Photo Courtesy of Jenny Yu ‘24
By Emily Tarinelli ’25
Sports Editor
The Mount Holyoke Ice Hockey club celebrated its senior players on Feb. 12 in a matchup against Smith College at Fitzpatrick Ice Skating Rink. The honored athletes included Emily Gitlin ’22, Luce Brandt ’22, Bethany Powell FP ’22, Nico Boutaugh ’22, Siqi Yang ’22, Carlie Poworoznek ’22, Rose Sheehan ’22 and Sammi Craig ’22.
Assistant Captain Abby Mann ’24 explained how the team celebrated its seniors.
“At the game, they were announced by name, received little gift boxes from our coaches and got big rounds of applause,” Mann said. “Our social chairs made posters for each of our eight seniors, and we all wrote messages on the backs of the posters and signed them.”
Despite the Lyons’ 6-2 loss, several athletes expressed pride in the seniors and the team overall.
Chairperson Bria Carlson ’23 said that she believed the game was the best of the entire season, highlighting Boutaugh’s performance as goalie.
“Smith couldn’t score for the first 16.5 minutes of [our] game,” Carlson said. “[Boutaugh] kept the puck out of the net for nearly an entire period, which is quite difficult.”
Boutaugh said they were happy with their performance, which allowed Smith to score only once in the first period.
“All of our games are a ton of fun,” Boutaugh said of their experience on the team. “[The] team is one of the most wholesome and supportive [organizations] on campus.”
Carlson said that after the game, the athletes “took a million pictures and spent some time in the locker room, just as a team, shouting out our seniors and all the amazing things they do on and off the ice.”
Enam Dartey ’24 described the game’s lively competition.
“I could feel the energy of everyone who was there at the game, especially our players,” she said.
“It was super exciting and positive,” Artemis Chen ’25 added. “Mount Holyoke students and some parents were cheering for our players on the sidelines … I felt really proud and extremely lucky to be part of [the team].”
Dekyi Deji ’25 added, “I love [that] we all support each other and appreciate everyone’s [achievements] all the time, and as our [coach] … said, our number one rule is to have fun.”
Mann reflected on the emotions present at the end of the season. “We love our seniors so much, and we’ll really miss them next season,” Mann said.
The Lyons concluded their season on Feb. 19 in a game versus Wheaton College, which ended in a tied score of 2-2.