Princeton resident is hockey hero
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
The two biggest goals of Cheeky Herr’s career gave Trinity College its first women’s ice hockey championship in the New England Small College Athletic Conference.
The Princeton resident has led Trinity in scoring this season, but none of her goals were bigger than the two she had last weekend. Herr, a junior, scored the overtime game-winner in a 2-1 win over second-seeded Amherst on Saturday, then provided the game-winner in overtime again for a 3-2 win over top-seeded Middlebury in Sunday’s championship game.
”It was pretty sweet,” Herr said. “I don’t know how to describe it. I don’t know if there are words to put that into writing.”
The NESCAC title gives Trinity an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III tournament. The Bantams will play at Elmira 3 p.m. Saturday in the first round.
”We have to just keep working hard, keep grinding, keep playing an aggressive game,” said Trinity head coach Jenny Potter. “We’ve been successful as a team because it hasn’t been about the individuals. No one is trying to be the hero, and make it all about them. That mindset of playing for the team, that will help us going forward. We can’t think of it as the NCAAs, can’t think of it as Elmira. We just have to think of it as a game and do what we’ve done and that will help us be successful moving forward.”
That attitude has paid off all season and has the Bantams competing in the NCAA tournament with a conference crown already won. Trinity sees the key to Saturday’s first-round game as continuing to play as they have been.
”I think just going out there and playing our game,” Herr said. “The leadership on our team has been fantastic. Having confidence in their abilities, and just going out there. They can go out there and have fun. They can have fun and make something special.”
Trinity is 18-6-2 and unbeaten in its last eight games. Its latest two wins were unforgettable. It was a tight game with Amherst in the semifinals, when Herr and fellow junior Emma Tani skated out on a 2-on-1 midway through overtime. Tani skated with the puck as long as she could before crossing it to Herr, who finished it off.
”She did a very good job of drawing the defenseman to her,” Herr said. “I pulled the goalie to my forehand and deked her and slid it by her with my backhand.
”We’ve been working on 2-on-1s all season. It was a pretty awesome goal to score. It’s in my memory forever.”
The win sent them into the final against a Middlebury team that they had split with in the regular season.
”I don’t want to say we were confident,” Herr said. “We had a lot of want and desire to win. We knew that it would be hard-fought battle, nothing would be handed over to us. We knew we’d have to bear down and fight for it. We faced a lot of adversity, a lot of penalties called against us, and a big ice sheet which we weren’t used to. We had confidence in ourselves and our teammates.
”Going into the finals, we were still high on the win from the day before,” she said. “We knew against Middlebury, we wanted to come out and get them off guard and get up early, make them grip their sticks a little harder.”
Less than three minutes into the game, Herr got Trinity on the board. Tani scored and Trinity was looking good with a 2-0 lead in the first period before Middlebury responded with a goal apiece in the second and third periods to force overtime. Less than a minute into the extra frame, Herr sent her best friend and roommate Shelby Labe’s shot high into the goal to set off the Bantams celebration.
”I didn’t know it had gone in,” Herr said. “I heard the sound of the puck hitting the crossbar. I saw the light and heard the buzzer.”
It was the fifth game-winning goal this season for Herr, who was just happy with the team results.
”In high school, we went to the New England tournament three times and never made it out of the semifinals,” said Herr, who played at Choate. “It’s pretty great to accomplish something as big as a NESCAC win.”
And to be the player to provide the game-winner was a thrill.
”I think that’s what every player dreams of — scoring the game-winning goal in overtime,” Potter said. “To have both of them. . . She’s a very smart hockey player. She knows how to bury the puck. I love having her as a player on my team.”
The win capped a season that has seen Trinity overcome plenty. They have been forced to move forwards to defense and taken defenseman to play forwards to cover up injuries, and they have been whistled for 24 more penalties than their opponents.
We spend more time playing 4-on-5 than we do 5-on-5,” Herr said. “It’s awesome that we won this weekend. The hard work isn’t over. It’s just the beginning. We want to do whatever we can to win the game on Saturday. We’re the underdogs and we feed off that.”
The Bantam team also has confidence from seeing how it came through the NESCAC tournament. The first title in program history was the result of a season of build-up.
”We’re a family,” Herr said. “The past two teams, we’ve had all the talent in the world. Our hearts weren’t all in the team. It wasn’t all in or nothing. We were missing that family factor. We had that drama that made it difficult to be successful.
”This year, it was working together as a group of 20 individuals. We were very much a family. We had the backs of the girls next to us. We were playing for each other, and that happy and passionate and loving atmosphere, it fostered the atmosphere to help us win this weekend.”
The steps to get to a championship started long ago. It’s Potter’s second season at the helm of the Bantams, and she noticed the improvements from a year ago.
”It’s just a combination of several factors,” Potter said. “The team as a whole put a lot of work in the summer and preseason. It was a very disappointing end to last season. That was a huge motivating factor to the group. Cheeky had a fantastic season along with her linemates and her team. It’s helped her production.”
Herr has made jumps every year in her production. After graduating from Choate, she came to Trinity and scored five goals with seven assists in her freshman year. She had 10 goals and nine assists last year. This year she is leading the Bantams with 19 goals and 17 assists.
”I finally listened to my dad,” Herr said. “A lot of it is just confidence. I came in as a freshman, and I was timid and afraid. I was very deferential to the older girls on the team. I didn’t think I had the ability to take it to the net and score. Sophomore year, that began to change. I still wasn’t confident and sure of myself I could do that. Toward the end of the season, I changed linemates and that really helped. I played with Lucy Robinson. My parents were staying there the entire time cheering me on.
”This year, as a junior it was time to step up across the board. I had freshmen looking to me for advice academically, on the ice, socially. That only helps me step up more. I realized as a junior I needed to help my team more.”
Herr is part of Trinity’s top line with Robinson and Tanni. They are the top scorers for the Bantams and have worked well together all year.
”I am also very lucky to play with Lucy Robinson and Emma Tani,” Herr said. “I always think of ourselves as the perfect storm for a line. Emma Tani had speed and stick skills. Lucy is a very strong person on the puck. She never loses a battle. I’m a grinder. I’m in the corners winning the puck. I have a lot of hockey IQ. We all have different skill sets that the other one might not have.”
Consistency in her play has helped to drive Trinity all year, even through some of their ups and downs. They are peaking at the right time as they head into the NCAAs.
”There’s no better place to be an underdog,” Potter said. “There’s no pressure on you, which is great to have. This team has bonded together. They’re just having fun. It’s great. They’re just going out there to play the game and have fun. They go and live the moment.
”That’s something we stress all the time. Live your shift, that’s what one of my assistants says. They’re living their shift and working hard. All we control is ourselves. Win the battles, win the races to the puck, and if you do that everything will take care of itself.”
The Bantams already have a NESCAC title. It’s a goal that Herr had hoped would one day happen.
”You always want it,” she said. “You always talk about it. I just always wanted to do it. It was never something I thought too much about. I wanted it to happen before I graduated.”
Herr still has a full year ahead of her before she plans to graduate with a degree in History with minors in Classical Traditions and in Religion. But before this season ends, she is looking forward to the chance to make some more history on ice for Trinity.
”We’re the comeback kids,” Herr said. “We keep surprising people and we keep surprising ourselves. Nothing will be handed to us. We’re not going to just walk in there and win. No one on our team has that mindset. We need to work hard.”