Hartford rallies for first girls hockey title in highest scoring final in state history

With possession in her defensive zone, Braelyn Park looked up and saw Zoe Zanleoni make a break for it.

Park delivered the puck in stride and Zanleoni tucked away the chance.

And just like that, Hartford's wait for a high school girls hockey championship was nearly over.

Three decades since the program was founded, Zanleoni's go-ahead goal late in the third period was the difference as second-seeded Hartford stormed back in Tuesday's Division II title game, snatching a 5-3 victory over No. 4 Missisquoi at Gutterson Fieldhouse. It was also the high scoring final in state history for girls hockey.

"It was a team effort. The team is just everything to me," Zanleoni said. "We really work together as a team. We have that bond and have everything we really need as a team."

Zanleoni, a sophomore, finished with two goals and two assists, classmate Park added a goal and assist, while Madison Barwood (goal, three assists) and Emma Bazin (goal, three assists) produced big nights for the Hurricanes (16-6-1), who rallied from deficits of 2-1 and 3-2.

"It's a long time coming," said Hartford coach Kylie Young, a program alum who lost as a senior to BFA-St. Albans in the 2002 Division I final and was in charge of the Hurricanes in D-II title-game defeat to rival Woodstock two years ago. "It feels really good to get the first ever (championship)."

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The Park to Zanleoni connection for the winner epitomized their growth on the ice.

"Both of them are prime examples of players who have had it, the skills of a hockey player, but they are just figuring out now how to really be part of a team," Young said. "When that clicks, it makes all the difference."

And that extends to the entire Hartford squad, which has no seniors on the roster.

"We went from having girls who play hockey to having hockey players. This season, we had hockey players who were really passionate about the sport, but also passionate about each other," Young said. "This has been the first unit that has really connected. This team is just different."

To open Tuesday's final, Barwood poked in the first goal on a scramble in front of net with 11:50 left in the first period. Then 15 seconds later, Missisquoi pulled off a similar sequence, Addyson Longway knocking in the tallying tally.

Longway, a freshman, put Missisquoi (11-10-2) in front with a nifty deke and high finish on a wrister midway through first period.

Early in the second, Zanleoni uncorked a quick wrister to level the game at 1. The Thunderbirds regained the lead at 3-2 when freshman Madisyn Spears scored off a faceoff win, Longway assisting.

But less than a minute later, Hartford, which had beaten Missisquoi 3-1 during the teams' lone regular-season matchup, found another equalizer with Bazin squeezing in a rebound opportunity for a 3-3 contest after two periods.

"We played with nine players all season, so we knew we had the stamina to do it," Young said.

With 4:47 to go in regulation, Park threaded a perfect pass to Zanleoni, who evaded one defenseman and then slid a shot inside the left post just before several more Missisquoi players converged on the Hartford forward. Park capped the scoring with a blueline wrister with less than two minutes to play.

After digging deep during a season loaded with Division I teams, Hartford solved a dangerous and red-hot Missisquoi squad for the program's historic crown.

"They started to understand if they were in control of the puck, they were in control of the game," Young said.

Hartford's Nella Bowen and Missisquoi's Jadyn Lapan each made 19 stops in net.

The Thunderbirds seized a thrilling overtime win over Rice in the quarterfinals and then skated past U-32 4-1 in the semifinals to ride into the program's seventh title-game appearance on a 11-game unbeaten streak.

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Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5.