Monadnock-Fall Mountain-Conant hockey squad runs into trouble

Conant's Tristin Herr on the ice for the Monadnock-Fall Mountain-Conant boys' ice hockey team during their 6-0 loss to visiting Belmont-Gilford in Keene on Thursday.

Conant's Tristin Herr on the ice for the Monadnock-Fall Mountain-Conant boys' ice hockey team during their 6-0 loss to visiting Belmont-Gilford in Keene on Thursday. BEN CONANT/BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Conant's Sophia Spingola carries the puck against Belmont-Gilford. 

Conant's Sophia Spingola carries the puck against Belmont-Gilford.  BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Conant's Sophia Spingola sees some action against Belmont-Gilford. 

Conant's Sophia Spingola sees some action against Belmont-Gilford.  BEN CONANT/BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Conant's Kaden Kirby mans the net against Belmont-Gilford. Coming into the season, Kirby was the team’s only experienced goalie.

Conant's Kaden Kirby mans the net against Belmont-Gilford. Coming into the season, Kirby was the team’s only experienced goalie. BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Conant's Kaden Kirby keeps an eye out for the puck.

Conant's Kaden Kirby keeps an eye out for the puck. BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Conant's Kaden Kirby sprawls to keep the puck out of the net.

Conant's Kaden Kirby sprawls to keep the puck out of the net. BEN CONANT/BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

By BEN CONANT

For the Ledger-Transcript

Published: 01-20-2025 12:01 PM

The promising Monadnock-Fall Mountain-Conant ice hockey team has hit a rough patch following a strong start. 

Just a week-and-a-half ago, the Mountaineers were 3-3 and garnering some attention as a potential dark horse team on the rise. But after losses to John Stark-Hopkinton-Hillsboro-Deering and Belmont-Gilford, MFMC is under .500 and looking to stop the skid. 

"When we started the season off, we had a couple good teams that we knew we could get possibly a win and a good game against," Mountaineers coach Ethan Russell said after Thursday's 6-0 loss to Belmont-Gilford. "We did that, and then as we went into the Christmas tournament, that was good as well. But we've been running into some good opponents along the way. Our schedule is pretty hard right now, but we just haven't been playing to our exact standard and expectations that we put out at the beginning of the season."

Indeed, the Mountaineers have three wins, all against winless programs, and have yet to beat a team that's currently .500 or better. No matter the quality of opponent, however, MFMC has some areas to improve that could have them playing more consistently the rest of the way -- namely confidence, aggression, and desire.

Russell said his team needs to be quicker and more decisive with their passing, apply more urgency to their defensive zone clearouts in order to create odd-man rush situations and apply more pressure in the neutral zone to create turnovers and slow down the opposing offense.

"The other teams are doing that exact thing to us and it's burning us right now," Russell said. "We've got to  find a way. We're pretty young, though, which is a good thing, but we have to find a way to get out of it and just start working harder and doing all the little things. What it comes down to is the little things." 

As young as the Mountaineer team might be, their coach is on the same timeline. It was just four years ago that Russell was skating for the Keene High hockey team, and now he's tasked with helming a program with a talent pool shifting from year to year, working to replace the ConVal players who were once part of the co-op and get the new Conant players integrated into the team.

Goalie Kaden Kirby found his role quickly; without Conant in the co-op, the Mountaineers had no experienced goalkeepers. The skaters -- Tristin Herr, Sophia Spingola, Kam Castricone and Aerowyn Schwertz -- are still trying to figure out how they fit in, and solving that issue could be a key to improved play going forward. 

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"They've been great kids, fun to work with," Russell said. “They play a good amount of role in our team, so it's been good to have them. We're happy we can have them. If not, we wouldn't have a goalie, at least."

Monadnock-Fall Mountain-Conant (3-5) was scheduled to play Belmont-Gilford for a second time on Saturday and then travel to John Stark-Hopkinton-Hillsboro-Deering on Jan. 25.