Several players on the Casco Bay Mariners 14U girls hockey team have experience lifting a trophy this winter.
Many of them were on the Cheverus co-op team that won the Maine Principals’ Association state championship, or the North Yarmouth Academy team that won the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council’s Vaillancourt Conference in February.
The Mariners are ready to win their own championship together when they visit Coral Springs, Florida, for USA Hockey’s Tier II 14U Nationals from April 2-6.
“It gives us motivation to win again and keep pushing ourselves to try to achieve another championship,” Cheverus freshman Jaylee Radford said.
Cheverus freshman Taylor Lucas said the high school playoffs gave her experience that can carry over to nationals.
“I think it taught me how to play in high-pressure situations and feel more comfortable going into this tournament,” Lucas said.
Anna Bowie is the other Cheverus player on Casco Bay’s roster.
Coach Dan Kerluke, a forward for the University of Maine from 1997-2001 who was also on the Black Bears’ men’s hockey coaching staff from 2005-13, said you can’t have too much title-winning experience.
“So any time you get any type of championship experience, that bodes really well for their temperament in the game and not have as many nerves, know how to prepare and what it’s going to take,” Kerluke said. “So, yeah, it’s a good group of girls. They’re all very competitive and really seeing a big improvement through the entire year.”
Lilli Kerluke, Lydia Trytek, Kennady Conley, Reese Weaver and Riane Stewart are the Mariners who played for NYA’s varsity team.
Trytek said having a coach who has championship experience also helps. Kerluke had an assist in Maine’s 3-2 victory over New Hampshire in the 1999 NCAA national championship game.
“Yeah, it’s amazing. He just has that, again, championship experience,” Trytek said. “He gives us those nice compliments. It just gets us going, you know? So it’s just really helpful.”
Since Casco Bay is a full-season team, with games beginning in September, its players have been quite busy, playing games for both Casco Bay and their middle school, high school or prep school teams. Sometimes, that meant multiple games a day once the school season began.
“It was definitely challenging,” Trytek said. “We have missed a lot of practices for NYA (commitments), but now we’re fully in the Casco mode and ready to dominate.”
Casco Bay has been one of the top Tier II 14U girls teams in the country according to MyHockeyRankings.com, and is ranked 10th heading into nationals with a 39-16-1 record. The Mariners reached have been as high as seventh in the rankings.
“It’s definitely great,” Lilli Kerluke, Dan’s daughter, said. “I think that definitely helps us, especially (at) nationals, walking in there with a chip on their shoulder. Going in there, we’re one of the top teams and we’ll be able to compete.”
Last year, the 14U team was the first-ever girls team from Maine to compete at the Tier I level. The Mariners were outscored 14-3 in three games.
Kerluke and Trytek are the only holdover from last season’s team.
Dan Kerluke said playing Tier I was an experiment Casco Bay wanted to try, but they decided to return to Tier II this season.
“So we were above our weight class a little bit last year,” Dan Kerluke said.
Casco Bay didn’t shy away from Tier I teams in the regular season, however. Dan Kerluke said at the end of November he knew the Mariners could be a very tough team to beat at the Tier II level.
“So we had a Thanksgiving tournament where we played in the Tier I Thanksgiving tournament,” Dan Kerluke said. “So all Tier I teams, and we got to the semis. And we should have won that game, except for too many men in 3-on-3 overtime, which was not my favorite (penalty) call of the year. But we were pushing and beating Tier 1 teams. I think that was kind of the turning point for us, where, you know what? We’ve got something special here. So let’s keep at it.”
The Mariners won the New England district when they defeated the Rhode Island Sting 2-1 in Providence on March 16.
Lilli Kerluke said confidence is riding high. The Mariners have outscored their opponents 191-115.
“And I think we have a really good chance of doing something special,” Lilli Kerluke said. “So I’m excited to have that opportunity to go down.”
