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Freshman Emmy Norton and Kaitlyn White head for the puck
Back in 2008 incoming freshman Chandler Fowler told her dad she didn’t want to go back to figure skating and wanted to play hockey at Branford High School. The problem was Branford didn’t have a girls’ hockey team.
Chandler’s dad, Tom Fowler, then the Deputy Police Chief in town, wanted to make his daughter happy. He polled some parents and found others whose daughters wanted to play hockey as well.
Tom set up a meeting with Branford’s co-athletic directors Sav Synodi and Jake Palluzzi to discuss what needed to be done and they were off and running. Tom, who has since retired from Branford, is now the Chief of the Salisbury Massachusetts Police Department, 45 miles north of Boston. He reflected on the history of girls’ hockey in a recent interview.
Starting Girls Hockey From Scratch
“It wasn’t going to be easy. There was no money in the budget for a new team so we had to raise all the money needed for ice rental, transportation, uniforms, equipment, insurance and a coach’s salary,” he said.
Car washes, candy sales and anything that could help pay the expenses were undertaken. The parents had to come up with the difference to pay the balance. They operated as a club team for 2 years until money was added to the athletic budget and girls’ hockey became a varsity sport.
Lauren Wiggins was hired as the first coach and she is still leading the Lady Hornets today along with Jack Norton who was added a year ago as co-coach. He shares the load with Lauren.
A Co-Op Team Emerges
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Norton (NB) gets around Austin Stratton of Greenwich
Today the team is a co-op club which is hosted by Branford and has added team members from North Branford and East Haven. Those schools would not be able to have a team if they weren’t part of the co-op.
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Senior Jessica Giamattei skates around a Greenwich defender
They play a full schedule of 21 games and are off to an impressive 5 – 1 start with their latest win (4 – 1) over the Greenwich Cardinals last Monday at the East Haven Rink.
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Co-captain Lexi Harney (EH) tries to push one in from behind the net for the Hornets
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Erin Sheehan (NB) scored first for Branford in 12:32 of the first period for a 1 – 0 lead. In the second Harney (EH) scored the first of her three goals at 13:42 on an assist from Branford’s Marissa Guglielmi (pictured).
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Harney (EH)followed that up with her second goal of the period at 4:53 putting the Hornets up 3 – 0 after two.
Greenwich’s Jennie Piotrzkowski scored mid way through the final period to make it 3 – 1 but Harney added an empty netter at 0:57 to ice the win for the Hornets.
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Freshman goalie Julia SanGiovanni (EH) clears the puck from in front of the net
Goalie Julia SanGiovanni (EH) had 16 saves for Branford and Jessie Aselin had 24 for the Cardinales.
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Both teams shake hands after the game.
Coach Lauren Wiggins was very pleased with the win. “We played a lot of good teams this year and to win against an established program like Greenwich is very gratifying. Plus it’s always nice to beat a team from Fairfield County.”
They get that chance again when they play Notre Dame of Fairfield at home on Tuesday at 7:30 pm.
Chief Fowler should be proud of what he started.
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