2017_02_norfolkwrentham

Page 20 Local Town Pages www.localtownpages.com February 2017
Sports
Girls Hockey Looks to Return to Tourney
By Christopher Tremblay
Staff Sports Writer
Photo courtesy of Gemini Photo Events.
Over the past three seasons
the King Philip girls hockey
team has gone 10-9-1 (2014),
15-0-3 (2015) and 10-9-1 (2016),
making the Division 2 Girls Ice
Hockey Tournament each campaign.
Unfortunately, making
the tournament was the only
bright side of post-season play
for KP as the Warriors fell in the
first round each season.
Although still early in the
season, KP is currently 5-2-1
playing in the South Eastern
Massachusetts Girls Hockey
League’s West Division. If
things go as planned--according
to their past three regular season
wins--the Warriors should be on
the high end of wins. While they
can’t replicate the 15-0-3 record
of 2015, they can come close if
they continue to play tough.
“We’re playing about where I
expected; however we still have
the meat of our schedule coming
up. The West is made up of
an extremely strong group of
teams and we’re going to need
to play extremely competitive in
those games to get into the tournament,”
King Philip Coach
Jack Unger said. “If we struggle
and don’t play up to par, the
tournament will be tough. As
the regular season comes to an
end you want to go in on a roll
to be successful.”
While the Warriors are currently
playing good hockey,
they’ll need to continue to establish
themselves the entire year to
not only advance into the Division
2 Tournament but also to
get past that dreaded first round,
which has been their downfall
over the past three seasons.
One of the key components
to KP’s success will be the play
of sophomore goaltender Lilly
Potts. Unger knew that the second-year
goalie was going to be
good this year, especially with a
year under her belt between the
pipes, but didn’t think she’d be
as good as she’s been.
“She’s much more comfortable
in her environment this
year,” Coach Unger said.
In addition to Potts performing
better than anticipated,
the defense in front of her has
also been playing very well; anchored
juniors Jessica Daniels
and Katie Crowther, as well
as sophomore Nicole Connor.
Defensively, Unger has the girls
playing a transition style of defense,
where they try to maintain
puck control as they maneuver
out of danger and into the offensive
end of the ice.
While the goalie and the defense
in front of her have been
outperforming their coach’s expectations,
the offense has been
struggling to put the puck into
the opposition’s net.
“We’re not killing anyone by
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any means,” Unger said. “If we
can control the play again we
can be successful again. Our
first line has accounted for the
majority of our scoring, so we’re
looking for some more goal scoring
to come from the second
and third lines.”
The first line, centered by
junior Liz Furfari accompanied
by wingers Kyleigh Remmes on
the right and Meghan Gorman
on the left, has been keeping
the Warriors on the plus side of
winning. Freshman Sammy Robison
has also contributed.
“Sammy has been a sweet
surprise contributing in her
first year,” the Coach said. “I’m
looking for good things from her
going forward.”
The team may only need to
win another five games to return
to the tournament for the fourth
straight year, but they are not
only going to need to improve
their scoring, especially against
the tougher teams, but are going
to need to control those games,
too.
“This is a group of girls who
are committed to the game,”
Unger said. “They’re going to
need to attack the offensive zone
and keep pounding. There’s no
individual play here, just a team,
and if we play that way we
should be able to go deep into
the tournament.”
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