Fortitude and Finesse: Girls’ Hockey Demands Both

Posted on Mar 24, 2014

Fortitude and Finesse: Girls’ Hockey Demands Both

Ponytails flying behind them, these young women will skate circles around you. Girls’ ice hockey players don’t hesitate to tell you that being a hockey player takes toughness and commitment.

“It’s a challenging sport, both mentally and physically,” says Katherine Flaherty ’15 who has played competitively since she was 5. “It’s a huge commitment. You play through the 5 a.m. practices when you are 10 years old. You make yourself shoot 500 pucks a day to get to this level because it’s so competitive.”

Kaitlin Gately ’14, team captain, is also nonplussed by the demands of the game.

“I gave up a lot of my weekends for hockey,” she says. “It’s not that you don’t ever have time to hang out with your friends, but you do miss out on some things because you have a night game or you have to get up early the next morning. It’s a sacrifice, but you are always willing to make it.” Kaitlin also competes on one of the top club teams in the country.

The girls’ hockey program at Milton is growing rapidly, reflecting a nationwide trend showing the sport’s booming popularity. In 1990, 2,700 girls and women participated in USA Hockey; today that number exceeds 65,000. Milton’s program began in the mid-1980s, but overall participation in the sport took off during the ’90s, with the first women’s world championship in 1990 and then the Olympics in 1998, where Team USA won the first gold medal.

Last year, Milton’s varsity team competed with only nine skaters. This year, there are 20 girls on the bench. The junior varsity team also doubled in size, after 27 girls tried out for the program. The players’ hockey backgrounds are varied. Some were in skates as toddlers, others started at age 8 or 9, and one just began playing last year after 11 years of figure skating.

“One of the first steps we made was to get more players and then increase the level of competition of our players,” says Head Coach Ryan Stone, who is in his second year of coaching at Milton. “This season, we are really in a period of change,” he says. “Our team goals are to get better every day, to have fun, and to prepare our players for college. That’s how we base everything we do and how we judge our success.”

Coach Stone came to Milton with 18 years of college coaching experience at some of the top women’s college hockey programs in the country. He started the women’s program at RPI before moving on to Brown and then Colgate. He is also an assistant coach for the Boston Blades, a women’s semi-pro team. He works with two assistant coaches with stellar hockey credentials. Hillary McNamara ’09 returned to Milton after an excellent two-sport career in hockey and lacrosse at Trinity College. Casey Pickett plays for the Blades and finished her college career as a captain at Northeastern University, where she was the 11th all-time leading scorer at one of the oldest women’s college hockey programs in the country.

In a recent practice, the team is running through drills while Demi Lavato blasts from the speakers in the Roberts Rink. A few dance to the music on their skates and laugh, but when it’s their turn with the puck, they are all business. Coach Stone usually doesn’t play music, but he wants to lighten things up a bit after coming off a few tough losses. This season’s record (6–19–2) doesn’t reflect that eight of those losses were by one goal and four were in overtime. Last year, they lost to some of those teams by four or five goals.

“It’s sometimes tough for players and the outside world to see, but we are making progress,” says Coach Stone. “After a tough loss, I try to point out the positive things we did and the progress we made. For example, I will say, ‘Last time we played that team we lost 2–0; now it took them a goal in the late seconds of the game to beat us.’ I try to keep pushing the players forward and remind them that if we keep progressing, the wins and losses will take care of themselves. Game results should be a byproduct of our philosophy, of what we are trying to do every day.”

The players don’t wallow in the losses.

“The season is so long with so many games,” says Anne Malloy ’16. “When you play nine games in 14 days, you don’t have time to get down about a game. You have to practice the next day. You have to focus on the next game.”

“The record does matter, but at the same time, I see a lot of improvement since last year,” says Kaitlin. “We are a good team, but we haven’t been able to put as many pucks in the net as our opponents. It is OK to be frustrated or mad about a game, but you have to bounce
back pretty quickly.”

During a game, this resilience and determination unfolds. The players and coaches on the bench are constantly shouting out encouragement to the players on the ice. “Go Blue!” A goal scored by the opposing team brings a brief silence on the Milton bench, but then someone yells out “Keep the energy up!” and everyone’s head is back in the game. When Milton scores five minutes later, their sticks and skates slam up and down in applause. “Here we go girls! We’re in this.”

Games are fast and high energy. Unlike in boys’ hockey, checking is not allowed in the girls’ game. Many of these girls played on boys’ teams until middle school, and they miss checking, but they also appreciate the nuances of their game.

“Because you can’t use your body, you have to be faster and quicker. You have to rely on your skills,” says Gianna Beniers ’15.

The absence of checking does not mean lack of injuries. The play is still aggressive, which they enjoy, and all of these players have suffered minor and major injuries, from concussions to broken ankles. Injuries are part of a game that has become increasingly competitive. So many girls are vying for spots on a limited number of college teams. Last year, all four seniors went on to play NESCAC hockey at Colby, Williams and Wesleyan. Kaitlin will play for Yale next year, and a few other girls are still deciding.

In the end, the enjoyment the girls get from playing the game and the camaraderie they have with one another are the major takeaways.

“I come from a huge hockey family,” says Katherine. “My dad has this saying: ‘All great things come from hockey.’ That’s true for me, because throughout my life my best and deepest friendships have all come from hockey.”

“I don’t know of another sport in which you become as close to your teammates,” says Kaitlin. “This is my 11th season as a varsity athlete at Milton, and this is my favorite team. Everyone meshes really well, we support each other, we play hard and have fun.”

Liz Matson