http://www.abcnewspapers.com/2006/Decem ... oalie.html
Posted: 12/28/06
Blaine goaltender Ashley Nixon faced the shots and has made a case to be considered among the very best
by Tom Yelle
of the Sportsweek staff
Going into the final week of December, the numbers spoke with clarity:
•A mere 329 saves of 348 shots faced
•A 1.58 goals against average.
•A .945 save percentage.
•A running season total of four shutouts.
•A total of 614 minutes and 30 seconds played, which represented the entire elapsed time of what it took to play the season’s first 12 games — 11 decided in regulation and one decided in overtime.
In short, senior goaltender, Ashley Nixon, had an exceptional first half of Blaine’s 2006-2007 hockey season. And there is no reason to believe she was going to slow down during the second half of Blaine’s schedule.
Indeed. In spite of Blaine’s 8-4 record accrued during the November/pre-December holiday portion of the schedule, Nixon is proving to be one of the best girls’ hockey goaltenders in the state.
The listed numbers reveal so much in addition to the fact if Blaine could have scored a few more goals, the team could have been looking at a couple more wins and a couple less defeats prior to its holiday tournament appearance New Year’s weekend in Austin.
“We have some kids who are trying to emerge as goal-scorers,” said head coach Steve Guider. “We have one (sophomore forward Lauren Zrust, who had a highly respectable 21 points in the first 12 games), but we need more...”
To complement Blaine’s chief goal-preventer, Ashley Nixon.
Will play at St. Cloud State
Nixon, who just before the season opened signed a letter of intent to play Division I hockey at St. Cloud State next school year, is in her second full year as Blaine’s lead goalie and third year overall as a significant contributing member with the girls’ varsity program.
Prior to her sophomore season Nixon played boys’ hockey in the Blaine youth program, finishing that portion of her career as a regular goaltender or the Bantam A team.
She is the latest in a long line of standout individual goaltenders — in both the boys’ and girls’ hockey programs — with whom Guider (a goalie coach by trade) has worked.
On this all-star, all-state half-of-fame roster of goalies, Nixon has immediately followed present University of Minnesota sophomore goalie, Kim Hanlon — with whom she shared Blaine’s starting position three years ago. Furthermore, she was known as an up-and-coming prospect when two-time national championship-winning goalie (with the Gophers), Jody Horak was still Blaine’s main puck-stopper earlier this decade.
“Ashley has been playing very well; she always plays very well,” said Guider. “She played well last year and is playing no different this year.
“She just moves so well and rarely gets out of position. To score on her, the other team almost has to have a two-on-one situation with someone at the back door waiting for the pass. If they don’t, she gets to the puck and makes the save.”
In fact, many, if not a majority the 19 goals charged against Nixon’s record were of this type through the first 12 games. Six of the 19 came in a game against one of the state’s most-balanced and talented class AA squads, Holy Angels back on Nov. 25, and three days later four more came in a Northwest Suburban game against a very strong Centennial team — many off this two-on-one scenario.
In the 6-3 and 4-2 losses to those foes, Nixon faced a total of 82 shots on goal.
Before those two losses, she faced 46 shots fired from the sticks of the state’s No. 1-ranked class A team at the time, Blake, in a 3-2 win.
After those two losses Nixon faced another 29 in a 1-0 loss to the highly ranked Coon Rapids team in a Northwest Suburban Conference game.
Nixon on a run
Since the loss at Coon Rapids Dec. 2 and before its first holiday tournament game this week in Austin, Blaine was on an undefeated five-game run and Nixon was on a run during which she had given up just three goals despite a high number (nearly an average of 30 this season) of shots she faced.
In the week prior to Christmas Day Nixon posted a formidable 0.33 goals against average with a .986 save percentage, giving up just one goal in 70 shots on her position between the pipes.
She stopped 14 shots in a 5-1 win over Anoka, 24 shots in a 1-0 win over the North Metro Stars and 31 shots in another 1-0 win over the Proctor/Hermantown/Duluth Marshall cooperatively sponsored team.
It was the second time Nixon had posted back-to-back shutouts this season. In mid-November, following an season-opening 3-2 loss to White Bear Lake, Nixon came back to stymie Maple Grove 7-0, then Elk River during a three-day period.
“There’s no doubt that she keeps us in games and gives us a chance to win,” said Guider. “She does so even when we don’t play well in front of her defensively or are just not skating our best when we need to be skating harder.
“But that’s her consistency; that’s how she plays and there is no tougher critic of her play than herself.”
While there are plenty of big games on the schedule next month and early February, including sectional playoffs in which Nixon will get additional opportunities to show her consistency for Blaine, it is the St. Cloud State program which will benefit in the future.
Will join her sister Sammy
Nixon will join her older sister Sammy — presently a sophomore winger — on the St. Cloud State team next fall. It was decision she made about a year ago — a verbal commitment — which took her out of the recruiting picture prior to her senior season.
This was much to the dismay of numerous big-time Division I hockey coaches from throughout the country who had not seen Ashley Nixon play goalie until last June at the USA Hockey-sponsored National 17-18 Camp for girls.
During this five-day event Nixon proved to be the top goalie of her age (17- and 18-year-old) group, not yielding a goal during her first four days of play. It wasn’t until the fifth day when someone finally scored on her, but that was it for the week, one goal against!
On this subject Guider added:
“Yeah, I don’t think there were too many happy people (coaches there to recruit) when they found out they had missed out on this player.”
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