FALL RIVER: Like love at first sight, the same was true when Lucy Phillips looked at Quinnipiac University, albeit online.
Phillips, a star goalie with the Station Six Fire in the Maritime Major (U18) Female Hockey League, announced her commitment to the NCAA Division 1 team based in Hamden, Ct. campus on her Facebook and Instagram pages last week.
“From the moment I first looked at the campus online in June to this day I’ve been in love with it,” said the former Fall River resident, who now calls the Tantallon area home with her family, in an interview with The Laker News on Jan. 18 “The campus and rink look beautiful I can’t wait to visit it. The coaching staff Cassie Turner and Amanda Alessi Mazzotta are so welcoming and fun.
“I feel like I’ve already been there and met everyone.”
Phillips’ commitment is for the 2023-24 hockey season, so she will finish this year with the Amanda Boulegon-coached Station Six Fire and play one more year, her Grade 12 season, then head to the PWHL in Ontario for a gap year to gear her up for NCAA Division 1 play before heading to Quinnipiac.
While playing in the PWHL she will billet and earn some extra credits in school.
The Sir John A MacDonald High School student is grateful for the opportunity to go play there.
“I feel that it’s the right spot for me and I’m just happy that they want me,” Phillips told The Laker News, one of her jersey sponsors with Station Six. “Since day one Cass and Mazz have been in contact with me probably every second week or so. By them doing that it just formed a good relationship between us, and it helped make the decision easier.”
In a Jan. 22 story in The Chronicle Herald, Phillips spoke of having Canadian women’s hockey goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens as a sounding board when she needs advice or a little push. Desbiens game-worn pads are in Phillips possession after a meeting the two had after a Canada-US Rivalry series game in Moncton in Dec. 2019.
“She’s an awesome person. Ann-Renee has helped me out quite a bit,” said Phillips in The Herald Story. “She’s helped me out with many things this past year. She gave me her pads and has sent me sticks and skates. Those are the pads I’m wearing now.
“She’s always there when I need her.”
For Phillips, it’s been a dream of hers since she was a little girl to suit up and call herself a NCAA Division 1 goalie. Now she will get that chance.
“Ever since I was a little kid I remember looking up to the players and goalies in that league thinking that they were the pros,” said Phillips. “I’ve always dreamed of playing Division 1 hockey and it’s crazy to think that’s it’s actually going to happen.”
In a shortened season to date due to COVID19, Phillips, the 2019 Top Goalie in the NSFMHL (now the Maritime Major Female Hockey League), is 3-2 (won loss) with a 1.80 Goals Against Average this season. The year has been sidelined due to COVID19 restrictions, but play is expected to resume shortly.
She is eager for the extra year of school and hockey at a higher competitive level.
“I’m really excited about this extra year because I feel that it will allow me to mature, develop and adjust to a much faster pace before heading straight into university hockey for the 2023/24 season,” said Phillips.
“I couldn’t be more excited for what’s ahead of me.”
