Hellcats Win 'Front Range Faceoff' In Denver!
Date Posted: 5/10/2011
The High Country Hellcats recently won the 10^th annual Mother's Day weekend tournament in Denver, Colorado known as the 'Front Range Faceoff'. The tournament, sponsored by USA Hockey, featured over 30 wen's teams from Colorado, Michigan, and Minnesota  (the Hellcats also won the tournament in 2009, beating the Minnesota Renegades 4-1 in the Finals).

Competing against 10 other teams in the 'Plains Division', the Hellcats got off to a great start in their tournament opener (on Friday night) by beating the Pueblo Little Caesars 7-0 (the win helped avenge an earlier loss to Pueblo in the Finals of the Durango WTF Tournament back in November 2010). Forwards Nadine Barber and Lori Walsh led the way with a pair of goals each, while goalie Kristina Lee earned the shutout between the pipes.

On Day Two of the tournament, the Hellcats faced off against the Denver Women's Hockey League's Champions, 'The Renegades' and earned a hard-fought 3-1 win. Molly Marquez, Beth O'Dowd, and Leslie Perkins scored the goals. In their second game, the Hellcats faced off against a very-motivated Fort Collins Flames team, who needed a win to advance to the Semi-finals. Just like in their game against 'The Renegades', the Hellcats played suffocating defense and moved the puck around really well, en route to shutting-out the Flames 1-0. Beth O'Dowd scored the lone goal off a beautiful pass from Kristi Burk. Goalie Kristina Lee earned her second shutout of the tournament

With three wins in Round Robin play, the Hellcats advanced to the Semi-Finals and a match-up against Denver-area team 'Hoosier Daddy', who also went 3-0 in Round Robin play. Like the day before vs. 'The Renegades' and the 'Flames', the Hellcats utilized a strong defensive performance and good puck movement to once again emerge victorious, this time 2-0. Goals were scored by defenseman Jen Allison and forward Kristi Burk. Goalie Kristina Lee earned her 3^rd shutout of the tournament.

In the Finals, the Hellcats were matched up against another undefeated team, the 'Black Dogs' who, like Hoosier Daddy, were from Denver, Colorado. In a very competitive, back-and-forth game, the Hellcats picked up a first period goal from Tournament MVP Molly Marquez and made it stand up til the end, for an exciting 1-0 win. Hellcats defensemen Allison, Leslie Perkins, Laura Tullos, and Amy Foss were excellent throughout the tournament, so was goalie Lee. Four shutouts in 5 games is phenomenal for any team at any level.  For the tournament, the Hellcats outscored the opposition 13-1.  Counting the last 3 DAHL Playoff games, the Hellcat finished the season winning 7 of their final 8 games, while outscoring the opposition 15-6 in those 8 games.

Burk Scores Game Winning Goal Vs. Blockheads
Date Posted: 4/2/2011
After last week's 0-0 tie (with only 6 skaters dressed for the game), the Hellcats had a full bench for their game against DAHL league leader Blockheads on Saturday, April 2nd.  Regular (all women's games/tournaments) goalie Kristina 'Kit-Kat' Lee, in town for a coed tournament with a team from Albuquerque, played as a winger for the game, and with very good results, as she opened the scoring midway through the first period to give the Hellcats the lead 1-0.  The second period saw more solid play by the Hellcats, but despite that, the Blockheads tied things up at 1-1 with about 4 minutes left.  Things stayed that way til late in the 3rd when Kristi Burk lifted home her own rebound for the game winner.