From ‘rink rats’ to champions

Two Harwood seniors look back on their shared hockey careers

Sports brought Harwood Union seniors Katie Martin and Siena Damon together at a young age, and a passion for hockey has been an integral part of their identity ever since.

They share a 13-year bond, forged on the ice as youth hockey teammates, that includes three state championships — as Squirts in 2006, as Bantams in 2010, and as high school juniors in 2013.

Having played the final hockey game of their high school careers late last month, the girls have been reflecting on their remarkable lives on the ice.

Playing with the boys

Martin, of Waterbury, and Damon, of Moretown, first met at the ice rink as 5-year-olds, and both said they were influenced by their older brothers. Before she learned to skate on ice, Damon started by roller skating with her older brother Cullen.

“Then I got roped into being goalie,” Damon said. She surprised her teammates by doing well at a game in Northfield. “I was always goalie after that.”

Martin, who started out on defense but soon switched to offense, said she started skating at age 3 or 4.

“I was always at the outdoor rink pushing crates around with my brothers teaching me, and I used to have skating lessons with a coach. I would have to push him around in a chair, but I had more fun making snow angels,” she said.

“They were rink rats first,” said Martin’s mother, Bindy Kirk, who set up a cot for her daughter to nap in a corner of the rink office where she worked.

Damon remembers spending all day at the rink.

“We would have a game or two and then we’d watch all the games in between. We used to just hang out in our pajama bottoms and championship jackets all day,” she recalled.

The girls have fond memories of parading the Harwood banner around before boys’ varsity games when the team came out on the ice.

“It was an old Harwood tradition,” Martin said. “We would skate the banner around the rink and then hold it during the national anthem.”

The pair played on boys’ hockey teams all the way through the youth hockey program, from Mites to Bantams. It wasn’t until ninth grade that they played ice hockey on a girls’ team.

They also played tee ball and baseball with the boys, “until they made us play softball,” Damon said.

They could have played in the girls’ youth hockey program, “but we always said no,” Damon said. They preferred the boys’ style of play, which she said was faster and more physical, with checking allowed at the Bantam level.

“I wouldn’t have missed out playing hockey with the boys,” Martin said.

Ty Delphia, who now plays on the boys’ varsity team at Harwood, first met Martin and Damon when he was 6, playing with the Mites.

“They were the two people I first connected with when I started playing hockey,” Delphia said. “They helped me out a lot.”

“Katie is a hustler. She would always push me,” Delphia added. “Having her on my line was definitely an advantage because she knew exactly where I was going to be all the time.”

Playing on boys’ teams also made them stronger players, said Harwood assistant hockey coach Scott Hunter. Facing larger opponents and faster shots helped prepare them for high school play.

“I think the biggest thing about Katie and Siena playing with the boys is they don’t have any fear,” Hunter said.

The girls could stick up for themselves, recalled their Bantam coach, Jon Rutledge.

“They took care of each other and they took care of themselves. The chemistry they have makes a good friendship,” Rutledge said.

Next level

The girls’ toughness, and their competitive natures, helped the Harwood girls’ varsity team accumulate a 50-8-2 record during the three years the team was in the Lake Division. The team was bumped up to the stronger Metro Division this past season.

But it was an adjustment when they joined the high school team as freshmen. They had to adapt to a different style of play and build chemistry with new teammates. Damon said it was difficult for her as a goalie to switch to a new team.

“It was hard for me because they were trying to block all the shots and I was screened a lot. They didn’t realize there were certain things they didn’t need to worry about,” she explained.

But her teammates caught on quickly, and Harwood made it all the way to the state championship that year, losing 4-1 to U-32.

Martin said her sophomore season was her favorite because the team was a tight-knit group. It was a tough finish, though, as the team lost to Stowe in the semifinals in triple overtime.

“Hockey means family, commitment and friendship to me, and our seniors were great friends of ours,” said Martin. “It was a hard year to let them go.”

During their junior years, the girls brought home a state title for Harwood. In the semifinal game against Northfield, Martin scored a goal and had an assist on the game-winner in overtime. In the championship game at the University of Vermont, Damon made several big saves to help seal the 1-0 shutout over North Country.

Looking ahead

The girls’ senior hockey season came to an end Feb. 22, when the Lady Highlanders lost a close playdown battle against Missisquoi.

Now, the two teens are preparing for the next phase of their lives, and playing collegiate hockey is not necessarily on the agenda.

Outside of hockey, Damon is an equestrian. After graduation, she’ll move to Wyoming and learn natural horsemanship training methods.

“I like to attend horse-training clinics, work with people, teach and go riding,” she said.

Martin plans to go to Plymouth State and perhaps play field hockey there, with hopes of being a sports broadcaster with a minor in coaching.

“That’s what I want to do with my life, make the love of the game for other people,” she said.

Coach Hunter said it’s fulfilling to have been with the remarkable duo for so long.

“To start with two kids at one level and then help coach them all the way through to the high school level, that’s special,” he said.

Martin doesn’t plan to hang up her ice skates. She hopes to still have fun playing, “doing the thing we love,” she said.

“I joke with Siena and say in 40 years we’re going to be old and playing women’s league here, having a few beers in the locker room, talking and thinking we’re the hot poop that we are and having a good ol’ time,” Martin said.