Nantucket Girls Hockey Season Cancelled Due To Lack Of Players

The Nantucket girls varsity hockey team's 2024-2025 season has been cancelled after the program was unable to get enough players to sign-up and register to play. The decision was made at some point this week, followed by an email sent out to a select group of recipients.

In an email forwarded to the Current by several individuals, athletic director Travis Lombardi said there was an interest meeting a few weeks ago and that the initial belief was that while the numbers were “on the cusp,” they thought they’d be able to make it work.

“However, I just got word over this past weekend that a few of those girls that originally said they were going to play, have now decided against it,” Lombardi said. “This leaves us with 10 total girls (nine skaters, one goalie). I feel that this number is too low for us to field a team to safely and competitively participate. This decision was not made lightly, but we believe it’s the safest and most responsible choice to avoid putting our athletes in a challenging position or putting our opponents in a difficult situation if we were forced to cancel the season mid-way.”

Lombardi said in the email he met with Whaler head coach Andrew McNeilly, as well as the captains, about the decision.

“We are all in agreement that this makes the most sense at this time,” Lombardi said.

McNeilly told the Current Thursday morning that they had everything lined up to go "as of last week, but I got called in yesterday and told (the season) wasn't happening anymore."

McNeilly expressed in his email to players and coaches that canceling the season wasn't his decision.

"I was shocked when he said we weren't going to have a team," McNeilly added. "I would like to thank the rink, Nantucket Youth Hockey, the Nantucket Hockey Foundation, the Nantucket Athletic Department, as well as Jack Moran (the Nantucket boys hockey head coach) and the boys high school hockey team for their support last season."

It does not sound like Lombardi plans on abandoning the program all together however, and is hoping to bring it back in the near future. He said the athletic department’s priority remains to provide students with opportunities to stay engaged with hockey in the meantime, and he is actively exploring alternative options such as structured practices, scrimmages/collaborations with the Nantucket youth hockey program, and potential JV games with nearby Cape schools.

“This is an unfortunate situation and one that is beyond our control, but we are optimistic about the future of our program,” Lombardi said. “We have a promising core group of younger players in grades 7 and 8, which we hope will help us field a competitive team in the years to come.”

The program began in the 2019-2020 season under head coach Liz Collins, who stepped down as the head coach last year. McNeilly was set to begin his second season as the program’s head coach this winter.

The program’s record was 7-65-5 over the course of its five years as a varsity program. Its best season came in 2021-2022 when they went 4-12-1.

Team captains Mayson Lower, Sam Zadroga, Sadie Paterson, and Alex Wisentaner released the following statement:

"Travis and Andy covered most of it but we had to come to this conclusion for the safety of the girls due to short numbers as well as later efforts of the team as the season progressed. We hope that this decision for this years season does not repeat itself next year and hope to see the program grow further into the future. Us captains had also put in a huge effort to try to get this season going by reaching out to multiple people and most were unable to fully commit. After that, us captains had all met with Travis and Andy and came to a conclusion that it would be best to put this season on hold for the safety of our players. We are sad to see the season go, but we are excited to get more numbers over this winter and continue next season."

This story will be updated on more information pertaining to the future of the program and any hockey opportunities that become available for girl’s hockey players on Nantucket.