Compared to last year, this year's Barrington High School girls' hockey team appears to be...Oh, wait. Barrington didn't have a girls' team in the RI Interscholastic League last year. So rest assured, this year's squad will be the school's best ever.

The Eagles are the newest member of the state's eight-team high school league and are eager to show they belong. Barrington was a club team last season, a squad which grabbed ice time when it was available, practiced once a week and played scrimmages against a few other teams. Some of the teams the Eagles scrimmaged last year will be league opponents this season.

Freshman goalie Ashleigh Corvi and captains Michaela Russell and Patricia Malagrino (from left to right) take the ice.

"We're having a ball," said Barrington coach Deneen Stebenne. "It's just an awesome bunch of girls. They've really bonded together well."

Barrington enters its initial season with 21 players on the roster, one short of the amount of players Stebenne would like to have.

"Amy King is a great defensive hockey player. She was real excited to play and I was real excited to have her," Stebenne said. "But she tore her ACL at the end of the soccer season."

King will not be able to lace up skates, a pity, seeing as how she would have had the chance to play in her senior year. Instead she will have to sit and watch as some players with far less experience, but with at least as much determination, represent their school.

"We have seven or eight new skaters who started just five weeks ago," Stebenne said. "I had to sit them down after the first day and tell them they probably weren't going to play at all in the first game. Safety-wise, I didn't feel they were ready.

"To their credit they all showed up again the next day. I'd rather have a kid with 50 percent skill and 100 percent desire than 100 percent skill and 50 percent desire. The progress they've made is incredible. They'll get their chances."

The coach, like the rest of the coaches in the league, will put her best players on the ice to start the games and then work others in depending on the situation. Stebenne's starters on the first line are freshman Liz Demetro, senior Stephanie Greenstein and sophomore Tira Hanrahan. Junior Katie Guiliano and sophomore Grace Bramhall will start at defense and freshman Ashleigh Corvi will be the starting goalie.

"Liz and Stephanie are our two strongest players," Stebenne said. "Tira, talk about desire, she may not have the best skills but she has a big heart. She causes a lot of confusion out there. Katie has played a lot of pond hockey and Grace, she's skated on rinks in her back yard."

Corvi will be charged with keeping the puck out of Barrington's net and already has a successful resume. She began playing hockey about five years ago and is a member of a couple of elite teams. She will continue to play for club teams while also skating for Barrington.

"She's playing at a high level and we don't want to take away that opportunity for her," Stebenne said. "We understand if she can't make some practices. But she has her priorities straight. She'll be at our games."

The Eagles were finishing up a practice session at Portsmouth Abbey recently and a college hockey game was to follow. Barrington assistant coaches were taking shots at Corvi and soon a couple of college players stopped to watch. A couple of minutes later a few more players joined their teammates to check out Corvi.

"They were standing behind the net just watching her," Stebenne said. "She has such fluid motions. She's just incredible. Obviously we're counting on her."

Senior Patricia Malagrino, a player in the mold of Hanrahan, and classmates Melissa McKenna, Michaela Russell and Jessica Wood are slated to fill second-team slots. Freshmen MacKenzie Gregory and Nicole D'Angelo will join them.

"MacKenzie is usually a forward. Because I need more defense, I asked her to switch," Stebenne said. "She was very willing to do it. She's definitely a team player.

"Nicole didn't know whether she would play basketball or hockey. She changed her mind a couple of times before deciding on hockey."

Greenstein, Malagrino and Russell were elected tri-captains by their teammates. It will be their jobs to lead the Eagles as far as their talent will take them. How far that is won't be known until the season ends.

"It all starts in the net but obviously you've got to get points on the scoreboard too," Stebenne said. "We'll probably finish somewhere in the middle. I'd be happy with that."

Girls' hockey team drops opener

Stephanie Greenstein scored the first goal in Barrington High School girls' hockey history but it wasn't enough to help the Eagles to their first win when they fell to host Burrillville 3-1 Dec. 4 at Levy Rink.

Greenstein, with an assist to Tira Hanrahan, scored 13 seconds into the final period to draw the Eagles into a 1-1 tie. But Burrillville countered with a pair of third-period scores to pull away for the win. Barrington freshman goalie Ashleigh Corvi kept her team in the game by making 53 saves.

Corvi was a one-woman show Friday when Barrington lost to unbeaten Mt. St. Charles 7-0 at Cranston Arena. Corvi made 66 saves, many of the spectacular variety, as the Eagles couldn't mount any offense against the seasoned, 3-0 Mounties. Mount goalie Meghan Leeming was credited with three saves, those when Barrington cleared the puck out of its zone and the disc happened to slide into the Mounties' crease.

By Steve Rogers

srogers@eastbaynewspapers.com