New Hampton coach Craig Churchill knows that the path to a championship is rarely straight and narrow.
Three consecutive times over, though, the Huskies have overcome obstacles and injuries on their way to the top as NEPSAC Small champions.
A season ago, Churchill’s team was dealt a big blow when high-scoring senior Trinity Walsh was lost to a torn ACL. Led by the likes of Division 1 commits True Thompson (UConn), Julia Loughlin (Scituate, Mass./New Hampshire) and Kennedy Walker (Middleton, Mass./Yale), who all remained key contributors to the newest title-winning group, they still found a way.
This season, a three-game December losing streak and a “wake-up call” of a loss to Andover in early February left Churchill unsure of where the road would lead. Yet again, they still found a way.
“It’s an awesome feeling,” Walsh said. “It feels just like the first time, but it’s the third. It means the world (to win after being out last season), but it wouldn’t be anything without the people around me, the coaches and just our overall support system. This truly is a one-of-a-kind group.”
Each season is different, but Churchill saw all the right stuff come together when it mattered most.
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“Every year, just don't know what you're going to get from your group, but just the leadership of this team (was incredible) and they just fought, fought, fought,” Churchill said. “We had some ugly games, but we found ways to win sometimes. In a game like (the championship), when it was a big one, it was just nice to see them play our game from start to finish.”
The Huskies went 22-6-4 en route to their third straight championship and fourth straight trip in the title game, beating St. Mark’s 4-1 on March 9. They finished the season on a 12-game win streak and won three games against Elite 8 teams along the way.
Both Churchill and Walsh cited the aforementioned Andover loss — which wound up being the team’s last — as the ultimate turning point of the season.
“I think it was kind of a rude awakening, but it definitely opened our eyes and made sure that we knew we had to work to accomplish something great,” said Walsh, who is committed to Division 3 power Middlebury. “But we also knew we had it in us.”
The December skid included the first two games at Cushing’s Edward G. Watkins Invitational. That tournament not only finished with a bang in the form of a 4-0 shutout of Worcester Academy but also marked the point where sophomore Elizabeth Vincent took the net and ran with it in her first year with the program.
“I think we went into that thinking we’d just walk over people. We had a good start, but those tournaments are tough because you’re playing a lot of games in a short amount of time,” Churchill said. “(Vincent) really started playing well there and took over, so that was a big win for us. … You can’t win championships without a good goalie.”
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From there on, the Huskies lost just twice. Experience and depth stood up as key pillars for this roster.
Walker was the team’s top offensive producer (24 goals, 43 points) and one of four double-digit goal scorers, but the postseason run showed off numerous other MVP-level players. The honor went to senior Caroline Thomas, who scored twice in each playoff game to finish the season with nine goals.
“There’s so many kids (deserving of MVP),” Churchill said. “But Caroline has had a hard year with some personal stuff, but we worked through it … and she just went back to her game and started playing the hockey she knows how to play. She was lights out down the stretch. It was super cool to see her kind of transform (her game).”
The growth of some of the team’s stars was crucial to success, but the impact of veterans on this year’s team and establishing a track record of success is not lost on Churchill.
The coach was quick to point out that fourth-year seniors Walker and Reagan Comora never finished a season before the championship, losing to Rivers in 2022 before starting the current run. The seniors finished a combined 68-30-14 across their four years.
While this team built to a championship throughout the year, building to sustain was equally as important.
“I think it’s all about tradition,” Walsh said. “It’s bringing what you had last year and leaving the bad in the past year. We’ve really refined our systems and refined our culture. We’re a very traditional team. We stick to our basics and we stick to what we know. It seems to be working out pretty well.”
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Churchill, who took over the New Hampton program in 2010, is seeing the team’s hard-working style — a “time to hunt” mentality, as they call it — and winning culture continuing year over year as well. And it’s hard to argue with the results.
“Continuing that winning tradition, it’s enormous,” he said. “We have established that culture now. We’re a strong team, we’re a tough team to play against. I know it’s Small School, but we can beat anyone. Everyone has bought in and made it team-first.”
