The Kents Hill School girls’ varsity ice hockey team has been a solid program right from its inception in 2002. With the completion of the new Alfond Athletics Center, the school made a commitment to support a girls’ varsity program that could compete simultaneously with the already established boys program. After only six short seasons, the team has already made an impactful statement in a very competitive New England Prep School Girls’ Ice Hockey League. Although the girls’ compete every year for the Division II title, many of the regular season games consist of the most talented schools from that division as well as several others that are seeded in the Division I rankings. Subsequently, the schedule is not only demanding, but it allows the team to play some of the most talented girls in New England.

 During the previous seven seasons, the girls have been fortunate enough to be seeded as one of the top eight division II teams in four of them. This allowed them to compete for the Division II title each of those years [2002-03, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2007-08]; earning the Runner-up All New England title at the end of the 2004-2005 season; which has been their most successful season thus far. Since the league includes all of the schools that provide a varsity girls’ ice hockey program, the Kents Hill girls must compete with upwards of approximately thirty other Division II schools for this honor. Even though the program continues to distinguish team successes, there have also been notable successes on the individual level.

Under the direction of only two head coaches since the commencement of the program, several girls have moved into the Division III college ranks. Those girls have gone on to play for prominent college teams such as; Utica College, New England College, UMass, St. Thomas, Saint Mary’s University, the University of Southern Maine, Bowdoin, Wesleyan and Norwich most recently. In addition, three Kents Hill’s Alums have moved on to play Division I college hockey at Providence College, The University of Vermont and Sacred Heart.

After assistant coaching for four seasons under the direction of the program's first coach, Amy Smucker, Head Coach Kim Nanof took over last season and teamed up with Assistant Coach Eric Hunt who was newly appointed this season. Coach Nanof is a graduate and former athlete for Boston's Northeastern University where she lettered four times from 1991-1995 and served as the team captain during her 1994-95 senior season. She Saw two ECAC quarter-final bids, two ECAC semi-final bids and one Beanpot victory during her tenure. Coach Nanof has coached in many different capacities for nearly twenty years, including voluntarily coaching at her NU alma-mater from 1998-2000 as their goalie coach-consultant and working this past summer with the USA women's U-16/U-17 development programs. Assistant Coach Hunt is a graduate of the St. Michael's College where he also played.

If you have an interest in attending Kents Hill and playing Ice Hockey, please email Coach Nanof at knanof@kentshill.org.