The Lincoln-Sudbury girls hockey team had only recently been ousted from the 2023 Div. 2 state tournament’s second round when head coach Paul Hardy dropped a piece of news at the team banquet that kind of shook the room.

The Warriors were celebrating their second straight MVC/Dual County League Small title, along with their first playoff win since 2015. They celebrated Harper Friedholm winning league MVP for a second time, and were comfortably turning the page to prepare for this season.

That is, until Hardy told them they were moving up to the MVC/DCL Large.

Friedholm – a senior co-captain – laughs over wondering how L-S would pull it off. Fellow senior co-captain Sophia Romm half-joked they might not win a game, playing in a league that’s produced two of the last four Div. 1 state champions.

Of course they were excited for the challenge. But they didn’t expect a 10-2-1 start with 6-1-1 league record, entering Saturday’s matchup against reigning Div. 1 state champion Shrewsbury with a one-point lead over it for the MVC/DCL Large’s top spot.

“(When Hardy) told us at the banquet, we all were looking around like, ‘Hold on, what?’” Romm said. “Harper and I texted each other (about the schedule) and were like, ‘Oh my god, I don’t know if we’re going to win a game.’ We had Shrewsbury, Andover, and like all these teams. … And then, look where we are.”

“I think we were expecting to have a good team,” Friedholm added. “But I don’t think we were expecting this big of, like, a ranking.”

On the contrary, Shrewsbury head coach Frank Panarelli said in the preseason that one of the top teams he was looking out for was Lincoln-Sudbury. The league knew the Warriors were a team on the rise, leading to an invitation to join that Hardy had been waiting years for.

It’s no secret how valuable playing in the MVC/DCL Large is. It was only a couple years ago that Panarelli’s Colonials joined, and their second year in it ended with their first state title last season. League-mates Billerica/Chelmsford (Div. 1) and Andover (Div. 2) also made the Final Four last year, marking five MVC/DCL Large teams to do it in the last two seasons.

“I was excited about (joining) because I knew we needed that,” Hardy said. “Harper won MVP of the league, and I’ve got her charting shots at some of the ends of the games (in the Small). So this was a necessity, coming up here, and they rose to it.”

The whole team knew there would be no gimmes, and players came out of the gates red-hot.

It started with a 3-0 win over HPNA. A 3-1 win over Billerica/Chelmsford and a 1-1 tie against Shrewsbury followed, before rolling to a 5-1 win over Westford Academy. They had to rally past Methuen/Tewksbury for a 3-2 overtime win, and handled Andover, 4-2. It wasn’t until a 2-1 shortcoming to HPNA that L-S finally lost, and even then, bounced back to beat Billerica/Chelmsford again.

Considering their 2-4 record against MVC/DCL Large teams in the previous two seasons, it’s been a huge swing.

“It is a significant jump,” Hardy said. “It’s a credit to them. I remember mentioning it a few years ago to another group, and they’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t know Coach.’ But these kids, they embraced it. They wanted to take this jump, which I’m glad they did because I’ve wanted to for a while.”

Outside of the teams it’s coming against, what’s impressive is the Warriors’ play despite a wealth of youth.

There’s a running joke on the team about the puck bucket, since the Warriors’ six eighth-graders have forgotten it a couple times early on. But Romm, Friedholm and Hardy had nothing but great things to say about the group, who have bolstered a strong returning cast in a way that Lincoln-Sudbury would be in trouble without them.

If Suki Ten Brinke and Lauren Kennedy’s waivers didn’t clear, the Warriors wouldn’t have a goalie. They’ve combined to allow just 15 goals over 13 games. Annie Parks is a key defenseman, while the three forwards make up a productive third line. Romm, junior Anna Leverone and freshman Tatum Friedholm are other leaders over three strong defensive pairings, while Harper Friedholm, junior Ally Quinn and senior Torrey Winrow are big scoring threats to help L-S average over three goals per game.

Altogether, they’re playing like a team to beat, even when trailing.

“I think our overtime win against Methuen/Tewksbury was a big one,” Harper Friedholm said. “I think that was just a really good show of character of this team, coming right back from the deficit and winning in overtime.”

“I think we’ve come to realize we can hold our own in this league, which we didn’t know in the beginning,” Romm added. “I think that’s giving us a lot of confidence going forward.”

Romm and Friedholm know the team can’t get ahead of itself, especially with so much left in the regular season to go. But confidence shows in how the team’s goals this season have re-shaped – morphing from winning a league game to winning it all.

The MIAA Div. 1 power rankings certainly likes their chances, ranking them at No. 4 in the latest update.
“Hopefully, we want to go as far as we can,” Romm said, which Friedholm nodded to before interjecting.

“We’ve got our eyes on the Garden.”

One-timers

The 3rd annual Ed Burns Coffee Pot Tournament starts Sunday. The slate is packed with most of the best public school teams, but it’s hard not to notice Westford Academy (10-1-1), Concord-Carlisle (13-0) and Woburn (9-2) missing from the lineup – which was set before the season began.

Underclassmen have been a staple for the St. Mary’s of Lynn girls (11-1-1), filling last year’s big skates. Freshmen Bella Freitas and Alyssa Norden have combined for 10 goals over the last three games, while eighth-grader Vanessa Hall stars in the top defensive pairing with senior Kasey Litwin.

The Archbishop Williams boys (11-1) have been a pest to take down, entering the weekend with three overtime wins over its last four games.

A showdown of long active win streaks saw theta-ranked Duxbury girls make a statement in Div. 2, handing Pembroke its first loss in 10 games Wednesday.