More Letters On Goalies

If you happened to catch Carly Jackson's interview on The Hockey Show last week, we chatted about her best friend and goaltending partner Jillian Flynn a little. Jillian and Carly seem to complement each other very well as the goaltending tandem for the NCAA's Maine Black Bears, but Carly dropped some interesting information about Jillian's status on the team. If you look at the team photo above, Jillian is sitting in the middle of the first row, and you can see that she's clearly wearing the captain's "C"!

In the interview with Carly, she said that the vote for Jillian among the team was unanimous in making her the team captain. The release about her being named captain states that Flynn had only played "74 minutes in net in her three seasons" prior to this season, but it notes that "[h]er presence for the team has gone beyond her play in goal, being a vocal leader on the bench". It should be noted that Flynn's hometown of Presque Isle is mentioned, and the release also states that Flynn is the second goalie in Black Bears history to be named as captain after Amanda Cronin was the first to be named in 2001-02.

Why is this important? As the release says, Flynn was "an alternate captain for the Presque Isle High School boys' hockey team"! Would we have another goaltender who wore two different letters for two different teams?

You're darned right we do! There's Jillian Flynn tending the nets for Presque Isle High School with the alternate captain's "A" clearly on her left shoulder! Flynn's goaltending prowess isn't limited to the ice either as she also played in the net on the soccer pitch! Her athleticism also saw her play softball before committing to the Black Bears and to hockey exclusively, but her work on the boys' hockey team didn't go unnoticed by Maine head coach Richard Reichenbach as he recruited her to come play hockey at the NCAA level!

While there aren't any Maine high school hockey stats I can find on Jillian Flynn's seasons with Presque Isle High School, a handful of game recaps on various sites seem to indicate that she deserves the honours she was receiving for her work in the blue paint. Clearly, the Presque Isle team also recognized her presence on and off the ice as they awarded her with the alternate captaincy!

With Flynn being the second goaltender to wear the captain's "C", there may be another on the way as it appears the Black Bears and head coach Reichenbach may have another double-letter netminder on their hands in the future!

Allow me to introduce new Maine recruit Anna Larose who hails from Albertville, Minnesota while tending the nets for the North Wright County Riverhawks! As you can see, Larose is the captain of the Riverhawks as the netminder, and I'm going to presume that she's got a good chance of following in both Cronin's and Flynn's footsteps in becoming the captain of the Black Bears one day! If this happens, would that give Maine the most goaltender captains in NCAA history?

Larose will make a strong case for her to grab a roster spot with the Black Bears next season as she had a 16-8-1 record, a 1.97 GAA, and .926 save percentage with five shutouts in 25 games this season. Larose leaves North Wright County High School as the school record-holder with 657 saves in a season, 2399 saves in a career, 16 career shutouts and 61 wins while being named as the Senior Goalie of the Year for Minnesota Girls High School Hockey in 2019-20!

The loss of Jillian Flynn as she graduates from the program will be felt by the Black Bears after Flynn's value was recognized when she received the the New England Writers Unsung Hero award for all her efforts behind the scenes for the Black Bears. However, it seems that the next generation coming into the Black Bears program will carry the torch well as Anna Larose brings talent, skill, athletic ability, and the recognition of wearing a letter for her high school team to the NCAA squad next season!

For a state with only five letters in its name, they sure boast a lot of goalies with letters at Maine!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!