LM girls’ Ice Hockey has been playing better than ever this season, but it still isn’t getting a lot of recognition. While the team is not new, it has recently grown in popularity and success. It used to be an even smaller program, but now, the team is gaining publicity thanks to many changes. The girls are winning more games than ever before and hope to go further than they have in seasons past.
The LM girls’ Ice Hockey Program is split into two parts—an ‘A’ team and a ‘B’ team. The ‘A’ team is what most would think of as a varsity team, and the ‘B’ team is more of a junior varsity. They both have many talented and amazing players, but before 2023, not many people knew what they were, as there were not many players. However, this all changed in the 2023 season when the team hired head coach Victoria Maloney. She was an assistant coach last year, which means she already knew the players, their preferences, and their playing styles. They also have a new assistant coach named Mackenzie Campbell, who has played ice hockey for years and brings her vast expertise and knowledge to the program. Maloney has changed practices and playing styles in order to help them improve, gain recognition, become a competitor to go to the Flyers Cup (a high school hockey championship for the Philadelphia region), and even go on to be in the top regional rankings.
While the ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams don’t often do team bonding together, that doesn’t mean there isn’t good team morale. According to Emma Ghallager ’28, team spirit on the bench and on the ice boost morale with everyone on the team constantly cheering for each other. Another big contributor to team morale is the fact that there is no team hierarchy; which team you’re on and the amount of playtime is based on skill alone. As this is the first year where there are two teams, there isn’t much the team does in relation to cross-team bonding, and it’s difficult for the players to organize spirit events with just one team as well. According to Ella Lieberman ’26, captains are not decided until partway through the season, so there aren’t many opportunities for captains to organize team bonding, especially in the beginning of the season. Eventually, once the captains are decided, they are able to organize events.
There are also fewer times for each team to practice, as each team gets one time slot per week where they can practice at the Skatium, instead of one team having two slots, as it was before the split of the team. Their practices are accordingly intense and rigorous, making sure they make their limited time worth it. Lieberman explains, “Both teams have a lot of underclassmen, so I think they will grow as the girls grow as players.” She is hopeful for the future as more players continue becoming more and more advanced.
With all of the recent growth in the team, it’s possible the teams will be able to go further with their seasons in the future, possibly even going to nationals. Leiberman says that the season has been successful thus far, with the team only losing about three games. This is because everyone on the team has been working hard in order to grow both as individuals and as teams, and they seem to be hopeful for the future of the team. Their ultimate goal is to get to the Flyers cup and win the mainline cup this year, something that they’ve been working towards for a while. The girls have all been working hard, on both the A and B teams, so this could be their year!
With all these new developments, such as the new coach, separated teams, and different practice schedules, the team is hopeful that they will grow and become stronger. Even this year, they could make it further in the season, maybe even going all the way with states and nationals! They are hopeful for their future—and for good reason. They have won many games, and if you want to see them play, ask a player for their game times, or go onto the official league website to look at dates and times. There is a lot of talent to be seen in this team, and they will continue to work even harder to continue to get better.
