Raiders are all set in net
Hubbard, Schulz backstop Wellesley title hopes
When it comes to experience and excellence at the goaltender position, Wellesley is envied by the state’s hockey programs.
This year’s Raiders teams boast perhaps the MIAA’s most accomplished pair of senior netminders. On the boys side, Drew Hubbard is in his fourth year as a starter, helping his squad to tournament appearances every season and recently picking up his 50th career win.
All Liddy Schulz has done in her three seasons is backstop the girls to back-to-back Division 2 state titles and favorite status for a third.
Hubbard was first on the varsity scene, earning the No. 1 job out of the gate as a freshman. His brother, Jack, was a senior on that year’s team, and coach Paul Donato had a feeling right away he had something special.
“You never know with a young guy, but he had just an air of confidence about him from the beginning, and it’s a confidence that calms his team,” said Donato. “He is consistently good, every practice, every game, every night. You get the same level of commitment on the ice from him every night, and that has been since Day 1.”
Donato hasn’t had to worry about who was between the pipes ever since. The Bay State Conference Carey co-MVP as junior, Hubbard has been arguably more valuable than ever this winter as Wellesley has struggled on the offensive end but held opponents to two goals or less in 15 of their first 18 games, including a huge 2-2 tie with Natick on Wednesday that locked up a postseason berth at 9-7-2.
“It’s so easy to have the ups and down, especially as a goalie, the way the puck bounces the way it does some days,” said Hubbard. “I really just focus on making the next stop. I pride myself on the ability to put mistakes behind me and not let them manifest, and that’s part of the reason I can be so consistent.”
It’s been an eventful last couple games for Hubbard. Not only has he earned win No. 50 and sewn up a tourney spot, but he made one of his hockey dreams come true when he scored an empty-net goal against Braintree — quite the thrill for a kid who grew up idolizing Martin Brodeur, who had two during his NHL career.
“The highlight of my career,” said a smiling Hubbard, who Donato believes is as skilled a puckhandler as there is on any level. “Sometimes I wish I was defenseman instead of goalie, especially when I get scored on. It hit me when the puck was about 15-20 feet away and it was on line and I saw it was going to happen. It was unreal.”
While Schulz mostly sat behind incumbent Alyssa Cimeno as a freshman, she too stepped into a difficult position in her first year as the top option as a sophomore. Wellesley was coming off a disappointing first round tournament loss but still harboring high expectations, having lost in the Division 2 state final the previous three years.
That season she started 23 of 24 games – missing one because of the flu – on the way to the Raiders’ first state crown, helping Wellesley end its TD Garden jinx by posting a shutout in the final, a 1-0 victory against Canton. A year later, she came through in the clutch again in a 3-2 overtime triumph over Notre Dame to repeat, running her postseason record to a perfect 8-0 with just seven goals allowed.
“I’m fortunate to have some really great players in front of me, so there are some games that I won’t get a shot for 10 minutes and its difficult to get right back into the game, but I generally do work best under pressure,” said Schulz. “That’s one of the things that I do know about myself in general, not just hockey. When I am getting lot of shots and I have to stay focused and stay intense that tends to be when I do my best.”
The Raiders girls have been the state’s stingiest team this year, surrendering just 10 goals (eight in games started by Schulz) on their way to a 16-1-0 mark.
“Did I know that she was going to go on the kind of run she has kind of been on? To be honest, I have to say no,” said girls coach P.T. Donato. “We thought that she was going to be a good goalie, but her numbers and stats and wins are nothing we would have imagined.”
As you would figure with a father (Paul) and son (P.T.) coaching tandem, the programs are close and provide a lot of support to each other. Schulz sent Hubbard a congratulatory text after his goal the other night, and there is plenty of mutual admiration between the two goalies.
“I’m little jealous that she has two state championships, maybe three by the end of the year,” joked Hubbard. “I’d trade my goal for one of those.”
A third straight would seem to be a very real possibility the way the girls have played. Their only loss was a 1-0 decision to Division 1 power Austin Prep in the second game of the season, which they eventually avenged.
“I don’t want to talk about it too much because we are superstitious,” said Schulz. “We don’t want to expect it, but it would be amazing.”
Fore-checking
Four thoughts and nuggets from around the high school hockey scene. . .
•Unbeaten watch: We lost another from the ranks of the undefeated Wednesday night and it was a biggie. Canton boys had gone 43 games and the better part of two seasons without a loss until a 6-4 setback to Lincoln-Sudbury. Congrats to coach Brian Shuman and the Bulldogs on an incredible streak. That leaves us just two, both Division 1 girls programs – HPNA,
which clinched its first MVC/DCL Large title on Wednesday in dramatic fashion, and St. Mary’s,
which wraps up with a gauntlet of Austin Prep, Needham and Notre Dame.
•If you are wondering what the new proposed tournament changes might look like in all sports, girls hockey uses a format that provides a preview — one bracket per division, five rounds, no sectional champions, and teams (and trips) from all over the state.
•As everyone prepares for the seismic changes to tournament structures that are on the horizon, there is a bit of a procedural tweak in the hockey seeding process this year. In the recent past, seeding meetings typically occurred on a Saturday, starting with the selection of Super 8 field in the morning. This year, the cutoff date has been moved to Thursday, with the Super 8 meeting convening that evening and the rest of the brackets released on Friday. Division 1A wild card games and preliminary round contests in the other tournaments could get underway as early as over the weekend.
•Speaking of the Super 8 field, we are getting down to the nitty gritty. Still some big games on tap the next few days but I feel good about this group (all seedings based on games played through Thursday):
1. BC High ; 2. Arlington ; 3. Catholic Memorial ; 4. St. John’s Prep ;5. Pope Francis ;6. Xaverian ; 7. Framingham ; 8. Hingham; 9. Austin Prep; 10. Burlington.