For as rightful of a buzzword that “parity” was this year in girls hockey, the end result in both divisions was probably something we could have guessed about a month into the season.
Two hands were needed to count the number of viable contenders in Div. 1 alone, which put just about any prediction in jeopardy. But when the St. Mary’s of Lynn and Duxbury girls skated off the TD Garden ice as state champions on St. Patrick’s Day, it shouldn’t have come with much surprise.
That light shined brightest on the top-seeded Dragons at least, who were the preseason favorite and gave no reason to believe throughout a mere three losses this year that they weren’t capable of repeating their Div. 2 state title. A loaded No. 2 Falmouth used offensive fireworks to get to TD Garden in a special season, but Duxbury beat it 4-0 for back-to-back crowns and a 15-3 goal differential this postseason.
The word “dynasty” has been floated with only four seniors set to graduate from the squad, and it has every right to be used with how strong the Dragons looked. So strong, they very well could have been the best team in the state, period.
In Div. 1, there really wouldn’t have been much of a surprise for any one of the top 10 teams all year to go the distance with how close the field was. What makes it less surprising for St. Mary’s, despite a young team co-anchored by two freshmen and an eighth-grader, stems from a notably stingy defense and a championship culture like Duxbury’s. Much of the cast was different from last year’s loss to Shrewsbury, but defense, goaltending and some Bella Freitas magic helped the Spartans survive dangers at every turn.
And boy were there plenty in an exciting year.
You could have flipped a coin between Notre Dame Academy (H) and St. Mary’s and felt comfortable naming either the deserving champion, which spoke to the accuracy of Div. 1’s No. 1 and No. 2 seedings. Malden Catholic continued its rapid escalation into contention as a young program with its first Final Four appearance, while Archbishop Williams overcame its 11th seed to actually put the Spartans on the brink of elimination in the state semifinals. Shrewsbury and Boston Latin did much of the same in the two rounds prior.
Lincoln-Sudbury didn’t find success in the tournament but won the challenging MVC/DCL Large in its first year as a member. Hingham was every bit of a title contender but couldn’t figure out Malden Catholic. Pope Francis and Peabody/Lynnfield/North Reading fell victim to tough draws in the tournament that held it from advancing as far as they could. The same goes for Methuen/Tewksbury against Archbishop Williams, while underdog Belmont/Watertown shed its No. 14 seed for an impressive run itself.
The Patriot League made a final push toward the claim of “strongest league” in Div. 2, as No. 11 Marshfield set program marks with a trip alongside Duxbury to the Final Four. Milton was the closest team to beating the Dragons with a 2-1 finish, though Algonquin looked close to a second state final appearance in three years when it took a 1-1 tie with Duxbury into the third period of their semifinal. If not for falling short to Marshfield, Burlington looked like a real threat to dethrone the Dragons, too, as a noted giant killer in the regular season.
Upsets got started right away with No. 27 Leominster surprising No. 6 Longmeadow in the Div. 2 first round. No. 20 Westford Academy pulled it off in Div. 1 too by upsending No. 13 Winthrop.
Career milestones rang loud this year, with juniors Jen Birolini (Pembroke) and Caroline Doherty (Hingham) each surpassing 100 goals. HPNA junior Julianna Taylor picked up her 1,500th save, and King Philip senior Kelly Holmes recorded her 150th point.