Blake girls blitz Blades
John Sherman - Sun Newspapers
December 19, 2007
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Even though the Blake School girls hockey team has only three seniors on the roster this season, the Bears are undefeated through their first 11 games.
Blake downed the St. Paul Blades 8-0 Dec. 11 to improve to 9-0-2 on the season.
Ninth-grade forward Alyssa Veil had her first career hat trick with junior forward Sally Komarek and ninth-grade forward Abbie Lund each had two goals. Senior forward Kate Dasburg completed the scoring.
In goal, senior Kate Gallagher posted her fourth shutout this season.
Gallagher is a transfer from Syracuse, N.Y., whose family moved to the Twin Cities area this fall.
"We were so blessed to get her," said Blake coach Brano Stankovsky. "I feel like God is my co-pilot. Kate has exceeded all expectations, and hopefully, she will be up for some postseason awards."
Komarek's improvement is another big part of Blake's success.
"Sally decided she wanted to be a Division I college player," Stankovsky said. "She spent the offseason working to improve her lower-body strength. Last season, she could beat average defensemen. Now, she is beating everyone. Sally has jumped onto a lot of people's radar the way she has played this season."
Komarek is the leading scorer among Tri-Metro Conference players with 26 points on 16 goals and 10 assists.
Hillary Crowe is second in scoring with 15 points on eight goals and seven assists, while Andrea Foss has 14 points on five goals and nine assists.
Margaret Chute is yet another key contributor with 13 points on five goals and eight assists.
"The new girls on our team have not yet experienced playing in the section tournament and possibly going to state," Stankovsky said. "But they are having a good season. We've won in the past and we expect to win. Our tradition here is based on work ethic. Kelsey Johnson, who was a Ms. Hockey finalist several years ago, created that culture and others have followed.
"I am thrilled to have such a hard-working crew this season."
Stankovsky said Blake's traditional rival, Breck School, and the Minneapolis Novas are contenders his team has to deal with in the Tri-Metro Conference.
"We played the Novas last week and won 4-1," he said. "They have a good goalie in Katie Weise [who had 35 saves against Blake, and their standout forward, Casey McMullen is the heart and soul of the team."
The Bears' next booking is the Schwans Cup, an invitational tournament featuring some of the area's top teams. The tournament runs Dec. 27-29. Blake will play Irondale in the first round. Other teams in the Bears' bracket include Class A state powers Warroad and Cloquet.
Reprinted with permission Sun Newspapers
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