The Pope Francis girls hockey team picked up a pair of Greenfield High School students this winter.
Sophomore Meghan Collins and freshman Grace Laurie have been playing hockey since they were young, and wanting to play at the high school level, approached Green Wave athletic director Mike Kuchieski about starting a girls hockey team at Greenfield.
There wasn’t enough interest to create a team, but with Longmeadow and Pope Francis sporting cooperative girls hockey programs in recent years, Kuchieski reached out to see if they’d be interested in adding the Green Wave players.
Longmeadow’s roster was full but Pope Francis was still looking to add players, and Collins and Laurie are on the roster this winter.
“We had some inquiries from some girls that asked me to start a girls hockey team,” Kuchieski said. “We just don’t have enough girls to start it. Pope and Longmeadow have co-op teams. Longmeadow already had a full team and Pope was still looking so it ended up being them.”
Kuchieski said he’s pleased that Collins and Laurie will have a chance to play the sport they’re passionate about this winter. In the past, when the co-ops weren’t an option, the only other choice would have been to play for the Greenfield boys hockey team.
This gives the pair a chance to compete against other girls, something they’ve been doing since they began playing hockey.
“Both of them have been playing against other women since they were on skates,” Kuchieski said. “It’s a natural fit. They get to be able to play women’s hockey which is what they’ve always done. We’ve only had a few girls play on the boys team in my time here. It’s a tough transition for them. It’s great that they have this opportunity.”
The Cardinals opened their season last week with a 5-3 win over Barnstable but followed it with a 5-3 loss to Nauset on Sunday. Pope Francis is back in action on Saturday, going on the road to face Auburn at 4 p.m.
The Cardinals have had plenty of success on the ice the past two seasons. Pope Francis made it to the Div. 1 state tournament the last two seasons, reaching the Round of 16 each time. The Cardinals went 12-2-2 last winter.
It won’t be the first time a Franklin County athlete will compete for Pope Francis, which program its girls hockey program in 2020. Frontier’s Lila Roche was on the inaugural team and became a captain last winter as a senior before graduating in the spring.