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Hanging on the wall in the Doug Woodruff '77 Lobby of Jahn Rink are the mahogany captain boards engraved with the names of past leaders of Pomfret's girls hockey team. The list starts in 1975 with Cindy Ferguson ’75 and Donna Reynolds ’75. They were there at the beginning — fifty years ago — when girls ice hockey first began at Pomfret with thirteen players. As the years passed, the team grew in both size and talent. They went from learning how to play the game to winning one game to having a winning season.

Inside the rink, to the right of the scoreboard, hangs a banner listing the fourteen times the girls hockey team made the New England Championship Tournament. Below the scoreboard is their 1997 New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Championship banner. 

On the wall near the entrance hang six framed professional and Olympic jerseys — four belonging to former girls team members. These four and several of their teammates have been inducted into Pomfret’s Athletic Hall of Fame. 

These visual representations of achievement at the rink only begin to tell the story of the program’s legacy. Over the decades, dozens of student-athletes have gone on to play ice hockey at the collegiate level, winning regional and national championships.

On the ice are eighteen members of the fiftieth girls hockey team who are working hard to achieve similar success and having fun with every shift — just like the young women who came before them.

First Period: Chasing the Puck

Pomfret began accepting female students in 1968, joining the regional shift to a coeducational boarding school experience. Initially, girls spent their winter afternoons in the theater or on the basketball and squash courts. But Donna (Reynolds) Lynch ’75 was among a small group of girls who were drawn to the ice. They approached the athletic director and Headmaster Joseph Milnor about forming a team. They started as a club in 1973, when a group of five girls learned how to skate, practiced basic stick work, and studied the rules of the game. 

“I liked to ice skate, and I was looking for an alternative to basketball and squash,” says Reynolds. “We found enough girls who wanted to play, and the coaches were very patient with us. Some girls played in figure skates rather than hockey skates.”

Former headmaster Brad Hastings ’68 was their coach at the time and worked admissions. To express their appreciation for all of the time he spent teaching them how to play, Reynolds and her team presented him with a plaque at the end of the year to commemorate their undefeated season — despite never playing a single official game.

After two years as a club, in 1975, the girls had their inaugural season as a team and became one of the six original prep schools to offer girls hockey as a team sport, joining Loomis-Chaffee, Taft, Choate, Northfield Mount Hermon, and Williston. The original six played games against one another and local colleges, including Yale, who had recently added girls hockey to its lineup of sports.

The team practiced at night, long after the boys cleared the ice. One benefit of the late hours was that their classmates were less likely to make their way down hockey hill and laugh at them as they developed their skills. “They were a special group of girls,” said Charlie Putnam, one of the team’s early coaches. “It certainly wasn’t easy for them. They were taking a risk by being some of the first to pursue this sport. They were all groundbreakers.”

While some girls had their own sticks and gear, many used old equipment from the boys' teams, including their jerseys. 

“My senior year, my dad was so fed up with our hand-me-down jerseys that didn’t even say ‘Pomfret Hockey’ on them that he paid for new uniforms for the team,” said Sue Mead ’81. 

Mead was one of Pomfret’s first star girls hockey players. Before coming to the Hilltop, she played for a regional team. After their starting netminder decided to spend the semester studying abroad, Mead was invited to be the goalie for Harvard University’s club team. When she played for Pomfret, she was a brick wall and kept the Griffins competitive in many games. “Any game we won or came close to winning was because of Sue,” says Putnam.

The Pomfret team grew in size and talent in the early 80s. Regionally, more girls began playing youth hockey. They were often the only girl on the team — resigned to getting dressed in the bathroom or janitor's closet while their male teammates suited up in the boys locker room. Prep schools became their primary opportunity to represent their school and play on the girls team. In 1988, the New England Preparatory School Girls Ice Hockey Coaches Association began to sponsor a championship tournament.

Each year, more girls enrolled at Pomfret who not only knew how to skate and the rules of the game but were experienced and outstanding players. The team swelled in size until a JV squad was eventually added in 1985 — just ten years after the varsity program was established.  

“Women’s hockey has been around for a long time. I get frustrated that every four years, when the Winter Olympics comes around, people are stunned to learn there are women playing hockey,” says Kay Cowperthwait '87. “We have been playing hockey in college and on national teams for quite a while.” 

Many Griffins continued to play hockey in college and beyond. Though Mead stopped playing ten years ago, she minded the goal well into her fifties, playing primarily on men’s club teams and representing our country in national and international women’s senior competitions. Cowperthwait played hockey in college and is a former head coach of the Amherst College women's hockey team. She now runs clinics for women who are looking to improve their skills.

Second Period: Power Plays and Breakaways

In 1990, Waddy Rowe began coaching the girls ice hockey team. The team had some great club players who happened to make their way to Pomfret. They competed against some strong opponents and held their own — often losing in the final minutes. Rowe began to travel to club team tournaments and showcases around the country and Canada to recruit top players who would be a good fit for the Pomfret team. His recruiting efforts helped elevate the program, attracting talent from across the region.

