MARBLEHEAD — It’s been quite the offseason for the Marblehead girls hockey team. Like any team, these last few weeks have been about adapting to a new season full of changes, but that doesn’t make things any less exciting for first year coach Brittany Smith and the Magicians.
“I’m actually pretty excited about our team,” Smith said. “We have a great mix of players. There are older girls that are stepping up leading the team and younger girls that bring a lot of skill with them.
“Early on at practices there was a little bit of learning curve for sure,” Smith said. “But the girls were into it, glad to be out there and listening pretty well.”
And there was plenty to learn, with a new coach becoming familiar with her players and vice versa. Unfortunately, that process became even harder when Marblehead — which also fields players from Swampscott, Manchester-Essex and Hamilton-Wenham — was forced to have practices come to a halt two weeks ago after a positive COVID-19 test.
“We got four practices in before our first positive case on the team,” Smith said. “The good thing was we had been super cautious following all the new guidelines.”
But the team was still sidelined for over a week, only returning to the ice this past Sunday. Missing out on that ice time is obviously a big hit for the Magicians, but they made the most of what they could while away from the rink.
“Something to note with the girls in quarantine is they’re all still very active and committed to doing whatever they can,” Smith said. “The girls have sent in videos of themselves working out on their own and they were all trying to stay in shape for when we could get back out there.”
With all that missed time the Magicians will have plenty to make up for, which is why Smith is thankful to have a good bunch of experienced leaders at each position group.
That starts on the back end with Abby Kalinowski, a 2019-2020 Item All-Star who will help anchor Marblehead’s defense along with returning goalie Lily Francoeur.
“Abby is a returning captain on defense and a really solid player for us,” Smith said. “I can already see she’s a great leader and she’s done a great job getting the younger players involved.
“Lily has been doing well when we have been out there and she brings that experience that could help us back there,” Smith said.
Smith still has to get a feel for what her groupings will look like, but it’s clear already that returner Hadley Wales will help lead the first line on the offensive end.
“(Hadley) has been pretty strong on the first line with some younger girls,” Smith said. “We get more experience with her there and she’s going to be really strong up there.”
After a 7-11-2 season, Smith is hoping Marblehead can take a step forward, especially in games against its Northeastern Hockey League foes like Masconomet, Beverly, Peabody/Lynnfield and newcomers Gloucester and Newburyport.
“Obviously there’s no tournament to aim for this year so we’re hoping to have a winning record and hopefully be right up at the top,” Smith said. “We want to do better against the league. The record in the league hasn’t been extremely well in recent years so we’ll be hoping to get that up.”
Marblehead was slated to open the season Saturday against Newburyport, but after a postponement, the Magicians will open the season next Wednesday (5:15) at Peabody/Lynnfield.
