The Gloucester girls hockey team will aim to snap a two-game losing skid this weekend when they welcome Bishop Fenwick to Talbot Rink — and they should have some extra motivation to do just that.
In collaboration with the area’s youth hockey program, the Fishermen will host a “Cape Ann Youth Hockey Night”, where some of those young players will be granted the opportunity to put their skills on display during a break in action from the varsity game. The varsity clash against the Crusaders is slated for a 4 p.m. puck drop Saturday afternoon.
“We’re trying to continue to build excitement around girls hockey, especially for girls here on Cape Ann,” said Gloucester girls varsity coach Rob Parsons, whose team also hosted a similar event last winter. “It’s a really nice tie together for all the kids who grew up playing youth hockey together and end up on the biggest stage that most girls play on, which is high school varsity.”
Gloucester’s varsity squad attended the Cape Ann Youth Hockey (CAYH) U10 team’s practice on Thursday night, running a multi station operation to work with the young aspiring players. Afterwards, the Fishermen held a pizza party with all the girls.
At Saturday’s game, the CAYH U10-A girls team will play a “five minutes of fame” inter-squad scrimmage between the first and second periods of the varsity game. The varsity players will remain on the bench to cheer them on, and Parsons says it will give those young girls a chance to compete in front of a big crowd.
“Hopefully they’ll be a couple 100 people in the stands for the home game, so that will be cool for those girls to experience. It’s a great way to connect these younger kids to the older girls and allow them to put a face to the name,” said Parsons. “We’ll have a tunnel to welcome them on to the ice, and we’re probably one of the few teams that has our own locker room so they’ll get to come check that out, too.”
Those young players will hope to bring some good fortunes to the Fishermen in their varsity clash as well.
Gloucester lost its first game of the season to Shawsheen Tech before ripping off four straight victories, but has dropped each of their last two contest (to Melrose and Beverly) in competitive fashion to go into Saturday’s tilt with a 4-3 overall record. The Fishermen are coming off an historic campaign last winter in which they won 14 games, including a Division 2 state tournament victory at Walpole.
Sports Editor Nick Giannino may be contacted at 978-675-2712 or ngiannino@northofboston.com.