As winter approaches, so does the season for the Malden-Medford Ice Hockey team. Ice hockey is a fast contact sport played on an ice rink between two teams of six skaters, who attempt to drive a small rubber disk (the puck) into the opposing goal with hooked or angled sticks. As a sport itself, hockey takes a lot of hard work and dedication to play. Ice hockey is considered mostly a masculine sport so not that many girls play the sport. But for the few that do play, it just goes to show how passionate they are about the sport.
Since not many females join hockey, Malden shares a team with Medford. That way, they have a more complete team. Practices take place at the Loconte Rink in Medford almost everyday.
The Medford-Malden ice hockey team consists of nineteen members in total but only seven girls are from Malden High School. Terrell Pesaturo (Junior), Jessica Crugnale (Junior), Sophia Casaletto (Junior), Brianna Swanson (Junior), Bethan Taddeo (Sophomore), Alaina Giuliano (Freshman) and Sarah Whitehouse (Freshman).
The coach of the Girls Ice Hockey team is Rayanne Forbes. Forbes is described as fun and straightforward. Terrell Pesaturo, starting goalie for the team, stated that “she knows what she’s talking about” and that “she’s relatable.” Rayanne would tell stories of when she was in college on her old hockey and the players could just relate to it because they are going through the same experiences.
Tryouts involved a lot of skating, puck work and drills. Not many girls tryout for the team so they did not make any cuts. Pesaturo also stated that the players are “really nice” and that “they have all excelled since [they] started.” “They’re very good players.”
What goals does the team want to achieve? Winger, Jessica Crugnale says that the teams broad goal is to “win a game.” But Pesaturo said that “[they] want a better record than last year” and that “[they] want to have fun.”
The Girls Ice Hockey team works hard every practice and works together to make the most of what little appreciation they get. Their season begins with their first game: Wednesday (12/13) at the Loconte Rink at 7pm.
