Youthful Princeton Day girls looking for growth

A few of the great things about coaching a young ice hockey team is the players are eager to learn and improve as they become more mature.

That’s the case with the Princeton Day School girls team as it seeks to rebound from the loss of eight players from a year ago.

“We recognize that we are a young team right now,” said seventh-year coach Lorna Cook. “We lost eight players that played big minutes for us. So, there’s a lot of opportunity for new players to step in and find ways to contribute.”

The youth has shown early as the Panthers are off to a 1-4 start. They will be looking for a win on Friday when they face Summit (2-3).

Sam Dwyer and Emma Latham are the only seniors on the team and their leadership has been a key in helping the younger players develop.

“They are setting the tone and making sure our new players know the compete level and tempo that’s expected at practice,” said Cook. “We can already see how close this team is. The girls are inclusive and supportive of each other on and off ice.”

Sophomore Gia Massari is coming off a 22-goal season and has picked up where she left off. Massari has three goals and two assists in the early going.

“She sees the ice so well,” said Cook. “She is determined to use her hockey sense to make her teammates better. We’re moving her back to make her the foundation for the young defense, but we’ll still be looking for Gia to find opportunities to produce offensively.”

Julie Patterson and Sasha Sindhwani, an All-Trentonian field hockey selection, each have a pair of goals and Dwyer has a goal and two assists.

“Sam can put the puck in the net, but she always plays with a defense first mentality,” said Cook, of the senior Dwyer. “With her style of play, Sam’s contributions don’t show up on the scoresheet every game. So, she doesn’t get the outside recognition, but in our locker room we know how important she is to our overall success.”

There is a history of great goaltending at PDS and now if’s Jillian Wexler’s turn between the pipes.

“She has a feisty and competitive personality,” Cook said, of the freshman goalie. “Her athleticism is apparent every time she is in the goal. She is easy going with her teammates and she has a positive demeanor.”