YOU only get one chance to make a first impression and Jana Henry made the most of her opportunity.
The Thunder Bay native, competing in her opening game at the NCAA level as well as the inaugural contest of the College of St. Scholastica Saints women’s hockey program, will go down in the record books as being the player to score the first-ever goal in team history.
Henry brought a capacity crowd at Mars Lakeview Arena in Duluth this past Friday to their feet as she scooped up a loose puck from behind the net and stuffed it into the short side four minutes into the match for the eventual game-winner as the Saints blanked visiting Augsburg 3-0.
The captain of last season’s OWHA provincial and Esso Cup national midget hockey champion Thunder Bay Sportop Queens side is in her freshman year at St. Scholastica.
It was another first for a Lakehead product last week in the NCAA ranks as well when Drew Strandberg recorded his initial collegiate victory on Nov. 4 backstopping Wisconsin-Superior with a 25-save performance to a 3-2 road triumph over St. John’s.
ECAC ACCOLADES: A former teammate of Strandberg’s with the Thunder Bay major midget Kings program earned some laurels this past week for his on-ice efforts.
The junior netminder at Clarkson University was named the most recent Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference goaltender of the week.
Karpowich was recognized for making 34 saves in Clarkson’s 2-1 overtime victory against their arch-rival St. Lawrence in a neutral site game staged in front of a sell-out throng in Lake Placid, N.Y.
10 STRAIGHT: Thunder Bay’s Kale Kerbashian is on a nice roll in the Ontario Hockey League.
The Sarnia Sting forward has picked up a goal or an assist in 10 consecutive matches racking up 18 points in that span tallying seven times while doling out 11 helpers. His active streak is just two off the OHL season high of 12.
Kerbashian is currently tied for fourth overall in OHL point production with 28 in 18 games.
WEEKLY HONOUR: The Southern Professional Hockey League has named Trevor Karasiewicz their player of the week for the period ending October 31.
The former Superior International Junior Hockey League most valuable player and two-time leading scorer was honoured for notching a hat-trick and adding an assist in helping his Louisiana Ice Gators pick up their first win of a the season, a 6-5 overtime victory over Mississippi on Oct. 29.
He has points in four of his first five SPHL games on the campaign and sits tied for fifth in scoring within the eight-team loop.
PROSPECTS: Two area products has been invited to further showcase their talents at the upcoming North American Hockey League Prospects Tournament in Walpole, Mass.
Ryan Faragher of Fort Frances and Kelin Ainsworth of Thunder Bay were among those named to four team rosters comprised of the NAHL’s top committed and un-committed college players and potential 2011 NHL draft-eligible players that will play a three-game round robin Dec. 5-7.
Faragher, who is off to St. Cloud State next season, tends goal for the defending NAHL champion Bismarck Bobcats while Ainsworth skates for the Traverse City North Stars. He is a Lake Superior State recruit.