hiles was most bothered by the fact that for a time she was forced off
the ice and away from the game she loves.
“I just wanted to get the surgery over with and get healthy as soon
as I could so I could get back on the ice,” Hiles said. “I didn’t want to miss a moment of it, but I knew
I had to.
“But as soon as the doctors cleared me, I was right on that ice. I was definitely looking forward to
being on the ice with my team.”
Anderson said Hiles joined the Lady Lions before she was 8 years old, drawn to
hockey by her older brother, who is a goalie. It was a love affair from the beginning.
“It isn’t even a
feeling you can describe with words how much I love hockey,” Hiles said. “I love everything about being on the
ice: skating, putting the puck in the net, being with my team — just everything about hockey. Hockey is basically my
life.”
“It’s an obsession,” Anderson said. “Hockey is an obsession with this kid.”
Seemingly,
the obsession knows no boundaries. Hiles has bounced around from position to position and role to role for the Lady Lions,
who earned a berth at Nationals by winning the Mid-American District Tournament, qualifying March 20-21 in Pittsburgh.
“This
kid will do anything you ask her to do,” Anderson said.
Hiles had five goals and seven assists for Erie during
the regular season. It’s obvious by the fact that she was voted an alternate captain by her teammates, however, that
her contributions to the team go well beyond any stats on a scoresheet.
“She sees the full ice and she’s
a smart player,” Anderson said. “She plays the game like a game of chess. She has strategy. She’s not afraid
to try something.
“The thing about Stacy is she doesn’t even look at the size of her opponent. She will
stand in front of a slap shot, she gets into the corner and digs. Size is not a factor to her. She’s like the dolphin
taking on the great white shark.”
Hiles, a high school junior from Harbor Creek, Pa., is also an accomplished
swimmer. Her family has been through its share of hardships. Her brother, Michael, needed to have two kidney transplants.
One was from their father, who also recently suffered from the MRSA virus.
Stacey being diagnosed with thyroid cancer
was just something else the family would fight through. Hiles said she found out just before the Lady Lions’ annual
benefit tournament for former player Sarah Backstrom, who died in 1999 of leukemia. Hiles calls it her favorite tournament
of the year.
“I was really sad; I was just terrified,” Hiles said. “It was horrible I couldn’t
be with the team during the Sarah Backstrom Tournament. When I told my team, the entire locker room was silent. They had no
energy. They didn’t know what to say or how to feel, so it was horrible not being able to play with them, but I would
go to the games. I wanted to play with my team, but even though I couldn’t play, I just wanted to be there with my team.”
Hiles
will play with her team at the National Tournament. And no matter how good the teams are that the Lady Lions face, rest assured
she won’t be afraid of any of them.
Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc. |
Posted: April 5th, 2010
HOCKEY EXTRA: Lady Lions’ roster, tournament schedule
Erie Lady Lions roster
Pos. Name (age) Hometown Season
stats
D Sarah Evan (18)* Bemus Point, N.Y. 8 points (1 goal, 7 assists)
G Julia Fair (15) Meadville
23-22-1 record, .916 save percentage (1,265 saves)^
F CC Flowers (17)# Meadville 55 points (27 goals,
28 assists)
D Stacey Hiles (16)# Erie 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists)
D Katrina Krysiak (18) Erie
12 points (2 goals, 10 assists)
F Emily Levesque (17) Butler 39 points (25
goals, 14 assists)
D Ashley Lindey (17) Slippery Rock 1 point (0 goals, 1 assist)
F Mary Necastro (16) Erie 33 points (20 goals, 13 assists)
D/G Lisa Roberts (15) Hinckley, Ohio 6 points (2
goals, 4 assists)
F Jordyn Parmenter (18) Erie 56 points
(27 goals, 29 assists)
F Abby Shaw (18) Erie 51 points (21 goals, 30 assists)
D Kristen Stonitsch (16)@ Girard 9 points (2 goals, 7 assists)
D Sadie Stuart (16)@ Jamestown, N.Y. 13 points (5 goals, 8
assists)
D Jessica Vybiral (14) Erie 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists)
F Rebecca Wheeler (14) Erie 17 points
(8 goals, 9 assists)
* Captain # Assistant captains ^ Also had an assist
@ Stonitsch turns 17 on Wednesday; Stuart turns 17 on April 18
USA Hockey Tier II Girls 19U National Championships
Teams at a glance
Alliance Bulldogs – Irving, Texas
Anaheim Lady Ducks – Anaheim, Calif.
Biddeford Lady Breakers – Biddeford, Maine
Cedar Rapids Lady Roughriders – Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Erie Lady Lions – Erie
Massachusetts Spitfires – Walpole, Mass.
Michigan Icebreakers – Farmington Hills, Mich.
Perinton Edge – Rochester, N.Y.
Quakers – West Chester, Pa.
Southern Flyers – Nashville, Tenn.
St. Clair Shores Saints – St. Clair Shores, Mich.
Team Wyoming – Wyoming (statewide team)
Tournament schedule
Rinks: Suburban Ice (East Lansing, Mich.), The Summit (Dimondale, Mich.)
Pool play – Wednesday at The Summit
Cedar Rapids vs. Michigan, 1:20 p.m.
Biddeford vs. Perinton, 1:30 p.m.
Anaheim vs. Southern, 3:20 p.m.
Erie vs. Massachusetts, 3:30 p.m.
Alliance vs. Quakers, 5:20 p.m.
St. Clair Shores vs. Wyoming, 5:30 p.m.
Pool play – Thursday at Suburban Ice
Southern vs. Cedar Rapids, 8 a.m.
Massachusetts vs. Biddeford, 8:20 a.m.
Michigan vs. Alliance, 10 a.m.
Wyoming vs. Erie, 10:20 a.m.
