HAVERHILL — Over the 45 minutes that the Haverhill-Pentucket-North Andover girls hockey team (HPNA) and Newburyport played each other on a chilly Saturday in Haverhill, there were a handful of takeaways.
But one stood leaps and bounds above the rest.
When Paige Nottingham decided to go full throttle, there was absolutely nobody stopping her from scoring.
The Pentucket junior was simply incredible at times with the puck on her stick, scoring three highlight-reel goals to lead HPNA to a comfortable, 7-3, victory over visiting Newburyport.
“There’s been a couple of games, and I’ve seen her play all fall with our organization the Wings, where she’s hit a couple of strides and I’ve never seen her that fast,” said HPNA coach Gary Kane. “And I tell her like, ‘That’s college hockey speed, you’re ready!’ So it’s been really fun to see.”
For the first five minutes of Saturday’s game, it was pretty back-and-forth.
Newburyport (0-6-0), who was unfortunately playing without star defenseman Holly Sullivan (illness), killed off an early tripping penalty thanks in large part to sophomore goalie Cody Saboliauskas, and for the season the Clippers have been strong on both special teams units. But shortly after the kill HPNA got on the board, with North Andover junior Gabriela Locke finishing a feed from classmate Mia Kmiec. Moments later, Kendall LaRivierre would make it 2-0 after tipping home the puck during a scrum in front of the net, and near the end of the first period Nottingham put together her first nomination for SportsCenter’s Top-10 plays.
She gathered the puck in the neutral zone, showcased some immaculate handles to weave through two Newburyport defenders, then quickly flicked her wrist for a bar-down goal to make it 3-0 heading into the break.
“She’s just a great player,” said Newburyport coach Dan Robinson on Nottingham. “We kind of had her marked in our pregame discussions, a lot of our girls know her from the NS Wings (club team). She’s just a great talent all around. Great speed, great vision, and we really struggled to isolate her today.”
HPNA then wasted no time expanding its lead in the second period.
Just over a minute in, Rachel Keating fired a shot from the blue line that may have deflected off a defenseman’s skate, but trickled its way into the back of the net regardless. Not too long after it was Nottingham — also a well-known signer who performs some of the best National Anthems in the CAL at various Pentucket sporting events — again weaving through a handful of bodies before faking a shot left, and coming across the crease to slide the puck home on the right side to make it 5-0.
But Newburyport certainly didn’t quit on the day.
It’s a young Clipper squad this year with only three seniors, but the team has some great leadership with Katelyn Brown, Abby Stauss and Olivia Wilson. Late in the second period it was Amesbury junior Delaney Belanger finding the puck on her stick with some space, and she sent a pass over to freshman Allison Simons for a blast from the blue line that buried into the top shelf.
“I just love the way our girls battle,” said Robinson. “We’re a young team, only have three seniors on the team, so our sophomores and our freshmen are really shouldering a lot of work for us, and they’re doing a great job. I really just love the way our team battles and I love coaching them.”
Credit also needs to go to Tara Sullivan, Julia Losee and Riley Freeman, who stood tall in front of Saboliauskas on a pair of penalty kills.
Then early in the third it was Maddie Noury — who created the most chances for the Clippers all game — making a great individual effort to score shorthanded and make it 5-2. Locke and Simons would trade their second goals of the game to make it 6-3, before Nottingham completed the hat-trick with a few minutes left. Pentucket junior goalie Hannah Bub also got a chance in net the entire third period after an injury to HPNA starter Julianna Taylor.
“One of the things we’ve sometimes struggled with early on here is forcing pucks through and forcing rushes,” said Kane. “But today we were passing well and moving the puck through the neutral zone. So that was a huge departure from what we had done over the first few games.”
HPNA 7, Newburyport 3
Newburyport (0-6-0): 0 1 2 — 3
HPNA (2-2-0): 3 2 2 — 7
Goals: HPNA — Paige Nottingham 3, Gabriela Locke 2, Kendall LaRivierre, Rachel Keating; N — Allison Simons 2, Maddie Noury
Saves: HPNA — Julianna Taylor 13, Hannah Bub 6; N — Cody Saboliauskas 29