As Old Rochester drops girls hockey, more schools join Bishop Stang's co-op for 2023-24
There will be one less high school girls hockey team on the SouthCoast this winter.
Old Rochester will no longer be offering girls ice hockey, beginning with the 2023-24 school year.
“We only had three Old Rochester kids coming back for next year,” said former Old Rochester athletic director Bill Tilden. “As the host school, you need more kids than that.”
In its fourth year as the host school of the co-op, ORR included also players from six other schools — Bourne, Wareham, Upper Cape, Mashpee, Middleboro and Apponequet — this past season.
“Eight or nine years ago when we started, Bourne was the host school and when we joined it became BMW-ORR, but then the Bourne numbers dropped,” Tilden said. “To keep it going, we were grabbing one kid from this school and one from that school. We were drawing from seven schools to make the program go.”
Both Apponequet and Old Rochester will play at Bishop Stang.
“We’re jumping into the Bishop Stang co-op,” Tilden said. “Our girls will still be able to play hockey. I know Apponequet is also joining us at Stang. I’m not sure about the other schools.”
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Bishop Stang applies for co-op status with the MIAA on a yearly basis.
“Things change,” said Bishop Stang athletic director Nate Greene. “For us, we had New Bedford High last year and graduated New Bedford High girls and now Old Rochester girls are coming into the fold as well as Apponequet and GNB Voc-Tech.”
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Bishop Stang’s co-op has already been approved for nine schools — Apponequet, Bishop Stang, Case, Dartmouth, Durfee, Fairhaven, GNB Voc-Tech, Old Rochester and Somerset Berkley — for next year.
“In terms of girls hockey, our program has been growing and developing since it began 10 or 11 years ago,” Greene said. “We have been the one consistent (girls hockey) program (on the SouthCoast). You never want to see something like that happen with another school. With ORR not offering it, we’re the closest school to give them an opportunity to play.”
While managing a team that has players from nine different schools will be challenging, Bishop Stang head coach Bill Theodore said it’s worth it.
“With me being the girls hockey enthusiast in the area, I want as many kids to play as possible,” Theodore said. “Ideally every school would have their own team, but that doesn’t look like that will happen. I feel bad that these kids don’t have a place to skate. I’m happy to take girls to come and play.
“If we don’t do this, these kids can’t skate.”
Theodore said he’s proud of the culture his co-op program has developed over the years.
“If you walked into our locker room, you’d never know the girls aren’t all from Stang,” he said. “It’s a special thing for them to play high school hockey together.”
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Old Rochester drops girls hockey co-op program
