South County girls hockey in need of financial backers
With just one ice hockey arena in the area – Boss Arena at URI – South County teams in the RIIL must pay for ice time.
The South County Storm co-op girls ice hockey team, consisting of North Kingstown, South Kingstown, Narragansett, Prout and Chariho high schools have taken it upon themselves to fundraise the required financial total of $25,000.
The money mostly goes toward ice time and also funds the cost of equipment for the players.
“There are contributions from each of the member schools, but it's not fully funded,” Storm head coach Tom McCarthy said. “It really does take the engagement from the community here for these girls to have a chance.”
If they don’t raise the necessary amount, the Storm won’t be able to play home games or practice without traveling across the state or into Massachusetts or Connecticut. Since they wouldn’t be at their home rink, they would legally be required to pay for a bus back and forth from each practice, in addition to paying for the ice time at a new rink. It would be much harder for the players to practice when trying to fit a lengthy commute into the schedules built around time at school.
According to USA Hockey, girls ice hockey has seen a participation increase of 65 percent in the last 15 years. With so many complications just to practice, the sport would likely see a decline in participation in South County.
“I wish that raising this huge amount of money was not part of this complication,” said Jessica McCarthy who oversees the Storm’s fundraising efforts. “You see these kids change over the course of time that they play hockey. They gain a lot of confidence, they learn that they can do more; that they can be more. If you can’t buy practice ice, you’re not getting any of that.”
The Storm will host a comedy fundraising event next Thursday, Dec. 14, at the Jamestown Recreation Center. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased at www. funny4funds. com/ events. From the link, scroll down to “STORM Ice Hockey Fundraiser.”
The event is for 18+ adults and will feature raffles, 50/50 drawings and auctions. The team will accept any size donation.
“We’re also looking for local business sponsors in the towns that these kids frequent,” Jessica McCarthy said. “Maybe they’d want to donate a raffle basket, or a gift card or some items that we can raffle away.”
While $25,000 is steep, the Storm successfully raised the required amount last year. This will likely continue to be an everyyear task until more hockey rinks are built in the area.
Preview: Storm gets reinforcements on the ice
A petition started in Rhode Island in late January aimed at changing the RIIL rules to allow more than three high schools per co-op team and it reached over 2,200 signatures. As a result, the RIIL obliged.
This year, Prout and Chariho join the existing trio of North Kingstown, South Kingstown and Narragansett to form the South County Storm coop girls ice hockey team.
Previously, the only option for girl hockey players at Prout and Chariho was to play on the boys team. Now, three athletes from Prout and five from Chariho serve as reinforcements to a Storm team that made the semifinals the last four years in a row but haven’t made it past that point.
“They changed the co-op rules and I think it’s a great thing,” Storm head coach Tom McCarthy said. “We’re gaining players as freshmen and sophomores but also as juniors and seniors. It’s unusual to gain players at each one of those grades but we’re fortunate to do so.”
McCarthy enters his second season on the job after leading the Storm to a 9-3-11 record last year, losing to La Salle in the playoffs. While a few key players from last year graduated, including both goaltenders, the Storm still have a deep core of returning players. They look to build on the momentum from last year as they aim to return to the heights of their state championship win in 2016-17.
“One of the things I’ve observed about this team is that they play big in those critical moments: winning close games, having resilience,” McCarthy said. “I looked at the outcome from last year and I saw these girls accomplish that in the semifinals; down by a goal, they tied it up with less than a minute remaining and unfortunately lost in overtime. But it showed an ability to be at their best when the pressure is high.”
With a deep military background, McCarthy’s vision for the team starts with creating a strong plan before the season. He works with the team captains to devise the goals and mission for the year. Every team does that in some capacity, but McCarthy puts a lot of emphasis on it. It’s a way of building the culture.
This year the captain is center Julianna Bucci, an NK senior who scored 20 points last year. She was an alternate captain as a
junior, which is uncommon.
“When I talk about the importance of culture and how that sets the foundation for being a successful hockey team; she embodies that,” McCarthy said. “She’s fantastic off the ice as a leader and she’s a great student. On the ice she skates well, she sees the ice incredibly well and she’s selfless in how she moves the puck. She’s exactly what you would ask for in a captain in leading by example, setting a high standard for herself and holding others to the same.”
Flanking Bucci on the top line are two other NK athletes: senior Ginger Osgood who serves as one of the two alternate captains and junior Sammie Haun who scored 15 goals last year.
The other alternate captain is NK’s Michaela Bucci – Julianna’s twin sister – who plays on the blue line and made First-Team All State last year as a defensive anchor. Her defensive partner is Lauren Avedisian, a junior from Narragansett.
The Storm’s top two goaltenders both come from Prout. Sophomore Maddie Ammatuna, who spent time on the Crusaders boys team last year, looks to be the starter. Freshman Delaney Karsch, who is brand new to hockey, will ease into a role as the backup.
The third athlete from Prout is freshman skater Charlotte Museler. There are five newcomers from Chariho, joining four South Kingstown skaters, six Narragansett skaters and seven from North Kingstown.
“When I first joined last year, I knew something that we’d have to work through was that players come from all different youth hockey programs and coaches and schools. I saw about 26 individuals,” McCarthy said. “We’ve started out day one this year working as a team of 26, instead of 26 individuals just chasing the puck. It’s a really strong start.”
The coaching staff consists of Jill Gonsalves and her father Greg Gonsalves, as well as Téa Williams in her first year as an assistant and Abbey Torres who played at URI as a goaltender.