Loomis Chaffee has a pedigree of churning out elite defenders.
In the past five graduating classes alone, the Pelicans have had at least 10 defenders go on to play college hockey, including five in Division 1.
Two defenders from last season’s team are now playing college hockey. Former captain Emma Hannah (Newtown, Conn.) is now a freshman at Middlebury, and Sarah Wagner is a freshman at Hamilton.
So, it’s no surprise entering this season that one of the biggest strengths of Liz Leyden’s team is again the blue line.
“A strong defense fundamentally changes the game for teams that have it,” Leyden said. “Having ‘D’ that can move, that can shoot, can distribute and do all those things allows us to have control of the puck so much more. It allows us in the defensive zone to clean up a lot of messes. It allows us to stay up in the neutral zone, keep pucks in and generate shots from the point.”
