Sticking it to the standard: The female Old Rochester hockey player

MARION — The only thing differentiating Liz Kilpatrick from her teammates is the long braid coming from her helmet. Otherwise, it might be hard to tell a girl skates for the boys team at Old Rochester Regional High School. 

Liz Kilpatrick, a senior at Old Rochester, is the only girl skating on the varsity and junior varsity hockey team since the school’s girls team — and her club team — did not have enough players for a team this year.

Christopher Carrig, the Old Rochester athletic director, couldn’t find a girls team for her to play on nearby. As a last resort, Kilpatrick tried out for the boys team. 

She began her hockey journey when she was 3 years old, learning to skate at the Tabor Academy rink. She then picked up hockey at 8 years old after seeing her father play in a pick-up league. 

She played hockey with boys until she was 12, then played on all girls teams until this year. Kilpatrick has an older sister who also played hockey at Old Rochester.

Kilpatrick said she was upset to not play on a girls team, but grateful she could practice every day. She committed to play girls hockey at and study business at Nichols College in Dudley, Massachusetts next year, so she said she isn’t stressed about her performance this season. 

She is happy to get out on the ice, even if it's not with other girls. 

“It's so fun just to have fun on the ice with all your teammates and it's a really good environment,” she said. 

When going against opposing teams, she said boys usually don’t care or notice she’s a girl in the first place. 

“It's funny though because like I'll be playing and then one of them will look up when we're taking a face off and be like ‘Oh my god you're a girl,’” Kilpatrick said. 

Some boys will also tell Kilpatrick she is good for a girl. 

“I feel like I'm just pretty good,” she said. “If I'm pretty good, I'm pretty good all around. Not just for a girl.”

She said she has felt welcomed on the team even when the boys are timid to hit her during practice. 

“They feel like I can't take anything, so even at practice they don't come within a three-foot circle of me,” she said. “You can run into me — I'm not going to fall over, I'm not going to break an arm if you touch me, I'll be okay.”

She said her teammates have made it an enjoyable environment for her, and always invite her to team dinners. 

Kilpatrick said even though the team has been fun, playing without other girls can be strange and lonely. Instead of her usual group of female teammates, Kilpatrick dresses alone in a separate locker room before games. 

Through the season, Kilpatrick said she has grown closer to the team, especially with the underclassmen. She loves sitting on the varsity bench but enjoys goofing off with the junior varsity team. 

She said her main goal for the rest of the season is to just have fun. 

Head Coach Zach Ledogar said Kilpatrick is a skilled and smart player, with “unbelievable talent and work ethic.” He also praised her ability to adjust to playing with boys and her college sports career. 

“She is probably the most talented, intelligent hockey player we actually have on the team,” Ledogar said. 

Ledogar said the team has been excited to have her.

“The guys in this team have supported her so much that whenever there's an opportunity to get her out there, they're always like, ‘let's get Liz out there, let's get her going,’” Ledogar said. 

Captains Chase Almeida and Connor Foley said they are impressed and honored to play with Kilpatrick, especially since she has committed to play college hockey.

“She always comes with a positive attitude and we just look at her as another one of the guys on the team,” Foley said. 

They said they can see how hard she works everyday and love having her on the team. 

“You can really see her dedication to the sport of hockey,” Alemeida said. “She obviously just committed to Nichols so seeing a committed hockey player on the hockey team is very cool.”