AMHERST, N.S. — It may not have been a successful season on the scoreboard, but Hastings’ Carly Jackson had a stellar junior season with the University of Maine women’s hockey Black Bears.
“We didn’t have a great year, missing the playoffs, but it went down to the last game of the season against Vermont. We had to win the game, but ended up tying 2-2,” the 21-year-old Jackson said. “We had a lot of challenges this year with injuries.”
For Jackson, while the team in front of her struggled, she had her best season statistically. She played 1,565 minutes, allowing 54 goals for a 2.07 goals against average in 28 games as well as a .920 save percentage.
She also had three shutouts and a 9-13-5 record between the pipes in her third season as a full-time member of the Black Bears, who had a 14-16-4 overall record and were 7-16-4 in Hockey East.
“It was a little disappointing not to make the playoffs this season but we have a good group moving forward,” said Jackson, who will be moving into her senior year at Maine. “We only lost a handful of seniors and have a strong nucleus of players returning next season.
Jackson also earned several individual awards being named to Team Maine for having the highest GPA on the team, while being voted team MVP for the second consecutive year.
She was also named goaltender of the month for Hockey East in January.
“It’s special to be named the MVP because it’s voted on by my teammates,” Jackson said. “The fact they think that of me is quite an honour. I love my teammates. We very hard together every day and there are so many people so deserving. To win it twice is really special.”
Jackson said she continued to work on her individual development, including focusing on getting out of her crease more and practising playing the puck.
“Even if I did it for 15 minutes every day I could see the improvement,” she said. “It’s stuff I’m going to keep working on.”
Jackson, a grad of Amherst Regional High School as well as the Cumberland County Minor Hockey Association and the Cumberland County Blues, has worked and coached the past several years with Baseball Nova Scotia.
This summer, Jackson, who is studying toward a bachelor of science in athletic training, will be interning with the Cape Cod semi-professional baseball league that has graduated a lot of players to Major League Baseball.
She is hoping to continue playing hockey for as long as she can. She would love a shot at playing professionally. She admitted to being disappointed the Canadian Women’s Hockey League ceased operations, but feels it’s best for one women’s professional hockey league in Canada and the United States. She’s hoping there will be some sort of merger with the National Women’s Hockey League that has teams in Boston, Buffalo, Connecticut, Minnesota and New Jersey.
