BIDDEFORD — The Biddeford/Thornton Academy/Wells girls hockey team will be led by a handful of new faces this winter as the Tigers look to reach the postseason after just missing in 2016-17.

The Tigers have new captains, and handful of freshman, as well as a new coaching staff. The Tigers currently sit at 1-1, and have learned quite a bit so far, according to senior captain Katie Monson.

“Well everyone is new this year including the coach, so it’s been an all-around learning experience trying to figure out what works for us. It’s a new team every year and there are a lot of young players so we’re doing our best and going with it,” said Monson.

Fellow captain Paige Boudreau feels that the younger players have already made an impact on the program, and expect them to be key moving forward.

“It’s going well — it started out shaky but as it’s gone on we’ve gotten a lot better at trying to get it to work,” said Boudreau. “The four captains are on the same page and we have two freshman that have been incorporated, we also have some girls that have never played before and I think we’ve done well at getting them to feel like they fit in.”

New coach Adam Flynn has been impressed with the athleticism of the group, and has been trying to sharpen its hockey skills each day.

“So far what I have noticed is that we have a lot of good athletes that are good in their respective sports outside of hockey, so right now it’s about trying to develop their hockey IQ’s and make them into hockey players and not just athletes,” said Flynn. “It’s coming along — it’s tough with three schools, they’re trying to get to know each other as people. Once that comes the hockey part will come too. We’re starting to see that.”

Flynn has also been happy with the captains’ leadership, which has been critical as the new players work their way into their new roles and learn the system.

“Their leadership is so valuable to us, especially with the younger girls. The younger girls look up to them and know the traditions of this program and know how things are supposed to look and supposed to run. As new coaches they’ve been very beneficial to us,” said Flynn.

Both Monson and Boudreau have enjoyed getting to know their new coach, and feel that learning his system as well as taking the lessons learned from former coach Ashley Potvin will help the team grow even more.

“It’s been different — we’ve been running some new drills and trying new things so I think it’s helped us out, for the players that her drills and his because now you have two perspectives to look at things,” said Monson.

“He’s really young so it’s like he’s going through it too with us. We’re developing and he’s developing at the same time and it’s going really well,” added Boudreau.

Although the Tigers are still finding their way, they are confident that they can take a step further than last year and claim a spot on the playoffs.

“We just need to work on our consistency. Developing a routine, getting better every day, and their willingness to learn which they clearly have,” said Flynn. “I think we can be well within playoff range, I think every game can be competitive from here on out.”

“As the year has gone on we’ve all gotten closer. It doesn’t matter what school you’re from, we’re a team, we’re a family, we incorporate everyone,” added Boudreau. “If we continue to play closer as a team … we have pretty good talent on this team but it just hasn’t been put together yet. Once it’s all put together we should be pretty good.”

— Associate Sports Editor Alex Sponseller can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.