North Eastern’s team clumped together for a celebratory picture postgame at center ice. The Maryland Student Hockey League trophy sat comfortably on senior goaltender Alex Erdman’s lap while her teammates and coaches raised one finger in the air, denoting their place atop the league.
As cameras flashed, coach Brian Hayes had a better idea. “Wait a minute,” he said, holding his smile for ongoing pictures. “Shouldn’t we be holding up three fingers?”
He had a point. North Eastern had just captured its third straight MSHL title in the league’s four years history. The first two titles each came with heart-stopping drama and Friday’s win was no different, a 3-2 double overtime win over Monocacy Valley.
“If you had asked me at the beginning of the year, I don’t think I could have predicted this,” Hayes said “But I never doubted our team for a second.”
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Not only was it the third straight North Eastern championship, but the third straight final that went past regulation. The 2021 championship game was won in overtime; last year’s was another double overtime thriller.
After North Eastern rallied to tie the game twice in the third period, the game’s decisive goal came mere minutes into the second overtime period.
Defenseman Addie Erdman, Alex’s twin sister, held the puck at the far left of the blue line. She fired it towards the net, the puck ricocheting between sticks. While Monocacy goalie Kailyn Crossett trounced on what she thought was a save to her right, the puck snuck out, gliding to her open left side. Junior forward Jasper Perez charged and flipped in the game-winning goal.
“This team came together and jelled at the perfect time,” Hayes said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the leadership on this team. And we had an absolutely phenomenal goaltender. ... She has been incredible as long as I’ve known her and she’s always come up big in big moments. She’s just a winner, an absolute winner.”
He was referring to Alex’s 62-save performance. A stat line she said postgame is definitely at the top in her career.
Monocacy outshot North Eastern 64-32 Friday night.
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Alex and her supporting defensive cast were a force. Shots were repeatedly deterred with sticks and shoulders or quelled by her left glove — the performance being enough to secure a third-straight title in her final run at it.
“I’m just happy we scored that goal to tie it up,” Alex laughed when asked about her postgame emotions.
Those sentiments are multi-faceted.
Neither team scored in the game’s first two periods. Fifteen seconds into the third period, Monocacy’s Madelyn Parmenter scored her first of two goals, this one unassisted. The junior forward dropped to her knees as her teammates swarmed with feelings of relief following 30 minutes of scoreless hockey.
North Eastern’s chances seemed bleak after not being able to capitalize on a 5-on-3 power play. But soon after, Michele Radov, a junior forward and North Eastern’s points leader scored the tying goal. With her back facing the net, Radov chipped it barely outside post before it was tipped in off a Monocacy player around the eight-minute mark of the third period.
The equalizer, as Alex alluded to, spawned new life.
Then Parmenter put home her second goal amidst a scrum in front of the net, assisted by fellow forward Taylor Schulman. Radov evened the score again — likely the goal Alex was referencing — with 90 seconds left before the end of regulation.
Friday’s championship took two overtimes and two-plus hours to crown a victor. But North Eastern, rightfully so, lifted three fingers in the air for its third-straight MSHL championship.