For the past decade or so the Franklin High’s girl’s varsity ice hockey team has been considered something less of a sport in relevance to other girl’s athletics. But, in the past 5 years the team has transformed from a walk on team to one of the top teams in division 1. The total transformation of the team involved hands on coaching as well as players who put their blood, sweat, and tears onto the ice every game and every practice. The final result of years of hard work is the 2011-2012 “miracle” team.
After losing 8 seniors last year, including the girl’s goalie Kailyn Burke, and core defenseman as well as a top scorer Katrina Corriveau, the 2011-2012 season was labeled a “development” year. With low expectations Coach Marjorie Burke took on 6 freshmen in hopes of forming the young team for successful years to come, the last thing the girls, coaches, and opposing teams expected was for the girls to come out roaring and dominate the league as well as the state.
As it stands now, Franklin Girl’s Varsity ice hockey is the 1st team in Division one, and ranked 4th best girls hockey team in the state of Massachusetts with an undefeated record— pretty impressive for a “development” team. The girl’s top 4 players are also within the top 10 players in entire the state. Captain Kaitlyn Spillane is in 1st place with 24 points, followed by sophomore Alex Mitchell in 3rd place with 21 points, followed by Christina Walsh, also a sophomore, in 4th place, with 19 points. Finally, captain Hannah Maggerman falls in 6th place with 17 points.
The girl’s goal for the rest of the season is to beat Westwood this coming Saturday and clench the division 1 title, which at this point is a very achievable goal. For now the girl’s plan keep practicing and playing as hard as they can to keep continue their extremely successful season.