Ice hockey first started in Canada, where people skated on frozen ponds and used pieces of wood as hockey sticks. Factual evidence from the United Hockey League’s website states, “In the 1850’s, the first logged games of ice hockey were played, and in the 1870’s, the first set of ice hockey rules were written by a group of students at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. These rules set up the use of a puck replacing a ball and decided the number of players to be nine per team.”

The next step to creating an official game was organizing a league. This quickly became popular in Canada. In 1893, the league debuted in the United States. A trophy was awarded to the top hockey team that season and presented by the Governor of Canada, Lord Stanley of Preston. From that point on the name of the trophy was The Stanley Cup. The cup was first awarded in 1893 to the top-ranked amateur club in Canada, which the entire Stanley family supported.

Equipment in hockey has evolved drastically since the game has begun. There was once a time where players wore no face, leg, or arm protection. Even goalies did not wear a mask to protect their face from getting hit with a shot. Nowadays, a player’s body is protected head to toe from helmets, shoulder/elbow pads, pants, to shin guards and skates. Equipment is fitted to one’s body size and made for the player to be agile.

In the first half of the 20^th century, Clint Benedict became the first person to ever wear a leather mask but quickly stopped wearing the mask because it obstructed his vision. Then, in 1959, the first face mask was worn by a goalie named Jacques Pl

ante. According to the hockey magazine Skoda, “On November 1, 1959, the goaltender of the Montreal Canadians was hit by a powerful shot in the face in a game against the New York Rangers that wounded his cheek and nose. After being stitched up, Plante took out his self-designed fiberglass mask.” Plante was known for the acceptance of masks in ice hockey.

The wooden stick quickly went out of fashion when aluminum sticks were made in the 1980s. According to Skoda magazine, “Players are using sticks made of high-tech composite materials such as titanium or kevlar and skates form-fit to their feet. Pucks are made of a mix of rubber and other chemicals, and are often shot at over 140 kilometers per hour.” The new sticks are not nearly as heavy to hold as the wooden sticks. This makes shooting the pucks easier, resulting in a faster, harder shot.

The beloved game of ice hockey has been around for a long time and has come a long way since.

Hockey at Williston

Boys hockey was first played on the pond at Williston before the rink had even been built. Mr. Bob Couch, an alumni and former hockey player at Williston Northampton, tells about practicing and playing games on the pond in 1947. “We had to depend on the weather and the night before some of us would go down to the pond, snow blow it, then hose it down with water to freeze smoothly for the next day.”

The boards along the perimeter of the playing surface was dark green, which would heat up from the sun and melt the ice along the sides, this would make the ice sloshy. Mr. Couch notes, “We couldn’t use blue paint because that would also heat up and melt the ice, so we used yellow instead.”

Mr. Couch describes the equipment back then as “leather helmets, skates, gloves, and shin pads.” He also recalls going to Hamilton College to play in a tournament against Deerfield and Westminster.

The rink was built in 1963, the year Mr. Couch’s daughter, Ms.Molly Ward, was born. The rink was named after Mr. Lossone who was a Latin teacher and boys’ hockey coach at Williston at the time. Mr. Lossone played a large role in getting the rink built. Mr. Couch notes, “The cost of the rink was $435,000.”

Ms. Ward was the first female at Williston to be on a junior varsity boys team. Girls’ hockey did not begin as a program at Williston until 1982.

Ms. Ward recalls returning to Williston in 1999 where she started out coaching girls’ varsity hockey then made the switch to coaching JV. She noticed that from year to year, the overall outcome of each season has improved. “The caliber of team hockey was greater.  There had always been a few very good individuals on previous varsity teams, but in my opinion, the breadth of the talent year to year just grew and grew,” she notes.

The opportunities for players to develop has resulted in a growing level of competition from year to year. Ms. Ward states, “I think we have one of the strongest, deepest girls’ hockey teams in the school’s history right now.”

Ms. Talbot, Associate Director of Admissions, graduated from Williston and is now on her 13^th year at Williston. After Williston, Ms. Talbot played Division I hockey at Providence College then came back to Williston after she graduated. She is the head coach of the girls’ varsity hockey team.

She recalls her time playing here at Williston. “When I was a student here in the late 1990’s our team was comprised of a handful of girls that wanted and had the ability to play in college.  The other girls were learning to skate and play for the first time.”

As the years go by, more and more girls come to play hockey at Williston with the desire to go on to the next level in college. Last year, the team was made up of players who name hockey as their main sport.

Ms. Talbot talks about the improvements from season to season in her time here. “In the last 13 years, the team has been on an upward trend.  Last year marks the best season in the history of the school.  While playoff berths are not always the mark of a successful season, the team has appeared in five of the last six years.  Last year we earned home ice advantage, which was the first time in the history of the program.”

The aspirations and talent of those on the team continue to grow each year, which leads to improvement of seasons from year to year of girls’ hockey at Williston.

Rachel Rockwell ’16 has been playing hockey at Williston since her freshman year. She explains how throughout the years, the team has been most successful when they are focused on the ice, in the weight room, and in the classroom. “I look forward to the hockey season every single year because I know I have a whole group of sisters that I look up to and will always have my back” she notes.

As Coach Talbot mentioned before, last season has gone down as the best record for girls’ hockey in Williston history. Rockwell recalls, “Last season was bitter sweet for everyone, I think. Winning the Nobles and Winch tournament were definitely highlights and of course having the best record in school history.”

As a team consisting of only twelve skaters, the girls’ hockey team shocked many, coming into the season unranked and finishing the regular season undefeated. The semi-final loss against St. Paul’s “still leaves an awful feeling in my chest,” Rockwell says.

The 0-1 defeat will motivate the team to be even more successful than they were last year, seniors especially. Rockwell says, “For the eight seniors on our team, this is it for us and it is our last year together in a Williston uniform.  I also think that everyone is motivated because we were so close of winning it all last year and we are a stronger team this year, I believe.”

The girls’ team has a strong sense of leadership from freshman to seniors with the same goal in mind: be New England Champions. With this year’s team even stronger than last, the girls have a good chance in achieving their goal of New England’s, which would be the first in Williston history to do so.

Williston hockey has come a long way since the beginning and the future looks bright as the boys and girls continue to develop and improve.