The Watertown Middle School has a girls’ hockey team that practices Tuesdays and Saturdays at Watertown’s Ryan Arena.

The coaches are Andrea Ciarletta and Owen Jones. Andrea played hockey all of her college years at UMass-Boston.

There are 18 girls on the team, and some of them go to private schools. A lot of the girls are new to hockey so the coaches work with them to help make them become better players.

Emily Loprete, who has played hockey for 10 years, is a returning player. She plays for many teams: Watertown Youth Hockey, Charles River Girls Hockey, and the Watertown Middle School. Hockey is Emily’s favorite sport.

“The girls who haven’t played before will hopefully take this as a learning experience, and go to play on a high school team,” she said.

Lauren Kelly is another star player on the team. Lauren also plays on the Assabet team and really enjoys it. She thinks hockey is fun to play.

“It feels good to score goals,” said Lauren, who plays center and defense.

Lauren also tried goalie. “I totally stunk,” she said. “I might try again, if they need me to play, I will though.”

All the girls try really hard to improve their skills. They all enjoy the games and never give up.

Good luck girls!

–Feb. 26, 2010–