Two weeks ago, when Coach Riley took the seniors on the hockey team out for a preseason dinner, we all shared a toast “to the most successful season in Groton history.” While it’s still preseason, we’re on the right track.
Every year, before the start of the season, Groton hockey heads up to Concord, New Hampshire, to play three games in the St. Paul’s jamboree with five other teams: St. Paul’s, Tabor, Taft, Governor’s, and Deerfield, all of whom are usually strong contenders to win an ISL championship.
Groton has never gone undefeated at the St. Paul’s jamboree, but this year, we did, winning all three games and the jamboree, beating Tabor 5-3, Governor’s 5-2, and St. Paul’s 2-1. Against Tabor, we showed a balanced offense, with five different players and two defensemen scoring our goals. Against Governor’s, we put on a dominant performance, again getting goals from five different players and holding a championship contender to only a single shot on goal in the third period. And against St. Paul’s, though we were outplayed and outshot and banged up after two games in 24 hours, we found a way to win, in large part due to our goaltender, Ethan Ramonetti '24, making some unbelievable saves down the stretch to help us keep our lead.
However, what struck me the most about our undefeated run at St. Paul’s wasn’t the goals we scored, our defense and goaltending, or even our record. It was the energy on the bench, in the locker room, and outside the rink. It was having team meals at The Common Man, watching Patriots kicker Chad Ryland shank a 35-yard field goal to tie the game with 30 seconds left, and, of course, hearing Coach Riley say his iconic line, “How about them Zeebs!” after every hard-earned win.
But it’s still preseason, and as much as it’s good to start the season off strong, at the end of the day, these games won’t mean anything for our record. So even though we’ve already made history, there’s a lot more work to do if we want to have the most successful season in Groton history. And it starts with film and practice tomorrow, and our season-opener against North Yarmouth Academy on Wednesday.