Podcast: Williston Northampton girls coach Christa Talbot Syfu on success and prep hockey

Williston Northampton has won the last two Elite 8 championships. (Colin Smith/NEHJ)

Williston Northampton has won the last two NEPSAC girls Elite 8 titles. With Christa Talbot Syfu at the helm, the Wildcats have become a dominant force in girls prep hockey.

But Talbot Syfu has been the head coach since 2004. She’s overseen countless hockey players move onto college hockey. She’s played a key role in their development.

This season, Talbot Syfu’s top player was Emily Crovo (Melrose, Mass.), who was a force over her time at Williston Northampton. She scored her 100th point in Williston’s quarterfinal game against Loomis Chaffee. She scored the game-winning goal against Nobles in the semifinals. Then, in the championship game against Phillips Andover, she had two goals and an assist.

She will head to Holy Cross next season.

On the latest RinkWise podcast, host Stephanie Wood sat down with Talbot Syfu to discuss what’s made her squads so successful, the future of girls prep hockey and how players can best position themselves to play college hockey.

On Emily Crovo:

Talbot Syfu: “Emily had a tremendous year. She’s been consistently a top player. When she arrived, she demonstrated she was a 200-foot player and as she grew to be a junior and senior, she took on a tremendous leadership role in the locker room and the kid just does not quit.”

On the state of girls prep hockey:

Talbot Syfu: “If you look at all the results from every tournament, I would say 85 to 90 percent of the games were one-goal games. That means that we’re getting seedings correct. The other great thing is there were some teams that made the tournament that hadn’t ever made it before. It definitely shows the growth of the game and the league and Stephanie, having [Austin Prep] join the league and make the playoffs is really tremendous and remarkable. It shows that we’re moving in the right direction.”

How prep hockey prepares players for college:

Talbot Syfu: “It’s definitely something we’re trying to compile on our end in trying to get a good handle of how many girls are going to play at the college level. Even just thinking about the Frozen Four and seeing some of those players that played at prep school have such success at the college level is really rewarding and something we’re trying to highlight more and more of. …If I were to guess, close to 100 girls every season that are going to play at some level of college hockey [came from New England prep school hockey]. …I think we have a really good platform here.”

The RinkWise podcast can be streamed here and on major platforms, such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.