Madison Guinen’s senior hockey season ended before she wanted it to, but the senior forward enjoyed a nice sendoff before the Bulldogs’ Senior Day game against Nauset Regional on February 17 with a Judy Gormley Memorial Scholarship in the amount of $750.
The award was bestowed by former director of MIAA high school hockey Jim Gormley and Canal Cup tournament director Fred Carbone.
In its inaugural season as host of the girls hockey coop program previously hosted by Bourne, Old Rochester Regional High School went through a period of several adjustments and, despite being highly competitive, fell short of the MIAA state tournament.
“I wasn’t too bummed about it, but I still wish we made states for our senior year. (That) would have been great,” said Guinen, who was slotted at center this season between junior wingers Amanda Orchuck and Amanda Wheeler.
Averaging 2 goals per game while allowing 2.5, ORR finished 5-13-2 and 3-5-0 in the final season of the Southeastern Massachusetts Girls Hockey League (SEMGHL), the Bulldogs were solid defensively but lacked the firepower to win enough one-goal games to tip the scales.
“It’s not what we wanted, but we lost eight one-goal games (and tied two others),” said first-year head coach Ted Drew, who had years of experience coaching some of the same players in youth hockey. “We only laid an egg a couple of times. We played a lot of good teams this year; a lot of them are in the (Division 1 state) tournament.
“We just couldn’t put the puck in the net. We hit the post quite a bit and just didn’t have the puck luck this year.”
Due to a situation at Tabor Academy, ORR had no practice ice at the start of the season. Together with a new host school and the arrival of new uniforms delayed from Pakistan, and it made for a challenging start to the new era of girls high school hockey in the Tri-Town area.
“I think it was an adjustment for everyone, myself included,” said Drew. “A lot of nights we weren’t on the ice until (9:45 pm). I’m going to try to get some better ice time for us next year. I’m just glad they get to play.”
First and foremost, among hosting challenges was making sure that the six players from Bourne and those from fellow affiliated school districts Apponequet, Mashpee and Upper Cape Tech would feel welcome in the ORR-led era. (Wareham left the coop, its only girl a goaltender opting instead to fill a needed roster spot on the school’s boys team).
“We actually did a lot of team-bonding exercises at the beginning of the season,” said Guinen. “We did name games and all this other stuff to get to know each other, and we did spaghetti suppers so we could come together as a team.”
Guinen, an 18-year-old student from Rochester, will attend Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, and study forensic investigation, an interest that while sparked by the weekly course she attended at Curry College in Milton, goes back to “all the crime shows I’ve been watching.
“I took a forensic sciences class last year (at Curry) so I have a general idea of it, and I took a (crime-scene investigation) course over the summer… I loved it,” she said.
A right shot, Guinen wears No. 4 in honor of her father Scott, who played high school hockey at ORR and was coached by Drew, then an assistant. “And it was my softball number and just Bobby Orr in general,” she said.
Guinen still has her final high school softball season ahead, where she starts at catcher and shortstop.
Guinen isn’t big by girls hockey standards, but she will bring her hockey gear to Florida where Lynn has a boys club hockey team to which she hopes to hitch her hockey wagon.
Meantime, she was happy in 2019-20 to enjoy a shorter ride to home games.
“We love red. I wasn’t really a fan of the purple,” said the senior, one of many girls happy to play now under the Bulldog banner.
Purple made it onto the ice this season in one situation, when ORR girls took the ice in their old purple uniforms representing Bourne at John Gallo Arena for the Canal Cup, where goaltender Megan Nolan was named ORR’s MVP. Drew even participated.
“I wore a purple shirt and purple tie. We tried to do a few fun things to break it up,” he said, proud of all they accomplished in a year of adjustments.
The Bulldogs will only lose three players to graduation: Guinen, Nolan and forward Meghan Berg. Many are back next year, including Drew’s niece Carly Drew on defense.
“They played hard,” said Ted Drew, noting he and assistant coaches Braly Hiller and Kami Medeiros are eager for next season. “As long as the school wants us back.”
By Mick Colageo