Belief and balance will be at the core of Cape Cod Furies girls hockey team's success

André Simms, Cape Cod Times
·4 min read

ORLEANS -- There will be a lot of familiarity, but a little bit of change this for the Cape Cod Furies girls hockey team (a co-op team with Nauset High, Monomoy and Cape Tech).

The team enters the season with a new head coach after Zach Wells was elevated from his role as an assistant. Last season, the Furies entered the MIAA Division 1 Tournament as the No. 8 seed, but were upset in the first round by No. 25 Reading.

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They graduated two senior captains but return the bulk of the roster this season and will look to build on the success of last season.

Cape Cod improved to 2-0 on Thursday with an 8-2 win over Nantucket.

DENNIS 02/05/20 Emily Underhill of Nauset Monomoy CCT and Murphy Towers of Dennis-Yarmouth struggle for position on the puck.
DENNIS 02/05/20 Emily Underhill of Nauset Monomoy CCT and Murphy Towers of Dennis-Yarmouth struggle for position on the puck.

Opportunity not a challenge

To call the Furies young is an understatement. The roster features one senior — forward Emily Underhill — and three juniors — Sienna Reeves, Isabella Roberts and Shauna Tanner.

To contrast that, 13 players are freshmen, and two more are sophomores. This meant that not only are the underclassmen expected to see significant ice time but also contribute.

"They played last year, all 13 of those freshman. They got plenty of minutes last year, so this is nothing new for them," Wells said. "It's an opportunity for them to grow their game."

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It's easy to see why he has so much trust in his young players. Early in the first period, a pair of two-minute minor penalties forced the Furies to play 5-on-3. Two of the three on the ice were freshmen, and the trio successfully killed the penalty.

Offensively, half of the Furies eight goals in their win over the Whalers came from freshmen. Emily Decker scored the first goal of the game and finished with two, and Morgan Willis and Julia Kipperman each added another.

With so many young players on the team, Wells understands that it doesn't work without pivotal leadership from those who have more experience.

"We have such a core group of our three juniors and our senior, [and] they're good leadership roles for those girls, and they look to those girls for advice," Wells said. "I trust those girls to take care of business."

HYANNIS 02/14/22 Cape Cod Furies goalie Olivia Avellar stops a shot by Grace Holden of Barnstable.
HYANNIS 02/14/22 Cape Cod Furies goalie Olivia Avellar stops a shot by Grace Holden of Barnstable.

Strength in numbers

In total, with eight goals in Thursday night's win, the Furies had seven players score points, including six different goal scorers, and four players finished with multiple points in the game. In addition to Decker, Willis and Kipperman, Roberts scored twice, Reeves scored the Furies' second goal of the game, and Underhill found the back of the net.

"We do have our explosive players that can really change the pace of game, but that's what this team is," Wells said. "It's 18, 19 girls that can all play."

"One of the keys to our success here is these girls just really believing in the team that I know they can be," he said. "This is a very talented group of young girls, and I think if they just buy into what we're doing as a coaching staff, they're going to see a lot of success."

The Cape Cod Furies and Nantucket Whalers line up for the National Anthem.
The Cape Cod Furies and Nantucket Whalers line up for the National Anthem.

The success has come early in the year. The Furies opened with two consecutive wins but are still figuring out their best lineups.

"We relied on six or seven forwards and four [defensemen] to eat a lot of the minutes," Wells said. "We'd like to roll three lines just so we can give those girls a break."

A birthday to remember

Last season's top-point getter, Reeves added to her early season haul with a goal and an assist on her birthday. The junior is a captain this season and subscribes to the belief that enjoying the sport is this biggest key to success.

"Having fun out on the ice and off the ice and coming into the rink with a positive attitude, it benefits you on the ice," said Reeves.

Reeves' contributions came in the first two periods, but after the game, the captain said she liked what she saw from her team in their four-goal third period the most.

"We could've played better as always, but we played as a team and came out in the third wanting to win it more than we did in the first and second," said Reeves.

In other high-school action on Thursday:

Boys basketball

Bourne 81, Case 63: The Canalmen (1-1) had five different players score in double figures, led by Michael Dankert's 20 in their win over Case. Bourne overcame an early 10-0 deficit to win.

Girls basketball

Nantucket 40, Sturgis West 24: The Whalers improved to 1-1 after beating the Navigators (0-1).

Notre Dame Academy-Hingham 81, Cape Cod Academy 29: The Seahawks fall to 0-3 on the year after losing to the Cougars.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Previewing the Cape Cod Furies girls hockey team's season