Sweeney and Cohane each had 5-point nights in the 7-0 win against Hand on Monday in West Hartford.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

The Hall/Conard girls hockey team has put together back-to-back offensive explosions, outscoring their opponents 16-4 to close out 2025.

Part of the reason is a change in forward lines made by coach Jared Cohane, who has paired Paige Sweeney with Teagan Cohane and Claire Reidel on one line and shifted Mia Longman to center the second line. It has resulted in wins of 9-4 over Ridgefield and 7-0 over Daniel Hand.

“Pairing Paige with Teagan and moving Claire to wing has got them scoring,” said Jared Cohane. “Paige is the complete package and has a nose for the net.”

The changes have resulted in back-to-back hat trick games for Sweeney and a total of nine points. Teagan Cohane has four goals and eight assists over the same period.

Monday night, the home team took a little while to get on the scoresheet. It was Cohane and Sweeney coming together with Cohane sending a pass across the front of the goal to an unmarked Sweeney who easily tapped it home with 3:30 to go in the first. Two and a half minutes later it was Longman with a solo effort carrying a loose puck in from the blue line and snapping off the wrister to beat goalie Chloe Monaghan.

“She (Longman) has three goals in her last two games and she’s also been solid in the faceoff circle,” the coach said.

The now 4-2 Hall/Conard squad wasted no time getting a third goal as Cohane scored on a Reidel assist just :14 into the second period. Hand went on the powerplay 2:20 into the period and gained some momentum, but goalie Avery Freiday and the defense shut the door.

H/C nearly got a short-handed score but Avery Selstad’s shot rang off the post with :20 to go in the Tigers’ advantage. Hand fed off the advantage and had their best pressure of the game when things were back to 5-on-5, but Freiday stood strong, and senior defensive standout Fiona Campbell did the tough work to keep the clean sheet.

“She (Campbell) has such a calming effect back there for us,” her coach said.

It turned out to be Hand’s best period as they got nine shots on net, but could not get one past Freiday. “There is no drop down when (Lauren) Busi gets a rest and Avery steps in. She made some difficult saves. We are very lucky to have the goaltending we have,” Cohane said.

While the defense was doing its part, the offense was getting back on track and just under four minutes in, they were back scoring goals. This time it was Selstad sliding a puck to Sweeney coming out of the offensive zone. The junior passed the puck to herself over the boards and around a defender before taking it wide left, and blasting a shot into the high, right side of the net for the 4-0 score.

“Coach Jared has got us to realize that we have to step it up and work for it,” said Sweeney.

Two and a half minutes later it would be Teagan Cohane and Sweeney teaming up again for a goal. This time Cohane came in against two defenders, getting a shot off that went behind the net. She chased down her own rebound and found Sweeney crashing the middle of the goal with a perfect pass and it was 5-0. “She’s a natural athlete,” said Teagan Cohane of Sweeney. “Our lines are getting it together now.”

It would be the top line of Cohane-Sweeney-Reidel that would get the team’s sixth goal with six minutes to go in the second. Cohane made a pass from her knees in the right faceoff circle to Sweeney who stickhandled in on goal, and the puck slid to Reidel who had the easy trap in.

“Sweeney is adjusting to her new position and her playmaking with Teagan working as a playmaker. I hope they keep it going,” said Coach Cohane.

Freiday picked up another big save when a Tiger player found herself alone in front with the puck, and then Teagan Cohane scored what would be the game’s last goal with just under two minutes to go in the second. After digging along the back boards for the puck, she gathered it in, skated off the boards, stickhandled into the front of the goal and went far for the seventh of the night for H/C.

In the third, H/C was able to get valuable play time for everyone on the team as neither team scored and the period was a back-and-forth affair. Freiday had a couple of good saves to maintain the shutout.

“We left her out to dry a few times tonight,” said Teagan Cohane of her goalie. “With either of our goalies (Busi or Freiday), a lot of mistakes go unnoticed because of them.”

Game notes

• The shutout is the first of the season for Hall/Conard.
• They are off until Jan. 3 when they take on Guilford (3-1) on the road.
• Sweeney and Cohane are closing in on offensive scoring milestones and should hit them in the coming weeks.
• H/C has outscored its opponents 25-13 in the first five games of the season.
• The one thing the team is missing is a nickname. They were once known as the WarChiefs, but after both Hall and Conard moved away from Native American imagery and nicknames, the girls team has not gotten a new one. Red Titans anyone?
• Hall/Conard came into the game seeded ninth in Class 1 of the CIAC rankings.
• H/C will play every team ranked ahead of them accept New Canaan, Trumbull, and Darien during the rest of the season. They have already played Darien once, losing 2-0 in the second game of this season.

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