Taking the ice in Chamonix, France with Team Draft Day North America in the Under-14 girls tournament, Nimegeers and her teammates won their final round robin game Friday 3-2 over Germany before dropping a 3-0 decision to the East Coast Selects in their quarter-final playoff contest.
Against Germany, Nimegeers – who scored 49 goals and 63 points in only 10 games this past season with the Mavericks – found herself in a rare situation: actually trailing a game after the first period. But there Draft Day were, down 2-0 after the first and needing a major turnaround to get back into the game.
They got that and then some. After being outshot 12-8 in the first period, North America turned up the pressure in the second, outshooting Germany 19-4 and rallying with three goals to record the comeback.
Nimegeers had an impact, too, as she and Mississauga’s Mackenzie Alexander scored 39 seconds apart early in the second to tie the game, with Nimegeers’ marker knotting the score at 2-2 4:33 into the frame.
That set the stage for Leaside, Ont.’s Hilary Whiddon a little over two minutes later as she scored the game tying goal on the power play with 7:12 gone in the period.
Toronto’s Noa Brown held the fort the rest of the way in goal, turning aside 16 shots total in her 40 minutes of work – the tournament featured two-period games due to the compact schedule – to close out the win.
The victory saw Draft Day finish with a 2-2-1 record, good enough for seventh place in the 12-team draw. They drew East Coast in their quarter-final game and gave up three goals in the first period on their way to the 3-0 loss.
Nimegeers and her teammates had Saturday off and return home Sunday.
The Midwest Selects from Illinois went undefeated through the tournament, taking a 7-3 win over Russia’s SHD Global in the title game.
