Local flavor on Nobles ice

To call the Noble and Greenough School’s girls varsity hockey team successful is an understatement.

For the last decade the Bulldogs have won 10 Independent School League (ISL) titles under head coach Tom Resor.

“We’ve had a great season so far,” Resor said last Wednesday after the Bulldogs defeated Berkshire, 2-0 in the New England Prep School Girls Ice Hockey Association (NEPSGIHA) quarterfinals. “We were able to win the ISL which is really our main goal [for the season] and usually if that happens we get to the New Englands.”

While Nobles was in the New Englands once again, they bowed out in the semifinals, dropping a 2-1 contest to Lawrence Academy, ending the Bulldogs season at 19-3-4 and a two-year run as Division 1 champs.

But it was yet another successful season for the Bulldogs, despite losing a number of players from last year’s roster to graduation – many of them forwards.

“A lot of kids, especially at forward, hadn’t gotten as much ice [in previous seasons],” Resor said. “But this year they have and they’ve really stepped up. Defensively we’re very experienced, strong and they’ve been doing their job.”

Two of the forwards that have really stepped up their game are Dedham natives, senior Sarah Duncan and junior Kaleigh FitzPatrick.

Duncan transferred into Nobles from Dedham High her sophomore year and began as a wing, but this season she was moved to center.

“Because of her skating ability, her physical strength and to get more help defensively,” Resor said on the decision to move the senior. “She’s done a great job there doing penalties for us. It’s really nice to see her grow. She’s a terrific athlete and she’s starting to pay benefits on the hockey rink.”

Duncan played in all of Nobles’ 26 games this season, scoring two goals and tallying two assists.

You could call Duncan’s start in hockey a fluke. The mother of one of her friends called and suggested she join in on learn-to-skate lessons at Nobles when she was seven. At the beginning she hated it, but she stuck with it and ended up back at Nobles playing varsity girls hockey.

Not only has Duncan contributed on the ice, she’s a three-sport letter-winner in ice hockey, field hockey and softball. She’s attending Trinity College in Hartford next year where she will play both ice hockey and field hockey. She is undecided on her major, but is thinking something in international relations or government.

FitzPatrick has another season to compete with Nobles. This season, she played in 24 games, scoring seven goals and assisting on 16. She joined the team as a sophomore after playing at both Brooks and Thayer Academy.

She began her hockey career much earlier than Duncan. At the age of three she was already taking figure skating lessons – but with her dad’s orders she was only allowed to wear hockey skates.

“One day I was skating on the ice and they said why don’t you go down there and play with the boys, so I started playing ice hockey,” FitzPatrick said. “I watched it growing up through my dad – he plays, everyone plays in my family.”

FitzPatrick plays either wing and has earned a spot on the power-play unit.

“She’s been a real important player for us,” said Resor. “She’s a very crafty player, very smart and a great playmaker. Athletically she’s very gifted.

“Kaleigh looks a little on the small side, but she’s quick, she knows where to be and she uses her quickness and stick handling ability to her advantage.”

She, too, plays multiple sports for the Bulldogs – joining Duncan on the field hockey team.

“I think that we’re fortunate that a lot of our girls play multiple sports,” Resor said. “We’ve got kids that know how to compete and know how to be on a team.”

Duncan and FitzPatrick agree that the compatibility of the team contributes to their success.

“For field hockey it’s kind of the same six or seven people that come and play hockey too, so I think that’s what makes both teams pretty good - we travel together, we know each other well,” Duncan said.

But with that success comes high expectations.

“It’s an amazing feeling that we’ve created so much success over the past few years, but there’s also a lot of pressure there to sustain it,” FitzPatrick said. “It’s been crazy, but it’s been really fun.”