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Konaxis helps put Beverly girls hockey on the map

Tuesday, February, 19 By Matt Williams
Staff writer

The ways in which Rachel Konaxis is weaved into the very fabric of the Beverly High girls hockey program are almost too many to count.

For starters, the senior center is the program's all-time leading scorer with 109 points and is the first female player in school history to hit the century mark. She's also been a captain all three years the Panthers have had a varsity program.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the growth and success of the team as a whole is much more important to Konaxis than her numerous individual honors and accomplishments. Her top priority is extending her career beyond the next three regular-season games. To do so and, in the process, snag BHS's first-ever postseason girls hockey berth, the 8-9-0 Panthers need four points this week, beginning today when they visit Wakefield.

"I think that's a personal goal that Rachel set for herself | and I know she thinks that as a team we're good enough to do it," said Beverly head coach Fiona Rice, who has been behind the bench in all three seasons.

That goal looked like it would come to fruition when Beverly won three of its first four games. But a four-game skid in January has put the Panthers in perilous position heading into the final week of the regular season.

"My main goal has always been to get to the tournament, so it's been frustrating lately," said Konaxis. "It's definitely still in everyone's mind."

No matter what transpires, it's been an incredible career for Konaxis | one that won't soon be duplicated.

A sniper and a playmaker

When Beverly announced they'd be forming a cooperative girls hockey team with Saugus and Danvers in 2005, joining up was a no-brainer for Konaxis. She'd played defense on the BHS boys JV team as a freshman.

She quickly established herself as one of the area's strongest snipers, totalling 29 goals in her first season. Having scored 61 times so far with a combination of speed and accuracy, she is one of the most dangerous players on the North Shore, not to mention the North Cape League's leading scorer this winter (13 goals, 34 points).

"She has all the skills," said Rice. "The girls have always respected her.

"In the past we've relied on her a lot to score goals. The first two years, the whole team was almost always looking to get her the puck."

As the Panthers have grown | from two wins in 2005-06 to seven last season and the brink of a postseason berth this year | so to has Konaxis' role. With the addition of gifted shooters Courtney McTague (14 goals), Taylor Cross (8), Brittany Russo (8) and Katelyn DeSimone (8) this winter, the captain has deferred and nearly doubled her career assist total.

"They've made it easy. For a while I couldn't find the back of the net, and it's helpful to have teammates that can," said Konaxis, who has 21 of her 48 career assists this year. "It's a great thing to have four other girls you can dish to and count on."

A milestone for the leader

When she scored against Lynn English on Jan. 12, Konaxis joined an elite club. The goal signified the 100th point of her career, making her the 10th player in school history, and first girl, to do so. She joins Marblehead's Tori Snow and Sam Weinstein, as well as former Masconomet star Lizzie Chapman, as lone North Shore female members of the century club.

Though she kept the puck from that goal as a memento, the milestone might be the furthest thing from Konaxis' mind at the present time.

"It's in the past now," she said. "It'll definitely be fun to look back on, but it'll be a lot better to remember if we end up making the tournament."

According to Rice, it's that sort of single-mindedness and team-first attitude that has helped the program get off the ground and make so much progress in three short years.

"She keeps the team together. The first person (her teammates) go to when they need something is her," said Rice of Konaxis. "It's a combination of her work ethic and understanding of the game.

"Rachel's the kind of player that always takes charge on the bench, between and after shifts. She gets the girls up before games. She's always been a leader.

"She really does it right in terms of being a role model and a captain," added Rice. "It's really been a joy | almost a privilege | to coach her because she's really helped us to get to where we are."

One last goal in mind

By the same token, being the lone senior on a team full of promise and stocked with young talent has been both a blessing and a challenge for Konaxis.

"It's definitely different, but it's not hard getting into the leadership position," said Konaxis, also a field hockey and lacrosse player at BHS. "We have lots of talent, but they're young and maybe they haven't been in these situations before. But they're all hockey players | this is their No. 1 sport."

She's no slouch in the classroom, either. Konaxis is a top 50 student who's applied to Bowdoin (where she'd likely walk on the hockey team), and is considering UMass Amherst, which has a girls hockey team at the club level.

The growth of the program, and knowing it is in better shape than when she arrived at the outset three years ago, remains a source of pride to Konaxis, whose sister Corey plays for the Panthers while brother Jake starred for the boys in 2005.

"It's great," Konaxis said. "We had a meet-and-great with younger girls from the area the other day. Seeing the future is nice. We've gone from barely having any girls that played before to what we have now. Coach Rice has done so much that I'd like to come back and help her coach someday."

Though the task is daunting with Wakefield, Marblehead (Wednesday) and Everett (Friday) still left on the schedule, there isn't a shred of doubt to Konaxis, or the rest of the Panthers, that four points are there for the taking.

As much as she's accomplished so far, Konaxis would like nothing better than to close it out with a historic tourney run.

"In the three years I've known her, that's what she's always been about," Rice said. "She's never one to look at the scoresheet | it's all about what the team can do as a whole."