In three prelim games on the National stage, the Portland Junior Pirates U19 girls team – featuring Kristen Murray, Devan Kane and Alyssa Hulst of the MPA State Champion Scarborough Red Storm and Michelle Robichaud and Ariel Potter, of the combined Yarmouth Clippers/Freeport Falcons –stole an early lead and stayed close to competing squads from across the country. In each, they ultimately fell short by a narrow margin, keeping them out of the quarterfinals. But though their trip to Amherst, NY ended early, it was built on victories they’ll always look back on proudly.

The Pirates traveled, last week, to the National Championship tournament, having first claimed the State title and then the Regional title. In New York, they faced three tough opponents, from Massachusetts, New York and Colorado. They fell in each of those bouts, 2-1, 5-3, and 1-0, respectively, but never went down without a fight.

“It’s the next level,” says Hulst of the quality of play she sees as a Pirate. “There’s more girls on the team that know the game better.”

In addition to Murray, Kane and Hulst, the Pirates – who, during the 20-game regular season battle one other Maine team, Casco Bay, as well as lineups from elsewhere across the Northeast – collect top talent from widespread schools. Athletes from NYA, Greely, Cheverus, Falmouth, Hebron, Lewiston, York, Kent’s Hill, and even Oyster River (in Madbury, NH) round out the squad, which participates in the New England Girls Hockey League.

“They’re dedicated players, and obviously families,” assistant coach Kent Hulst (Alyssa’s father) says. “They all want their daughters to play, and to play with the better players in the state, outside of their high school teams. A great thing for anybody is to play for their high school, but then if you want to up your ante, like in any sport, you reach out.”

The season starts in autumn and continues through the winter, and since some of the girls play fall sports, and all of them have school hockey teams to report to, they get very few opportunities to practice together. Once the high school season kicks into gear, the Pirates essentially meet once a week, on Sundays, for a game.

The schedule might seem rigorous, even grueling, to some, but to the players and their families, it’s a way of life. Alyssa says she never tires of sticks and pucks. “I love hockey so much; it’s just so much fun.” A junior, Alyssa has been playing the game since she was five.

To earn their shot at Nationals, the Pirates beat Casco Bay 9-1 to advance to Regionals, held in Concord, NH. There, they faced representatives of each of the other New England states, and again emerged triumphant, defeating the Vermont Shamrocks 1-0 in the Finals.

They then had just eight days before traveling to NY – meaning, they had far too little time to fundraise. So the financial responsibilities fell to the girls’ parents, who came through. “They made plans, and they doubled-up or tripled-up to get their kids to the event,” Kent says. “Three or four people in a car.”

The team departed Tuesday afternoon, drove eight hours to Amherst, arrived at their hotel and got situated, then played their first game, against Cape Cod, on Wednesday at 2 p.m. The Pirates knew nothing of their opponents before stepping onto the ice to face them, and Cape proved tough.

The Pirates dropped their round-robin opener, 2-1, Jill Hannigan (Cheverus) scoring their goal in the tight bout. “We had a chance to win every game,” Kent says. “We just didn’t score on our grade-A scoring chances. All three games, I think we out-chanced the teams we played, but unfortunately we didn’t put the puck in the net.”

“We played well,” Alyssa says. “I think we were nervous. Once we played Regionals, that’s the next step, then we went to Nationals, and that’s the next step, and I don’t think we were quite ready to play that next step.”

Head coach Matt Libby identifies fatigue as a potential disadvantage in the game. “We came out probably with not as much intensity as we should have had. But that wasn’t necessarily a surprise, given the day of travel that most of us had. There were some distractions that I was anticipating.”

Libby adds, “We faced a very good team, but we were definitely in the game. It’s a game we could have won. We got pinned down in our own end for various periods, which impacted our ability to create offense.”

On Thursday, Maine met the team from Buffalo. Again they failed to find an offensive groove, proving unable to capitalize on their highest-quality looks, and again they lost in close fashion, this time 5-3. Taylor Fowler (Hebron) added scored once, and Alyssa Hulst added two more.

“We were up 2-0 at the beginning,” she says, “and then we didn’t stick to our systems, and broke down. Back-checking, taking away the middle of the ice, taking up space in front of the net.”

The Pirates had switched up their lines for the game – Libby’s decision. “We mixed up the lines a little bit…we came out on fire,” he says. “We wanted to create more offense. So we moved one of our forwards, Mary Morrison, back on defense, to help in our transition.”

The tournament wasn’t single- or double- elimination, though, and the Pirates had one final chance to sneak into the further bracketing. “All twelve teams, there’s wins, losses, head-to-head, goals for, goals against; the equation comes in,” Kent Hulst explains.

That last opportunity pitted Maine against Colorado, who had the same, 0-2, record. For both teams, it was win or go home, and Colorado won – though the result was once more very close, just 1-0. On defense and in net, both teams played superbly, but the Pirates still couldn’t put the puck away.

“Nobody was back-checking,” Alyssa Hulst says of the mistake, “and we were mid-change, too.”

They lost, yes, but the Pirates experienced a scope and scale of competition that most young athletes never do. “The girls were ecstatic to be there,” coach Hulst said, adding the time they spent together in closer quarters allowed the Pirates to grow closer as friends, in a way their get-in and get-out, once-weekly game schedule during the regular season didn’t necessarily permit.

“It was a great experience,” Alyssa says. “It was definitely fun. We were the top team in New England. It gives us another shot for next year, and we just learn from what we did wrong this year.” Hulst is confident the Pirates will be as tough next year as they are this year.

The Junior Pirates U19 girls team poses happily after winning Regionals.