In the relatively brief history of MIAA girls hockey, few teams have had the type of consistent success enjoyed by the Dedham High girls hockey team.
That winning culture will have to try to continue this winter without two of the architects of the program as co-coaches Don Parr and Joe Huff recently decided to step down from their positions with the Marauders.
Each felt that they would be unable to devote the type of time and attention they felt the program deserved this winter.
Parr, who has been one of the head coaches since the team’s inception as a club program in 2000, cited the desire to see his children on the ice this winter. Samantha, a former standout under her father with the Marauders, will be a sophomore on the Endicott College team, while Michael is a freshman at Dedham High and Billy also plays in the youth ranks.
“You only live once, I don’t want to miss out on seeing my kids and there are an awful lot of conflicts,” said Parr, who added he will remain with the girls tennis squad in the spring. “It happened last year when Sam scored the tying and winning goal against Salem State and it was the only game I missed.”
Huff, who ascended to co-head coach from a volunteer assistant in 2005, started a new a position as strength and conditioning coach at Needham High in August.
“It really wouldn’t be fair to the girls if I felt like I couldn’t do it 100 percent,” said Huff, who teaches at Norfolk Aggie in Walpole. “I’m not big on being 50 percent on one job and 50 on another job.”
Dedham hired Christine Gurskis to replace the pair. Gurskis has been a volunteer assistant on the staff the last two years after resigning from her post as head coach at Milton High following the 2009 season.
In the 12 seasons as a varsity program, the Marauders have compiled a sparking 176-52-23 record, qualifying for the postseason every year and taking home three state crowns.
Parr was one of three original co-head coaches along with Victor Pacella and Tom Greland, who debuted with a 13-1-1 mark as a club team in 2000, the year before the MIAA tournament play began.
The Marauders won the first Division 2 state title, outlasting Boston Latin, 3-2, in a two-day, four-overtime epic. Dedham repeated as champions the next year with a 2-0 victory over Canton.
In the relatively brief history of MIAA girls hockey, few teams have had the type of consistent success enjoyed by the Dedham High girls hockey team.
That winning culture will have to try to continue this winter without two of the architects of the program as co-coaches Don Parr and Joe Huff recently decided to step down from their positions with the Marauders.
Each felt that they would be unable to devote the type of time and attention they felt the program deserved this winter.
Parr, who has been one of the head coaches since the team’s inception as a club program in 2000, cited the desire to see his children on the ice this winter. Samantha, a former standout under her father with the Marauders, will be a sophomore on the Endicott College team, while Michael is a freshman at Dedham High and Billy also plays in the youth ranks.
“You only live once, I don’t want to miss out on seeing my kids and there are an awful lot of conflicts,” said Parr, who added he will remain with the girls tennis squad in the spring. “It happened last year when Sam scored the tying and winning goal against Salem State and it was the only game I missed.”
Huff, who ascended to co-head coach from a volunteer assistant in 2005, started a new a position as strength and conditioning coach at Needham High in August.
“It really wouldn’t be fair to the girls if I felt like I couldn’t do it 100 percent,” said Huff, who teaches at Norfolk Aggie in Walpole. “I’m not big on being 50 percent on one job and 50 on another job.”
Dedham hired Christine Gurskis to replace the pair. Gurskis has been a volunteer assistant on the staff the last two years after resigning from her post as head coach at Milton High following the 2009 season.
In the 12 seasons as a varsity program, the Marauders have compiled a sparking 176-52-23 record, qualifying for the postseason every year and taking home three state crowns.
Parr was one of three original co-head coaches along with Victor Pacella and Tom Greland, who debuted with a 13-1-1 mark as a club team in 2000, the year before the MIAA tournament play began.
The Marauders won the first Division 2 state title, outlasting Boston Latin, 3-2, in a two-day, four-overtime epic. Dedham repeated as champions the next year with a 2-0 victory over Canton.
With the MIAA structuring divisions by mainly by program strength and not enrollment in the early years, Dedham was moved up to Division 1 and advanced to consecutive state finals in 2003 and 2004, falling to Needham and Woburn.
Dedham made it back to its fifth straight state final in 2005 in Huff’s first year as a head coach, a rematch with Woburn, and claimed it first Division 1 state crown with a 2-1 victory.
“It’s funny, we didn’t have to do that much building, we have had to more building in recent years. We were blessed with skaters and we were ahead of our time the first five years,” said Parr. “The kids showed up and wanted to play and we lucky that we were coaching at the beginning of girls hockey and we had kids that had never played before ended up being key members of the team.”
The Marauders have won just one tournament game since their last state title run, moving back down to Division 2 in 2008, but have remained yearly contender in the Bay State Conference Herget Division, last sharing a title in 2010, and one of the state’s steadiest program amid the recent explosion of girls hockey.
“Each team was different, each had its own life,” said Huff. “It was established that making the tournament was a tradition. It was a goal but it was more like it was expected, ingrained from Day 1. When you stepped on the ice, that was the tone and culture that we set as a team.”
Both coaches said what they’ll remember most is the people they got to meet and work with over the years, the athletes they helped shape as they went through the program and fellow coaches like Pacella, Greland, Chris Maloof, Kara and Kathy Kelly and Christina Sweeney, who will continue on as an assistant with Gurskis.
Each also felt secure in the continued direction of the program under Gurskis, who went 49-9-7 in three seasons at Milton, finishing as runner-up in Division 2 in both 2007 and 2008.
“I’d rather coach with her than against her, she knows her stuff,” said Parr. “She coached a point away from us the last we played, drew up a play to tie it late. She’s tough to coach against. We feel like we are leaving the program in really capable hands.”
“We couldn’t hand it off to better coach, the girls love her and she’s a great fit,” said Huff. “She’ll keep that tradition alive.”
