- Details
- Category: Current Issue
caption, page 7:
Woodstock Academy girls’ ice hockey, from left: Seniors Elizabeth Morgis, Caitlyn Flynn, Keynila Hochard and Bryn Miller will anchor the new-look girls’ ice hockey team this winter. Photo by Eric Roy/Woodstock Academy.
Preview
Centaurs excited
about new start
for ice hockey
There was precious little time to get to know each other.
And now, the season is upon the Woodstock Academy girls’ ice hockey team.
The Centaurs opened a 19-game schedule Dec. 7at Amity High School.
That lack of time to get to know each other exacerbated by the fact that the team has six new players on it from schools down by the shoreline due to the new cooperative status that the program now enjoys.
“All the girls are really excited for this season, we just have to put in a lot of hard work,” said senior Keynila Hochard.
Hochard is one of only four seniors on the team and hails from Woodstock Academy.
She said the chemistry on the team has been coming along. “I’ve been placed in a leadership role and I find it fun to meet new people, especially people who I can easily find things in common with like playing hockey,” Hochard said.
The nice thing for the Centaurs is that their new teammates all have a hockey pedigree.
“They have all had a great experience with the sport,” said Woodstock Academy coach Eric Roy. “I knew a couple of them from my days with the Northern Lights (club team) and they are talented. We don’t have a superstar but we have a team full of gritty, hard-working girls that know the game of hockey.”
Caitlyn Flynn hails from Norwich Tech; Sophia Gouveia from Wheeler High School; Juliette Hammer from Ledyard; Sky Patterson from the Marine Biology program at Fitch; and both Paige Hinkley and Mia Williamson from E Lyme.
Flynn is the only senior among the group, Williamson is a junior, both Gouveia and Hammer are sophomores and Patterson and Hinkley will be around for a while, Roy hopes, as both are freshmen.
“They are happy to play hockey,” Roy said of the distance some of his new players have to travel for practices and games. “They wanted to have a girls’ high school hockey experience so they’re happy. One of the parents said to me that they were either going to travel 45 minutes up to here or 45 minutes to a southern (Connecticut) school so he was happy to be able to latch on with our program.”
Roy has had very little time to work with his new group.
His first impression is that there will be a lot of close, hard-fought games.
“We’re not going to blow the roof off the building with a lot of goals but we’re going to hang in there and outwork some teams,” Roy said.
Hochard led the team with eight goals and three assists last season when the Centaurs finished 4-8-2 as a member of the Central Massachusetts League.
The Centaurs did lose Annabella Chaves and Sydney Haskins to graduation and Olivia Crawford is also no longer with the team making goal-scoring a premium.
Roy feels the defense, led by senior captain Bryn Miller, will be the backbone of the team.
The Centaurs also lost their goalie, Mia Dang and Elizabeth Morgis takes over between the pipes.
Roy said he is counting on offense from Hochard and freshman Maci Corradi.
Caroline Harris and Allison Griswold are the Centaur juniors while Ella Carney, Riley Faber, Avery Nielson, and Ellary Sampson are all freshmen who will skate for the program which does not have a junior varsity team.
With only three or four practices and a jamboree, Roy said: “I like it because we’re just throwing them right into the fire and see what we have and we will make the tweaks along the way,” Roy said.
Roy said he would like to see his team sneak into the Connecticut High School Girls Hockey Association state tournament.
It would have to finish in the top 14 of the 22-teams in the state to accomplish that.
“I think we could do it in the back of my mind. I don’t think we will be in the top tier of the tournament but I think we will put our name out there and people will know we’re here to play,” Roy said.
Hochard is looking forward to it.
“I like the co-op and (being a part of the CHSGHA) because now we can qualify for States and move forward instead of being in the Massachusetts league and just playing games to play games. Now, we can actually get somewhere,” Hochard said.
Schedule: Wed., Dec. 7: at Amity Co-Op, 3:30 p.m.; Sat., Dec. 10:at Suffield Co-Op, 8:20; Wed., Dec. 14: at Auburn (Mass), 6; Thurs., Dec. 15: vs. Guilford, 6; Sat., Dec. 17: vs. Simsbury, 1; Wed., Dec. 21: vs. Auburn, 5:30; Fri., Dec. 23: at Pope Francis (Mass.), 7; Wed., Dec. 28: at Hamden Co-Op, 2:30; Mon., Jan. 2:at Burrillville, TBA; Mon., Jan. 16: vs. East Catholic, noon; Sat., Jan. 21: at Mercy Co-Op, 5:20; Mon., Jan. 30: at Fairfield Co-Op, 8:45; Wed., Feb . 1: vs. Fairfield Co-Op, TBA; Sat. Feb. 4: vs. Avon Co-Op, TBA; Fri., Feb. 10: vs. Hand Co-Op, 8; Sat., Feb, 11: at Hall/Conard, 1:30; Mon., Feb. 13: at Trumbull/ St. Joseph, 8; Thurs., Feb. 16: at West Haven/Sacred Heart, 6:45; Sat., Feb. 18: vs. Suffield Co-Op, 6.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
..