Joey Payeur
Shelby Tymkin had, in her words, the time of her life.
She just wished time hadn’t run out on her and her team.
Tymkin, along with her former Muskie “Fantastic Four” teammates Katie Sinclair, Hailey Clendenning, and Shilo Beck, saw their quest to lead the Rainy River Community College women’s hockey team to national glory fall two wins short.
The Voyageurs lost 1-0 to the West Chester University of Pennsylvania Golden Rams in Saturday’s semi-final of the ACHA Division 2 national championship in York, Pa.
“This has been one of the more fun times I’ve ever had,” Tymkin said about an unbelievable season that saw the Voyageurs ride a roster of only nine skaters and one goalie to a tie for third at the nationals.
“I love this team, and the fact there was just the 10 of us and we did so well.
“I got to go to RRCC and stay close to home, which was a bonus,” she added.
“I’m so proud of our team.”
If the Voyageurs had owned a kitchen sink, they would have thrown that along with everything else they directed at Golden Rams’ goalie Presley Fiorilli.
But despite outshooting West Chester 30-12 and hitting three goal posts, RRCC simply couldn’t find that one shot they needed to even the score.
“I think we deserved to be in that final,” said Tymkin, referring to the Golden Rams subsequently getting stomped 8-1 by the North Dakota State University Bison in the championship game Sunday.
“That final was not the championship game,” she added.
“We beat NDSU twice this season,” she noted. “We worked so hard in this tournament.”
RRCC, the second-ranked team coming out of the West region, plowed through Pool ‘A’ play with a spotless 3-0 record.
After beating the third-ranked Michigan State Spartans 3-1, the Voyageurs downed the fourth-seeded Buffalo Bulls 4-1.
Then they earned a 4-0 shutout over the California University of Pennsylvania Vulcans, which was the top-ranked team in the pool.
But the circumstances surrounding that last win may have exacted too heavy a toll on the undermanned Voyageurs that they could not overcome in the semi-finals.
“I haven’t coached a game like that since I was in charge of the RRCC men’s program in the mid-1990s,” RRCC head coach Jeff Wickstrom said bluntly about the Vulcans, who piled up 37 minutes in penalties and caused the contest to be stopped nine seconds early.
That’s when Wickstrom said Hayley Dhondt and First Team All-American selection Kelsey Denardo of the Vulcans acted out their own version of “Slap Shot.”
“Shelby was bringing the puck up the boards and [Dhondt] took a run at her so hard that when she missed, she went head-first into the boards and knocked herself out,” he recalled.
“[Voyageurs’ blueliner] Marissa Lindblad was skating away and I don’t know if she said something to Denardo, but the next thing I know, Denardo’s going after her from behind and punching her so hard she was falling to the ice as she was punching.
“She must have hit her with 10 punches before the officials got in there but Marissa kept her composure,” added Wickstrom.
“The referee came over to the bench and I told them I didn’t think I wanted to finish the last nine seconds after all that, so they called the game at that point.”
Sinclair, Clendenning, and Beck all had a goal and an assist in the game, with Tymkin supplying the other marker to complement Shalynn Perry’s nine-save shutout.
In the semi-finals, the Golden Rams made good on a power play late in the first period with Clendenning serving a hooking penalty.
Kirsten Baron sent a cross-ice pass to Emelia Bebee in the left face-off circle, who struck it just well enough to elude Perry’s glove.
“It’s like it flopped over [Perry’s] glove,” said Tymkin, who had a front-row view of the tally.
RRCC had its own power-play chances but finished 0-for-4.
Tymkin was named an ACHA First-Team All-American, while Sinclair earned a Second-Team All-American nod.
Despite the loss, Wickstrom had nothing but praise for his squad.
“I walked into the locker-room and told them how proud I was,” he recounted.
“From Day 1, the goal was to make the nationals and as the season went along and we saw how good things were going, we changed that goal to wanting to win the nationals,” Wickstrom added.
“We pulled together as a family.”
That family will lose at least two members in Lindblad and fellow blueliner Taina Kaartinen, with Perry a possibility to return for a third season.
But with all four Muskie alumni prepared to be back in the fold, and with Wickstrom already lining up some unnamed high-quality recruits, next season contains great promise for the Voyageurs.
“We fell a little bit short but it was a good first stepping stone,” Wickstrom said.
“We’ve got lots of hope for next year.”