Perinton vs. St. Clair Shores, noon
Quakers vs. Anaheim, 12:20 p.m.
Pool play – Friday at Suburban Ice
St. Clair Shores vs. Massachusetts, 2 p.m.
Biddeford vs. Wyoming, 2:20 p.m.
Anaheim vs. Michigan, 4 p.m.
Alliance vs. Southern, 4:20 p.m.
Cedar Rapids vs. Quakers, 6 p.m.
Perinton vs. Erie, 6:20 p.m.
Single-elimination rounds
Quarterfinals – Saturday
at Suburban Ice
National pool No. 4 seed vs. American pool No. 1 seed, 1:10 p.m.
National No. 3 vs. No. American No. 2, 1:20 p.m.
at Summit
American No. 3 vs. National No. 2, 1:10 p.m.
American No. 4 vs. National No. 1, 1:20 p.m.
Semifinals – Saturday at Suburban Ice
Quarterfinal winners, 8 p.m.
Championship game – Sunday at Suburban Ice
Semifinal winners, 3 p.m.
Shootout
By Victor Fernandes Erie Times-News staff blogger
Staff writer Victor Fernandes has ice in his veins. Hockey - he plays it, coaches it and provides the region's
best coverage of it. Read more about this blogPosted: April 3rd, 2010
HOCKEY EXTRA: Stern but loving Anderson leads Lady Lions
Erie Lady Lions celebrate District title (Contributed/Erie Lady Lions) Yevet Anderson warned me about her evil ways on the ice with the Erie Lady Lions’ 19-under team.
“You’ll see a side of me you probably won’t like,” she said Wednesday at Mercyhurst Ice Center.
Given their shy smiles, that same thought likely crossed a few players’ minds. “You can be honest,” Anderson
told Meadville native CC Flowers, 17, as the assistant captain quietly chose her words.
Whether the players believe she’s evil or not, they are accustomed to Anderson’s straightforward, no-holds-barred
approach at practice after all these years. Besides, they know her style produces results.
After capturing their first Great Lakes Girls Hockey League Tier II and Mid-American Tier II District championships last
month, the Lady Lions head to East Lansing, Michigan, this week for the USA Hockey Tier II Girls 19U National Championships.
“We’re all being serious about it (because) she knows how intense it is” at the national level, said
goaltender Julia Fair, 15, a Meadville native. “She’s an amazing woman. She’s an inspiration. She has a
lot of good ideas. (We’re) doing drills that we’ve never seen before with other teams.”
Those drills are fast and furious. Even when Anderson changes drills – say from her 1-on-1, 1-on-2, 2-on-1 and 2-on-2
warm-up to special-teams work – the pace remains high and the work remains intense.
There is no down time, even when Anderson stops practice to teach.
“No screwing around,” Flowers said. Every second matters. Every second the Lady Lions learn moves them one
step closer to their ultimate goal – Erie’s first-ever youth hockey national championship.
Given Anderson’s focus and intensity, no one better waste her time – not even an invited guest. If you’re
on her ice and on her time, you’re on her team. So you follow her rules. Before instructing her team about their latest
drill on Wednesday, she fired an icy stare at me, since I didn’t immediately drop to one knee.
She needed no words to make her point. She rarely does.
The players “know what’s coming,” said assistant coach Tim Dugan, who has coached with Anderson for more
than three decades. Anderson means business, something Dugan learned early in a friendship that spans the past 50 years. She
used to regularly beat the boys in sports.
Anderson takes that same approach with her team. “They’ll tell you, ‘She’s evil. She yelled at
us,’” she said. But her Lady Lions are worth that much effort. Through her words, Anderson has a plan in mind
– to teach her players about hockey and life.
“They should be developing life skills,” Anderson said, “and hockey is a life skills game. It mirrors
life.”
But Anderson also knows when it’s time to relax. It’s still a game. It should be fun. Why else would she allow
someone to experience practice a week before the national tournament?
She figured an on-ice guest would help her players forget about the pressure – at least for one night.
The Lady Lions aren’t just her players. They’re her kids. She loves them all. She wants them to succeed in
every way. That’s why two prospective players for the 2010-11 season practiced with the team Friday.
“She’s a great coach,” Erie native Jessica Vybiral, 14, said.
- Victor Fernandes
Published: March 24. 2010 1:16AM
Lady Lions 19U makes historic run to nationals
The Erie Lady Lions' 19-under hockey team captured the Mid-American Tier II District championship in
Warrendale this past weekend, becoming Erie's first girls team to win Districts and reach the national tournament. The Lady
Lions will compete in the USA Hockey National Championship, set for April 7-11 in East Lansing, Mich.The team began the road
to the title in the round-robin Districts with a 5-4 shootout win against Pittsburgh's Steel City Selects. C.C. Flowers scored
the deciding shootout goal and Julia Fair made 42 saves.
The Lady Lions then beat Ohio Flames 4-2 behind two goals apiece from Flowers and Jordyn Parmenter. Fair
made 19 saves.
They lost to the Indianapolis Racers 3-2 despite Fair's 28 saves, but a 3-2 win against the Columbus
(Ohio) Sting sealed the highest point total in the field. In the win over Columbus, Emily Levesque, Parmenter and Flowers
each scored a goal while Fair made 18 saves.
| JAMESTOWN POST GAZETTE |
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| Defensive pair make Jamestown area proud |
Posted: March 25, 2010
Sadie Stuart, left, a student at Falconer Central School, and Sarah Evan, a student at Maple Grove High School, are members
of the Erie Lady Lions women's hockey team that will be playing in the 19U Tier II National Tournament at East Lansing, Mich.,
April 7-11. The Lions won the Mid-Atlantic Tier II district championship last weekend in Pittsburgh.
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