By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Medway-Ashland girls hockey defenseman Lauren Bosworth is looking to continue working on her defensive skills while leading the team to another tournament berth.

As she enters her junior campaign, the Ashland native is hoping that the team can keep their plus/minus numbers down if they believe in the coach’s system. 

Past Assistant Ally Harrington will be stepping up to take over for Karl Infanger this upcoming season.

“Coach Harrington knows how we work and the ins and outs of the team, so we should be fine,” Bosworth said. “This team prides themselves on our defensive play and being a defenseman, I want to go out and continue to increase my blocked shot numbers, while doing my job as a defender for the team.”

The junior noted that offense is great and that she is looking to put the puck the net a few times over the season, but she will be keying more on dishing out the assists to her teammates. 

“Last year we allowed an average of under three goals a game to our opponents,” Harrington said. “That is a testament to us as a whole when playing defense and Lauren is a big part of that equation.”

The first-year head coach went on to say that she is hoping that Bosworth becomes more confident as a player this year, especially in the offensive zone. The junior will also see more ice time on both the power play and the penalty kill for Medway-Ashland.

“I’d like to see her step up and score some goals from the point, especially on the power play,” the Coach said. “She is a driving force to creating pressure from the back to the front.”

Bosworth first stepped onto the ice around the age of 2 because of her father’s love for hockey. 

“He put me on the ice young, and I just fell in love with the sport,” Bosworth said. “When I’m on the ice my brain stops thinking about everything that is going on and my competitiveness for the sport clicks in. It’s a team effort and wea re all working for the same thing.”

Bosworth believes that her early stages of hockey playing with the boys helped her to bring her game to a new level.

“I played on the boys teams until I transferred over to the girls team when I was 8. I think that this gave me a sense of toughness when on the ice,” she said. “It was a much faster game and the boys always played with their heads up knowing that they could get hit at any moment. I think that if the girls could hit, it would ad a different perspective to the game.”

Going into her first tryouts with the Medway host team Bosworth didn’t know anyone, including those who were from Ashland and found the whole experience very nerve wracking. But once she stepped onto the ice, all those thoughts left her head and she just played her game showing the other players and coaches just what she had to give to the team.

Making the varsity team was an amazing feeling for the first-year high school hockey player, but the best was yet to come.

“The best moment of my hockey [career] was the first game of the season,” Bosworth recalled quite vividly. “They were announcing the starting lineups (Coach Infanger hadn’t told anyone who was to be starting before the game) and I heard my d-partner’s name and then things started to sink in, and my name was called. I had a big smile on my face as I was not expecting to be starting at all.”

Originally the Ashland resident grew up playing forward, but once she started playing for the Minutemen Lady Flames around the age of 12, she was moved to defense and has been there ever since.

“I was one of the bigger girls on the team and we needed defense, so I was moved and found that I really enjoyed the position, “Bosworth said. “Of course, everyone loves to score, but preventing goals is just as big a difference maker as well. I pride myself on not allowing any goals while I am on the ice.”

The move allowed Bosworth to view the ice in an entirely different perspective. Instead of just seeing the offensive zone, playing defense allowed her to see the whole ice and she was able to have better control of her game. She was now able to create better passes while understanding the full game.

Now as she gets ready to enter her junior season, she is looking to improve her game while helping Medway-Ashland go deep into the Division 2 Tournament come the end of the season.