New England Hockey Journal - December 2015 - 45

CANTERBURY SCHOOL
Celebrating 100 Years
thing that might benefit the team in an
even greater capacity.
Last January, they picked up a lot
more of that when they rejoined the
Team USA U-18 squad, went to Buffalo
and captured gold, bringing something
crucial back to Nobles.
"Playing against the best 18-year-olds
in the world obviously pushed them to
work a little bit harder both off-ice and onice," said Resor. "The residual effect for us
was that you've got our kids able to practice with kids that are coming from an
area where they had really been pushed.
... Where you have two kids of that caliber pushing each other, we're fortunate
to have a lot of really other talented kids
who can compete day to day with Caitrin
and Becca, and really felt challenged to
do so. Our practices go at a rate of speed
that sometimes we can't quite even accomplish in a game. Skillwise it makes
them all better hockey players."
"When you go to something like the
U-18s, you learn from new coaches, gain
new perspectives and see all these great
people," said Gilmore, who had two
goals and seven assists at the World
Championships. "You come back with a
whole skill set you didn't have and this
whole experience for the game that you
never had before. It helps me come to
Nobles and see how we can make this
team better and push our teammates."
Behind Lonergan's 15 goals and 43
assists and Gilmore's 24 goals and 32
assists, Nobles captured yet another
ISL championship last season but was
thwarted in the quarterfinal round of
the NEPSAC tournament by eventual
champion St. Paul's, 2-0.
This year they will look to capture both
of those titles, and with a seasoned group
of senior leaders and a strong group bond
across the board, they feel they are ready
to erase the final result of a season ago.
"I believe we can take it to the New
England championship, as well as the
ISLs," said Gilmore. "The great chemistry off the ice, with a great group of
girls individually as people, definitely
helps the team build on the ice. If you
have that and really young talent and
great leadership from our senior core,

New Milford, CT
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844-355-3156
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Becca Gilmore

we can go pretty far."
"I think we have a really good senior
class this year," added Lonergan, who
in November announced her commitment to play for Boston College next
year. "We're really close, really dynamic. We didn't graduate a lot from last
year, so a lot of us have been playing
together for a while.
"I think we have a really good
chance this year of reaching our goals
as a team, and it will be really interesting to see how the younger kids step up
this year as well."
While Gilmore and Lonergan are
the immediate standouts for the Bulldogs, there are plenty of other pieces of
the puzzle that fit to perfection and are
capable of doing big things.
Senior Bridget McCarthy (Pembroke, Mass.), who has been a part of
the Nobles hockey program since the
seventh grade, is "at that level as a player herself," according to her coach. McCarthy will serve as the top-line right
wing and one of three captains along
with defender Lucinda Quigley (Newton, Mass.), a Brown commit, and Tess
Dupre (Dover, Mass.), a versatile player
who will move back to a forward position after being an All-League honorable mention defender a year ago.
"We know there's a lot of schools
that would love to beat us," said Resor.
"There's a big target on us when we go
into games, and I think that's a great
challenge for the girls. They're remarkably both competitive and resilient in
the way they approach it. They love to
come to the rink and play hockey, so it
makes it really fun and rewarding."

An independent Catholic coeducational boarding and day school for grades 9-12, PG

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Bridget McCarthy

December 2015

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New England Hockey Journal - December 2015

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