Highlanders Go 3-0 in Holiday Tournament

“I think we felt good going into it,” said Head Coach Dan Allen. “We had beaten Millbrook and Greenwich Academy, so we were 3-2 going in. We had been playing well.”

Following the tournament, forward Izzy Blake ’26 earned a shoutout from the New England Hockey Journal as a “top performer” of the week. “Blake had a seven-point week across four games for Gunn. She had a goal and an assist in a 10-0 win over Greenwich Academy on Dec. 18. At the Portsmouth Abbey Holiday Tournament, Blake had a goal and an assist in a 4-2 win over PA as well as two goals and an assist in a 4-2 victory against Pomfret,” the journal’s Patrick Donnelly reported.

The Highlanders graduated nine seniors last spring. Of those, six are now playing for NCAA DIII women’s ice hockey teams in college, including forward and team captain Bea Flynn ’24, who is playing for Amherst College; forward Bella Schifano ’24, who is playing for Bowdoin College; forward Natalie May ’24, who is playing for William Smith College; forward Jordan Hopping '24, who is playing for Johnson & Wales; forward Jo Wimler ’24, who is playing for Endicott College; and Emma Eschweiler ’24, who is on the women’s ice hockey and rowing teams at Trinity College.

At Gunn, nine seniors have stepped into new leadership roles this year and worked hard at the start of the season to position the team for success. “Our seniors have done a good job of helping new students feel comfortable. Our team culture has been really good. We’ve had a lot of players assume more responsibility. We’re having a good season so far, which has been great,” Allen said.

In the off-season, many team members are engaged in other varsity sports, including field hockey, soccer, softball, and rowing, and they hold leadership roles on campus throughout the school year. “We talk a lot about being active in our community, challenging ourselves academically and working hard in the classroom, and socially, being leaders on campus. A lot of our student-athletes are tour guides, they’re RAs, they’re in Gunn Society. They run clubs, they do Hitting Pause at School Meeting, they are involved in a lot of different things,” he said.

Among this season’s highlights will be the “Pack the Rink” game vs. Choate Rosemary Hall on Friday, January 10, at 6 p.m. in Linen RInk. “Choate is a team that in my four years we haven’t been able to beat, so that’s an exciting game for us,” Allen said. It will also be tough since one of Gunn’s leading scorers, Blake, is injured, and another, Amelie Suppan ’27, is playing for Austria in the U-18 Women’s Ice Hockey World Championship in Budapest, Hungary, through January 11.

“Friday will be exciting, and on Monday we play Kent, which will be exciting as well,” Allen said. Gunn will play at Kent School on Monday, January 13, at 4:30 p.m.

Above: Photo by Phil Dutton '81 P'23.

Below: Photos of the Girls Varsity Hockey game vs. Millbrook on December 9, 2024, by Dee Wright P'27. The Highlanders won, 4-1.