HOOKSETT – The Bishop Brady-Trinity-Bow girls’ hockey team has been rolling past its competition all season. The Bishop Brady-Trinity cooperative team added Bow to its squad this year, while Londonderry left the program, and it has maintained continuity while building upon the lessons learned last season.

 Going into Monday night’s game against Souhegan (0-13) the girls sat one win behind Concord at 9-2. With a win, the team would beat its win record from last year (9-10), and virtually secure a playoff spot. They showed off with an, 8-0, win and proved why they’re a top team at Tri-Town Ice Arena.

But, how did they get here?

Well, any successful team starts from the bottom up. Sophomore goalie Lyrah Lydon had a light night and only had to make three saves to earn the shutout, and that was largely thanks to her two senior defenders Meghan Schmidt and Kylie Palmeter. These two played the entire game, and nearly every minute all year. 

Not only that, but they grew up playing together and the chemistry on ice is clear, they move as a unit and cover gaps quickly while distributing the puck to the ever-rotating offensive lines. It paid off against Souhegan as Schmidt scored a long shot and assisted three goals and Palmeter notched one assist but dominated in the neutral zone. 

“I think just working on passing with each other. Making sure we know what we’re doing helps us a lot offensively because if we don’t play well, the team can’t play well and so working on passing, dumping it in, stuff like that, getting open for our forwards, I think that contributes a lot,” Schmidt said on how they try to lead the team.

“Communication’s really big because we try to get it to the forwards when they’re open, and communication between defense and the forwards is really important,” Palmeter added.

The whole team is not just the two defenders, though. Alongside the third senior captain, Alison Pelletier, they explained that they have focused on bonding off the ice, and as a three-school team, it’s essential to build those connections to succeed. The three captains are not afraid to bark at their teammates in-game, but they also can’t hold grudges as they see each other six days a week.

“This is my third year and for incoming freshmen, I say, ‘Hey, listen, this isn’t anything to joke around about. These are like your sisters. You come up, you show up every day, you take this seriously, but know that like we'll always be there for each other,’” Pelletier said. “I think the whole off-the-ice thing is almost more important than on-the-ice because, without that bond, we wouldn’t have a great team at all.”

The Brinity-Bow team has shown resilience in the face of tough competition all year, and it seems that in many ways it has grown, matured and improved. Head coach Dan Earley credited this not just to the leadership he has from his captains, but also from his new assistant coach, Lauren Trippiedi.

Trippiedi has hammered down the fundamentals for the newcomers, and focused on technical tweaks, tailoring training and ways to improve to each player. This has paid off, as well, and it showed during the game against Souhegan when sophomore Laney Ryan scored her first varsity goal and another newcomer to the team, Vera Virta, scored two on the night.

With experienced coaching, strong fundamentals, passionate locker room leadership and looming playoffs in mind, the Brinity-Bow team looks awful dangerous with only a few games left in the season.

“My athletic director, who’s been coming to more practices, his huge thing is always saying the next game is the most important game of the season. It doesn't matter if you are playing the best team in the league or the worst team in the league. But the next game is the most important game of the season,” said Trinity’s Pelletier. “I think that’s something that we need to stand by because that’s incredibly true. I’m not going to worry about the next three games. I’m worrying about what’s next, and that’s it.”

Brinity-Bow will host Bedford next on Wednesday and try to keep its win streak alive.

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com