The team worked hard to achieve a winning record each year, but making it to the championship tournament was not easy. In 1995, NEPSAC added a second division to expand the tournament and invite more teams to the playoffs. Pomfret played in the early rounds of the Division II tournament during its inaugural year. The following year, they fell in the finals. In 1997, they earned their first championship. This victory marked a turning point, symbolizing Pomfret’s arrival as a dominant force in girls hockey. They moved to the upper division the following year and made eleven championship tournament appearances in seventeen years.

Their success as one of New England’s top girls hockey programs helped recruit talent to the Hilltop. They faced off against some tough competition, many of whom played on the national team. Pomfret had some great players, including Danish national team member Janie Madsen ’94, US national team member Genevieve Richardson ’99, two-time Canadian Olympic gold medalist Sarah Vaillancourt ’04, and 2016 US Women's Under-22 Select Team member Makenna Newkirk ’15. 

Off the ice, the girls achieved similar success. Most were three-season athletes who helped the School win soccer and field hockey championships. The team and their coaches advocated for equity for girls sports, and with the support of then Headmaster Brad Hastings, received equal quality ice time, new equipment, and travel support and lodging when they traveled to holiday tournaments. They went on to be recruited and play hockey at the collegiate level, winning regional and national tournaments. The successes and efforts of the team helped raise the bar for girls sports here at Pomfret, while women’s hockey gained notoriety beyond the Hilltop.

The Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) was established in 2007. In 2015, the National Women’s Hockey League (which was later rebranded as the Premier Hockey Federation in 2021) was founded, becoming the first US professional women’s hockey league to pay its players salaries. Along with Vaillancourt, Richardson, Micaela Long ’06, and Jaimie Leonoff ’11, all played on various professional teams in these leagues, with Long and Leonoff playing for the Connecticut Whale. After the CWHL dissolved in 2019, the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) was established by the players and was dedicated to advocating for the promotion of professional women's ice hockey. For four years, the PWHPA organized a series of exhibition seasons. Newkirk played two seasons in the New Hampshire Region.

The Professional Women’s Hockey League was formed in 2023. The inaugural 2024 season was an outstanding success, marked by record-breaking attendance, viewership, and partnerships. The league is gearing up for a great second season, with more games at larger venues and featuring additional talent and teams.

While a handful of Griffins went pro, many more went on to coach. Sam Slotnick '10 returned to the Hilltop from 2017 to 2020 to coach her former team at Jahn Rink. Newkirk is entering her third year as an assistant coach at Penn State. Before coaching at Syracuse College, Heather Farrell ’00 guided the girls hockey program at St. Paul’s School for eleven years; her tenure included facing off and ultimately defeating Pomfret in the 2015 NEPSAC championship tournament finals. When Farrell left to become the head coach at Syracuse, she passed the St. Paul coaching reins to Kelli Mackey ’14. Mackey is excited to return to the Hilltop when the Pelicans take on the Griffins in late January. Tiffany Hayes-Romaniello ’99 has coached many girls club teams and will coach the U14-1 Hartford Junior Wolf this year. The leadership and dedication of these and so many of our alumnae continue to ensure the success and future of girls hockey.

Third Period: The Next Shift

In 2023, Pomfret was searching for a new girls ice hockey coach. Hayes-Romaniello shared the opportunity with her friend David Peltz. Peltz has twenty-six years of coaching experience behind the bench at both the Junior and Tier 1 AAA youth hockey levels. He has won a USA Hockey National Championship, three Junior Hockey National appearances, and several regional and state championships. He’s led his teams to league championship tournament appearances and wins throughout his coaching career. Many of Peltz’s athletes have gone on to play Division I and III college hockey programs, with some going professional.

Peltz was eager to help the Griffins achieve success at Jahn Rink. He teamed up with English Department Head Todd Matthew, his assistant coach, and the pair have been recruiting and inviting players from the region’s and nation’s top club teams to the Hilltop to meet the team. The girls and their families learn about the School and the academic programs that not only prepare them for college but for life. Their campus tour includes a stop at the rink, which underwent extensive renovations in 2021, including a state-of-the-art mechanical room, new ice-making equipment, and a dehumidification system that extends the rink’s season from September 1 through April 1. 

Peltz and Matthew are investing their time and energy into the future of the girls hockey program because they love the game. “Coaching hockey is part of my DNA,” says Peltz. “I love to develop a player, build a team, help them succeed, and take their game to the next level.”

The girls team has an opportunity to compete for a championship once again. In 2023, Pomfret and teams from five other independent schools formed the Vaillancourt Conference, named in honor of Pomfret’s own Sarah Vaillancourt ’04. Pomfret finished the season ranked fourth.

Over the last fifty years, these moments — etched into the ice, the scoreboard, and the hearts of players — are more than just memories; they’re milestones in the story of Pomfret girls hockey. But this story is far from over. Each game, each period, and each shift is a testament to the talent, determination, and potential of girls’ sports at Pomfret. With a legacy built on hard work and camaraderie, and a future that promises even greater achievements, the girls who lace up their skates here are not just making history — they're shaping it.  

 

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