May 30, 2011
Leaving her mark
All-time leading goal scorer Stack, RIT turn out to be a perfect fit after all
by Mike Zhe/Staff Writer
Katie Stack (photo: RIT Athletics)
Katie Stack went to a Rochester Institute of Technology game when she was a high school student in Batavia, N.Y., and playing with an elite Rochester Edge U-19 team.
She didn’t just come away unimpressed. She came away a winner.
That day, her Edge team skated past a ragged RIT unit, which was still a year away from making the jump from club program to varsity. And it looked it, every bit.
“They didn’t have any equipment,” Stack recalled, “just gloves and pads and stuff.”
What Stack and many other observers didn’t see were the major strides -- sartorially, financially and results-wise -- that were just around the corner.
The Tigers weren’t the best team in Division 3 this year. That honor was reserved for Norwich, which came into Ritter Arena in late March and pinned a 5-2 setback on RIT to capture the program’s first national championship, ending the Tigers’ dream season in the year’s final game.
And Stack? She leaves as the all-time top goal scorer in RIT history and with a pair of All-America citations. In her case, it wasn’t just that her first impression of the program got disproved, but also that she was the one helping to disprove it.
“It’s definitely something I take pride in,” said Stack, whose 81 goals are a program best. ”I worked pretty hard over the four years and I think it’s a good honor to have, but I hope someone breaks it over the next four years.”
The loss to Norwich couldn’t erase what the Tigers, led by a strong senior class, have accomplished these last few years. Stack, fellow All-American Sarah Dagg and defenseman Traci Galbraith played in all 109 games in their RIT careers; a fourth senior, Kylie Mazzetta, only missed a handful.
A nice finish from what was … well, a dubious beginning.
Fifth-year RIT coach Scott McDonald was on his way to Ontario, on a recruiting trip before he even held his first practice, On the way, he stopped in Niagara, N.Y., where he’d played his college hockey and where Stack’s team was playing a game.
“She had a look on her face like, ‘Was I kidding?’” he recalled, about trying to sell her on coming to RIT. “She definitely rolled her eyes, even said, ‘We beat you guys last year.’ … I said, ‘Let’s look at where we are at the end of the year.’”
Stack and the Edge would routinely practice at RIT. And a game against Elmira gave her a chance to see a team she could see herself being a part of down the road.
“My mother and I came to a game against Elmira, and in that one year, the talent level of the (RIT) team was so much better,” she said. “I couldn’t believe how much better they’d gotten in one year.”
Stack had her second impression. McDonald had his recruit.
Since then, it’s been a steady climb up the Division 3 ranks for both team and player. She split time between forward and defense as a freshman, but at a solid 5-foot-7 didn’t get pushed around like most freshmen. Stack will also leave school as RIT’s career leader in penalty minutes (178).
“She came in right from the get-go,” said McDonald. “She’s a naturally physically strong person. She could overpower people, and I didn’t think people knew much about her back then.”
She put up 17-17-34 numbers as a sophomore, leading Division 3 with five short-handed goals. As a junior, she led the nation with 31 goals but the Tigers once again fell shot of the NCAAs, getting tripped up in the ECAC West tournament.
“We had a camping trip, a team bonding trip before this season,” she said. “From that point on you could tell it was going to be something good.”
The Tigers lost just once during the regular season, 2-1 to Oswego in the penultimate game of the regular season. They put their ECAC West tournament demons to rest, getting past a good Plattsburgh team in the final, 2-1.
It wasn’t until after they’d won a pair of NCAA games, including a 5-2 dispatch of traditional power Middlebury in the national semifinals, that they began to feel the weight of what they were close to accomplishing.
“I think we were overwhelmed,” said McDonald. “I think I made a mistake expecting the kids just to be there and be ready. I didn’t have them ready to play.”
Norwich’s back story wasn’t a whole lot different than RIT’s – a developing young program, just a few years into its varsity life, with a higher-profile men’s program that packs their arena for games (and is used by the respective women’s coaches as a recruiting tool and selling point).
The two teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in Division 3 in offense, each averaging about five goals a game.
“Unbelievable power play, tops in the country, and they had a stingy defense,” credited Norwich coach Mark Bolding. “They’re just a deadly offensive team with a lot of balance. It was definitely an aim to get up on them.”
The Cadets did just that, scoring a pair of goals in the opening 2:28 to set the tone, and skating away for a 5-2 win.
“I think it was just the day,” said Stack, who finished the season with 20 goals and 40 points. “I have a flip-top camera and I had it in the locker room before the game. The girls were all sitting quietly. You could see the nerves. I think for the first time we realized how good our team did and where we were.”
Still, Stack is leaving the RIT program in better shape that she found it. The Tigers have come a long way in five years, not just in what they’ve achieved on the ice, but how potential recruits might perceive them if their paths ever cross.
“From an equipment standpoint,” noted McDonald, “we’ve been able to do a lot more now.”
Mike Zhe can be reached at mzhe@nyhockeyjournal.com.
ECAC HOCKEY PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Laura Fortino, soph., D, Cornell
The speedy sophomore did it at both ends of the ice for the Big Red, who won the league championship and reached the Frozen Four for the second straight season, going 31-3-1 overall. Fortino’s nine goals and 31 assists for 40 points ranked her first among league defensemen in scoring – sixth overall – and her plus-43 rating was second only to teammate Lauriane Rougeau. She was also, along with teammate Rebecca Johnston, a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award.
DIVISION 3 PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Kara Buehler, sr., D, Plattsburgh
Buehler was named a first-team All-American after anchoring a Plattsburgh defense that allowed just 1.19 goals per game, the third-best mark in Division 3. Offensively, the Skaneateles, N.Y., native contributed seven goals and 22 points for the Cardinals, who went 20-4-3 and lost to RIT in the finals of the ECAC West tournament. Buehler, who won a national title growing up with the Syracuse Stars program, was a regular in the lineup since her freshman year.
