By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Growing up Samantha Kelley had a father and uncle who enjoyed playing hockey, as well as watching the Boston Bruins on TV. In doing so, she became extremely interested in the sport, and by the age of 6, she was suiting up herself. In the early years, she would play for the Natick Comets but was always looking forward to playing on the high school level.

Defense would become her position, and she loved the physical aspect of the position, while also being able to help out her goalie. While in the middle school, she would play on the co-ed team during her sixth, seventh and eight grade years. In eighth grade, she really wanted to play for the high school, but the Ashland co-op team didn’t have any waivers in place for athletes that age, so she just had to wait another year before she could skate with the high school team.

When she finally made it to high school, Samantha knew that she would have to play for the co-op team if she wanted to play hockey at that level. 

“I was extremely nervous going in as I didn’t know a lot of the girls,” Kelley said. “Luckily, I was paired with Lauren Bosworth on defense and saw how she put the entire team on her back, and I wanted to do the same in the future.”

As a freshman sitting on the bench, Kelley found herself getting really nervous when her coach told her that she was up next. Although the nerves were running through her body, she was excited to get her first chance to play high school hockey and eventually ignored the nerves and gave everything that she had while on the ice.

Kelley, who is looking to bring a physical presence to the game, was stunned when she learned that the coaching staff named her an Assistant Captain to this year’s team.

“I was very surprised, especially being a sophomore, but to be trusted to lead the team was  a big honor,” she said. “With that, I knew that I was going to have to step up and be that leader the coaches thought I could be.”

As a freshman last winter, Ashland found themselves one win shy of advancing into the State Tournament, and Kelley found it difficult at first, but then realized that you can’t always qualify. This year, she believes that the team should be able to get into the Tournament and hopefully do some damage once there.

While the team is looking to prolong their season into the playoffs, Kelley herself is hoping that she can ramp up her play and be able to capitalize on scoring her first high school goal. Being one that likes to rush the puck up the ice, she noted that one of her big goals would be putting the puck behind a goaltender. 

“Her shot has come a long way,” said Ashland Coach Lynn Pecci. “And this year, we are looking for that to be one of her strong points to help us on the offensive side of the puck.”

Prior to the season getting underway, Kelley would try to push the puck up the ice while playing for her club team, the Junior Crusaders out of Worcester. The sophomore was looking to bring a different aspect to her high school season.

“Club hockey is a little faster and more physical,” she said. “I was looking to bring this style of play to my high school season.”

Looking back on her time on the ice playing defense while growing up, it was around the age of 10 when Kelley fully realized that she had a talent to play the back-end position. While playing U10 hockey she found herself being called up to play with the U12 girls, and while she was capable of playing with these girls, she always took to the ice to give her maximum effort.

“The difference in her play this year is that she is more confident in her game, but sometimes can get in her own head,” Pecci said. “She is a great person and player, and I think highly of her. She is still coming into her own, but I only expect her to get better as the years go by.”

Kelley and her teammates are still fighting to earn that spot in the Division 2 State Tournament at the end of the year. Although only a sophomore, she would like nothing more than to play Division 3 on the colligate level. 

“I cannot  see myself giving up hockey; it is something that brings me a lot of joy,” Kelley said. “I will be a lot of effort to get to play hockey in college, but I am planning on working as hard as I can to make it become a reality.”