Northville Mustangs

The Northville Mustangs achieved the first item on their playoffs to do list when they beat the Port Huron Rebels 4-0. These two teams have played each other twice this year, once to a 1-1 tie and then just last Saturday when Northville won 5-1. Tonight, the Mustangs were back and ready to play. Amy Cauzillo scored the first goal off of a deke on the Rebel goalie putting the Mustangs up 1-0. The second goal didnt come until the second period. Sam Pope was in front of the net trying to get untangled from a Port Huron girl, Cauzillo passed her the puck and Pope managed to get the puck in the back of the net. Just two minutes later Andrea Soloko made the exact same move Cauzillo made scoring the third goal of the night. The difference between the two goals? Soloko's was shorthanded being that Pope was in the penalty box for roughing. The final goal of the game came with just three minutes left to go. Cauzillo fired a hard shot at the goalie, and everyone thought that she had saved it. It turned out the puck was loose behind the boards. Krysten Ruzylo was the first to notice and she passed it to Claire Eley at the front of the net who put it in the back of the net. Both teams played a great game. The Mustangs now face Plymouth Canton Salem on Wednesday at 7:45 PM. Good luck girls!

For their last game of the season, the Northville Mustangs traveled out to Port Huron to play the Rebels. The game was evenly matched through the first period and no goals were scored. At 13:34 in the second period Andrea Soloko was given a penalty for highsticking. With the advantage to the Rebels, the Mustangs played a more defensive game until Sam Pope had a breakaway chance and scored the Mustangs' first goal, shorthanded. Amy Cauzillo had the assist. Four minutes later Leslie Roumayah passed the puck back to Meredith Ponder on defense, who took a shot from the blue line that went right past the Rebel goalie. At intermission the score was 2-0 in favor of Northville. The Mustangs came out after intermission ready to play and only three minutes in Rachel Reuter made a pass to Andrea Soloko. Soloko took the puck down the ice, but was tripped as she shot the puck. Heather Cox picked up the puck and put it in the back of the net. Just over a minute later Pope was at it again with a pass from Soloko making the score 4-0. Northville's final goal of the night came only 2 minutes later by a pass from Soloko to Krysten Ruzylo who took the puck down for a breakaway sealing the Mustang lead. However, due to a coaching error Ruzylo was not listed on the roster and the Mustang's received a bench minor penalty. Port Huron took advantage of the 5 on 4. With 13 seconds left in the penalty, there was a scuffle in front of the net and to avoid a goal being scored, Amy Cauzillo scooped the puck up with her hand. A penalty shot was awarded but it was worth it becasue a goal would have certainley been scored had Cauzillo not touched the puck. The Rebels missed on their penalty shot but only 35 seconds later scored their only goal of the night ruining Northville's shut out. After their goal, the Rebels stepped up the intensity but Northville was able to hold on for their 5-1 win. Port Huron pulled their goalie with a minute to go and at 0.02 seconds Cauzillo took one last shot at the empty net that slid in just after the final buzzer. The goal didnt count but the Mustangs had already acheived their objective for the night. We are waiting for the rest of the teams to finish their games today to determine who we will play next Saturday in the state playoffs.

It was Northville's senior night tonight and the Mustang's took full advantage of the added excitement. The last time Northville and Regina met, the game ended with a 3-0 win for Regina. However, Northville came ready to play tonight and beat the Saddelites 3-0. At 4:09 Regina's Emily Blair received a penalty for crosschecking and the Mustang's took advantage of the powerplay. Bridget Hughes made a brilliant pass to Andrea Soloko who took the puck in and scored the first goal of the night for the Mustangs at 2:09 in the first period. There was one second remaining in the powerplay. Again on the power play at 4:24, Hughes passed behind the net to Krysten Ruyzlo who one timed it to Sam Pope in front of the net for the second Northville goal. The last goal came in the third period by a pass from Claire Eley to Amy Cauzillo who ripped a slap shot that hit goalie Bridgette Gibson in the head and bounced over and into the net. The Saddelites played hard and put up a good fight. Our final league game of the year is tomorrow at the Port Huron Rebels.

Cranbrook scored all of their goals in the 3-1 win over the Mustangs in the first 8 minutes. Cranbrook's goals were scored at 14:35, 11:28 and 7:25. The game wasn't over yet,however as Northville's Amy Cauzillo came racing down the ice to score a Mustang's goal at 5:05. That was the last goal of the evening by either team. The game continued on not only high in intensity, but as well as emotions. Both teams took and gave some hard hits, but in the end the score was 3-1 in favor of Cranbrook.

The Mercy Marlins came out strong Wednesday night against the Northville Mustangs scoring the first goal of the night just three minutes into the game. The score remained 1-0 in Mercy's favor until at 10:03 in the second period, Anjali Saran passed the puck out front to Krysten Ruzylo who put it in the back of the net to tie the game for the Mustangs. Northville had numerous scoring opportunities at the Marlins net but just couldnt seem to get it past the Marlins goalie. Finally with five minutes left in the game, Sam Pope received a pass from Krysten Ruzylo and scored the game winning goal. The Mustangs outshot the Marlins 35-16. Our next game is this Saturday against Cranbrook at Wallace Arena.