A Historical Season Comes to a Disappointing End
by Anthony Matos
After what was the best season in Burlington Girls Hockey history with a record of 17-1-2, the Devils fell short in the Elite 8 round of the MIAA playoffs against Marshfield by a score of 2-0. Their most notable win this year was defeating Division 1 Malden Catholic by a score of 2-0; which is ironic because they lost by the same score to them earlier in the season, which was their only loss. In regards to the playoff run, 2 of the team's senior captains for the year, Mia Lauder and Katie Hayes, both gave their thoughts on the disappointing, yet remarkable run in the playoffs.
Hayes said, “We started off with such a good season which definitely helped the team’s confidence going into playoffs. We came out all three games not wanting the season to end, not wanting to lose, and we had too much motivation to keep going and make it far which most definitely kept us in it for as long as we were.”
Lauder also said that the team was clearly more suited for making it past the elite 8 round of the playoffs but regarded that it was nice to make the playoffs, one last time.
The team was a mishmash of all grades and everyone getting tons of minutes. From 7th graders to 12th graders, everyone had a role and they stuck with it the entire season.
Hayes believes the team did so well this year because, “We had such a good team chemistry this year and that really just let us have fun with the season and I think that is the biggest thing that helped us accomplish so much this year and go so far.”
In regards to who stepped up the most, it was the senior class. Having 7 seniors on the team means 7 role-models for the underclassmen to look after. Some seniors were even on the team for 6 years.
“The seniors stepped up and led the team in a big way,” Head Coach Rick Sheehan, BHS associate principal, said.“We knew we had a lot of underclassmen this year so with the entire senior class, not just the captains, leading by example, it set the tone for the entire locker room which is why I think we were so successful this year.”
Finally, as the clock for their time at Burlington High School approaches 00:00, Hayes and Lauder both had one major takeaway from both their senior year and BHS hockey. “One thing I'm going to take away from my senior year is the friendships I've created over this season [and] my 6 years of playing for the high school. Having some of my greatest friends come from hockey and especially from my senior year means everything.”
As for Hayes, she is going to take away the fact that the team accumulated the best record in program history. A total of 19 wins in 22 games is absurd for any high school hockey team. Also like Lauder, she made valuable friendships over the years with the team and it was “awesome” to be a part of such a great group of girls.
As a new generation of Lady Devils will take the ice in the 2024-25 season, the 2023-24 team will forever live on in BHS history. The Lady Devils will face-off against the Lexington Minutemen to write even more history and even more playoff hopes than ever before.
New Burlington Baseball Team
How do you think the baseball season will go this season with the new coaches?
The new baseball coach Christopher Pessotti was an assistant coach for the varsity baseball team at Billerica memorial high school. Also he played baseball and went to Burlington high school and he wants to bring the fun back to the Burlington baseball program “my expectation for this season is to win baseball games. As long as we work together and play for the name on the front of our jerseys.” said by Christopher Pessotti.
“My plan is to build up the baseball program and increase the number that represent the town of burlington.when i grew up here in burlington , baseball was a popular sport in town. I want that back. Also, i want to bring the fun back to baseball” said by Christopher Pessotti
The baseball team last year went 10-10 and barely made the playoffs so hopefully these new coaches can make a change in the program for the better and have a better record than last year. Also hope for a win on the first game monday april 1st against reading memorial highschool