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The Wellesley High girls ice hockey team skated off the ice at TD Garden as Division 2 state champs in both 2018 and 2019. Earlier this year, the Raiders hoped to complete a three-peat before coronavirus concerns canceled their season before Wellesley’s state championship game with Canton on March 15.
Exactly nine months later, on Dec.15, Wellesley returned to skate in Boston — this time at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton. But the Raiders did so while missing some familiar faces.
Wellesley graduated eight seniors and had three transfers from last year’s Division 2 co-state championship squad.
Among those graduated seniors were Erin Fleming, who is set to play Division I ice hockey at Sacred Heart University, 110-point scorer Mackenzie O’Neil and her teammate on the ice at Hobart and William Smith College, Emily Rourke, who scored 109 herself.
The Raiders also enter this year with two freshmen goalies as they are without All-Star netminder Liddy Schulz, who had 12 shutouts as a senior when the Raiders went 22-1.
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Not to mention, junior standout Lulu Rourke, who scored 54 points in two seasons, is the major transfer loss for Wellesley as she is now playing for Phillips Andover. Yet, despite losing so much talen, the back-to-back-to-back Div. 2 state champs will still have a target on their backs this season.
“Every year we feel like we have a target on our back,” Wellesley girls hockey coach PT Donato said. “That’s not going to change this year.”
Donato has two big reasons why he should be confident heading into this season: senior captains Maja Desmond and Lauren Burke. Not only are the duo best friends, but they also play on the same defensive pairing and did so in their state title win at the TD Garden in 2019.
“It’s so fun. We’ve been waiting for this since freshmen year,” Desmond said. “Everyone seems really excited and it’s a new vibe. Every year we’ve always had a target on our backs, and I think people underestimate us now.”
“It’s a different team but I’m just as excited as any year,” Burke said. “Since we have new goalies, I wanna protect them and not leave them out to dry.”
“They’re gonna play a lot of minutes this year. It’s great to have them in front of our freshmen goalies. It really starts with them, they’re really great players,” Donato said. “If the puck can’t get to the net, it’s not gonna go in. I consider them offensive defensemen too, so I expect them to score some goals as well.”
Burke is committed to play Division III women’s lacrosse at Bowdoin College after this year, while Desmond is committed to play the same sport at Division I Dartmouth College. But on Dec.15, the two were leading their team in a practice at the Boston Sports Institute.
The team practiced shooting drills and games of 2-on-2 in the back right corner of the sports center filled to a limited capacity. Even after losing 12 players who accounted for over 80% of their goals from a season ago, a few players stand out offensively this year.
“Maja and Lauren are gonna be two of the better defensemen in our league, but Dani Cimino is our goal scorer. We lost a lot of firepower, and I think Dani is gonna take on a lot of that load of scoring,” Donato said. “Same with Kaitlin Braun and Grace Flannery. Those are three forwards we’re gonna be leaning on heavily.”
And so, the senior captain duo on defense and the trio of juniors on offense will come out of the gates as Wellesley’s starting five as they will look to build off of three straight state titles despite losing more than half of last year’s team.
A task the Wellesley girls ice hockey squad is ready to take on.
“I would say we are all just super excited to have a season during these times which has elevated the level of energy and work put into practice and preparation,” Desmond said. “Even though we have a young team, I wouldn’t really call it a building year because we have a lot of players who have stepped up and fulfilled their roles and are ready to compete. “
