The Marblehead girls hockey team finished the year 4-15-1, but its record aside, the Lady Headers were a young team that had “players new to the sport” according to head coach Brittany Smith.
“I knew this was a young team that was new to hockey in general,” Smith said of her team, which lost five players due to graduation and prep school.
Despite Marblehead’s challenging schedule, Smith wishes her team pulled out a few more wins.
“I think, overall, we gave up a few winnable games which is always tough,” Smith said. “We should have had a few more wins, which is a bit disappointing.”
One player who had a strong season was Ava Schultz.
“I think, last year, Ava had one goal,” Smith said. “This year, about midway through the season, she was on a scoring streak and scored four goals in four games.”
Another positive was a morale-boosting 3-0 win against Newburyport back in January.
“That game was probably our best overall game of the season. We just played hard from the very start until the end,” Smith said. “Newburyport was taking us lightly [and] I think we capitalized. We stayed out of the penalty box and played our game which was really nice to see. This was the game we kept referencing all season.”
Even with a losing record, the bond the team shared was a “strong one” and Smith “loved the team’s dedication.”
Smith said if practice was ever canceled, chances were the girls were getting together anyway.
“It was good to see as a coach. You always want to make sure they’re having fun outside of hockey, too,” Smith said. “We probably only switched lines once this season. The girls seemed to mesh well together and when we did change lines, they continued to mesh well.”
