Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Zander Frost, Chronicle Staff Writer
Adirondack United varsity girls hockey achieved phenomenal success in their very first season, achieving a 19-2 record and reaching the championship game of the New York State tournament, where they were edged by Clinton, 2-1.
The team — Section 2’s only girls varsity ice hockey program — combines players from the Corinth, Glens Falls, Queensbury, Hudson Falls, South Glens Falls and Saratoga Springs school districts.
The immediate success “was definitely a pleasant surprises,” head coach Jeff Willis told The Chronicle.
“We’ve had success on the club level, but you just don’t know whether or not that will translate to a competitive team at the high school level.”
He said the United girls realized they could win big after a successful road trip to Clinton and Oswego, where the United bounced back from an earlier loss to Clinton, beating them 5-0 on the road.
“At that point, we started turning towards…let’s make sure we win our league and go on to sectionals,” said Coach Willis. “And I think we realized that we had the capability of being a final four team.”
From left, front row: Maeve McCarty, South Glens Falls; Lillian Willis, South Glens Falls; Courtney Guyett, Saratoga; Laura Dickerson, Queensbury; Ava Reynolds, South Glens Falls; Regan Gecewicz, Saratoga; Katelyn Archer, South Glens Falls; Emerson Lochner-Fehl, Queensbury; Rowan Lochner-Fehl, Queensbury; Jessica Freebern, Corinth.
Middle row: Head Coach Jeff Willis, Alle Webb, Glens Falls; Alyssa Temple, Saratoga; Emily Kelsey, Saratoga; Haylee Flewelling, Hudson Falls; Emilee Underwood, Queensbury; Caroline Lieberth, Glens Falls; Emma Lemery, Queensbury; Dani Hand, Queensbury; Aubrey Lozier, Corinth; Bayley Duffy, Queensbury; Maddie Macaulay, Queensbury; Jenna Amodio, Saratoga; Gianna Marcantonio, Queensbury; Coach Margaret Lawrence.
Top row: Kady Duffy, Queensbury; Amelia Laszewski, Saratoga; Ella Bray, Glens Falls; Lucy Plifscofsky, South Glens Falls; Paige Nelson, Glens Falls; Emily Macaulay, Queensbury; Tekla Fine-Lease, Queensbury; Facebook Photo
The coach said while many of the girls knew each other from the youth circuit, many had not played together. There was also a big age range — from 14 to 18. Four players are in the eighth grade.
The coach said road trips drove bonding. “If we went a long distance, like on a Friday and Saturday to play two games. we were traveling over three hours away,” to places like Malone and Canton.
“They had the opportunity to ride a bus. They were rooming together. So it really started to build some cohesiveness amongst the players,” he said.
Coach Willis, whose daughter Lillian plays on the team, said Adirondack United was a plan years in the making.
“We really started working hard on it the fall before COVID hit,” he said. “We had meetings. There was a group of really passionate parents.” The effort persisted through the pandemic.
Willlis said the focus was persuading athletic directors that this could last in the long-term. “We laid out everything from 12th graders down to kindergarten, and showed them that there was a population of girls that would make this program sustainable,” he said.
Willis noted that the “landscape has changed on how people view merged activities” joining multiple schools.
“If you look back into the early 2000s, and definitely in the 80’s and 90’s, there was no appetite for that at all,” he said.
“I was playing hockey, and I went to school in Hudson Falls, and there was not an opportunity for me to go to Glens Falls unless I transferred there.”
“But now with a lot of schools, the population is decreasing. And then combine that with less participation, all the schools are pretty open to merging — if they can put their pride aside,” he chuckled.
Coach Willis said “there’s some of the existing teams that believe that we built a powerhouse team, like a super team. And that wasn’t the intention at all.”
He said, “If you look at a lot of these other schools…Canton’s got five different school districts feeding into it. So it’s not truly Canton High School. Clinton’s got like 10 schools involved.”
Coach Willis said, “We took girls that were pretty much playing for the Adirondack Northstars, which is a community based program, and then started this team.”
He said merging schools isn’t “robbing” kids of playing time.
“At the end of the day, coaches want to compete,” he said. “They want to emphasize winning and not necessarily winning at all costs, but they’re going to put the best kids on the field to play…the kids want to compete there, because they’re athletes, and they enjoy the competition.”
Mr. Willis said the Adirondack United roster is strong all over.
“Bayley Duffy is our top player. She put up some incredible, just eye popping numbers,” over 50 points this season.
He said his daughter Lillian Willis also was around 50 points. Eighth-grader Maddie Macaulay is another stand-out.
“All three of them were selected to go to Minnesota to be evaluated for the National team,” said Coach Willis.
Adding ninth grader Emerson Lochner-Fehl, he said, “I think that they have an excellent chance this year to advance in the USA Hockey player evaluations.”
The coach says, “There’s probably about 10 [players] that can absolutely play at least Division Three” college hockey.
What did this season mean to the girls?
“Obviously, losing hurts.” He said that in the locker room after the championship game, “there weren’t many dry eyes.”
He said everyone, from managers to players who “didn’t get on the ice” as much, “were crying too, because they were part of something special. And they enjoyed being around each other.
Coach Willis said the current plan is to stick with the same six schools and build for next year. “We’ve kind of laid a benchmark and now we’ve got something to shoot for next year,” he said.
“I’m going through a little bit of a postseason depression right now,” he said, but “I’m already talking about what we’re going to do for schedules and looking for other opportunities for the girls during the course of the summer.”
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