Girls Hockey Looks to Return to Tourney

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 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.”