Twice in the previous three years, the Lady Jr Lancers’ seasons had ended in crushing one goal defeats at the hands of the Naperville, IL Sabres, most heartbreakingly two years ago in the Heartland League year end tournament semi-final as two late 3rd period goals erased a one-goal Lancers lead.

Thanks to early bursts of offense followed by stifling defense down the stretch, history would not repeat itself last weekend at the USA Hockey Central District Championships in Waupun, WI. The Lady Jr. Lancers put the ghosts of those losses to rest with a two game sweep of the Illinois champions in the best-of-3 series to claim the Central District championship and, in so doing, become the first girls team from the state of Nebraska to advance to the USAH National Championships where they will compete for the Girls Tier II 19U title.

Game One on Friday afternoon saw a furious high-scoring opening period. Naperville took advantage of some defensive breakdowns and a double deflection to score first and keep pace with Omaha who started sluggishly but took over to apply constant pressure and end the first period in 3-3 tie. The LJL’s would squeeze out two more goals over the last two periods while, in what would become a theme for the weekend, tightening down defensively to pull away for a 5-3 win.

With a chance to clinch Saturday afternoon, Omaha came out firing to take an early 3-0 lead in the opening frame.  Another breakdown allowed the Sabres to sneak one in with under a minute to play to pull within two. However, the ladies once again clamped down defensively allowing nothing else over the last two periods. Omaha had to kill a 5-on-3 Naperville power play in the third period.  During the kill, Omaha’s defensive triangle allowed no serious scoring chances and energized by the kill, the ladies controlled the puck from that point on and were not seriously threatened the rest of the way.

When horn sounded and the celebration began amid tears of joy instead of sadness this time, it was finally the girls from Omaha instead of Naperville who were celebrating and moving on.

Nationals begin for the girls on Thu 4/6 – likely schedule (times subject to change):

Thursday 4/6, 10:00am vs Team South Dakota
Friday 4/7, 8:00am vs West Chester Quakers
Saturday 4/8, 12:00pm vs Reston Raiders
Sunday Morning – Quarterfinals  (If we advance)
Sunday Evening – Semi-Finals
Monday Morning – Championship

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