Heavy metal note highlights Fab Four series of close calls and IDCI girls hockey victory

Blue Bombers goalie Charlotte Docherty covers up the puck as teammates Ainsley McCartney (left) and Reese Ellery (right) strive to cover St. Joe’s Rams forward Jane Hewitt. (Jeff Tribe Photo)

Jeff Tribe, Echo Correspondent

A heavy metallic note highlighted a stretch run in which Ingersoll DCI Blue Bombers goalie Charlotte Docherty got by with a fab four series of close calls, and a little help from her friends.

A musical metal fan by nature, Avenged Sevenfold in particular, Docherty was prepared to accept the Beatles reference following a tight 2-1 Thames Valley Regional Athletics Southeast girls hockey victory over the visiting St. Thomas St. Joe’s Rams Tuesday, Feb. 3, inside the Ingersoll District Memorial Centre Arena.

“A pretty even game,” summed up IDCI’s Cameron Adkins. “Both teams had a lot of chances but our goalie held us in.”

The Blue Bombers came out of the first period with a 2-0 lead. Ainsley McCartney opened the scoring in the first minute of play, finding the back of the net with a low shot from the face-off dot. Brooklyn Janzen scored what would stand as the game-winner midway through the frame, burying a shot from the slot from a Charlotte Baker pass.

The Rams’ Allie Rickwood pulled the visitors back within one early in the second period, assisted by Emma Bovin. That score would stand up for the duration, although not without serious challenges in its waning minutes.

Bovin rang the puck off the post to Docherty’s left with 6:33 remaining, a goalie’s best friend, as the saying goes. Blue Bomber teammate Reese Ellery picked up a nomination for at least a close second-best pal with 2:53 left on the clock, alertly clearing a puck from her goaltender’s crease after it trickled through her pads.

“When it slipped through your legs, I was like ‘Oh no!’” Ellery recalled.

Having benefitted from the help of two friends, Docherty stood tall on her own down the stretch, denying the Rams’ Taylor Willemse on a penalty shot attempt awarded with 1:12 remaining. Docherty came well out of her crease to her left to challenge, retreating and denying a high, hard shot directed toward the top, left corner. To be honest, Docherty wasn’t sure if she’d gotten a piece of Willemse’s shot or just had her angle covered.

And finally, the Blue Bombers netminder made one last game-saving stop with 22.3 seconds left, pushing laterally across her crease to deny a one-time attempt at its lip.

“I knew if I was a player, I’d go back door,” said Docherty, who read the play all the way, but still needed an athletic extension to make it happen.

“It was like we were a little worried at the end, but we secured it,” said IDCI defender Liv Paterson, also standing tall as a tight, intense game became more physical in its closing minutes.

“A gritty win,” added coach Chris Adkins hurriedly, before returning to coach the Blue Bomber boys’ hockey squad later that day. “But we have to play smarter.”

The victory was the third-place Blue Bombers’ second in a row and fourth overall on a TVRA Southeast regular season featuring a single one-goal loss to second-place Aylmer East Elgin and a 1-1 tie with Lord Dorchester. IDCI was scheduled to finish off its regular campaign with a Monday, Feb. 9 date against winless Tillsonburg Glendale, going back-to-back early the following afternoon against the undefeated Woodstock CI Red Devils.

Post-season goals include a TVRA Southeast title before heading to the Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association championships.

“I’d like to win a medal,” Docherty concluded.

“A gold medal this time,” interjected trainer Jo-Ann Thibideau, who has two silvers and a bronze on her resume. “Higher expectations.”

The Blue Bombers are heading into the playoffs as something of an underdog, Ellery conceded.

“But I think we have a lot of good girls on the team, excited to play a good team game.”