Strict co-operative program rules put Mascoma girl on boys hockey team — but it’s going well

LEBANON — Montana Ballard is a ninth grader at Mascoma Valley Regional High School. But due to New Hampshire’s rigid rules around high schoolers playing for neighboring schools in sports where their own school doesn’t have a team, Ballard found herself this season competing for the Lebanon High School boys varsity ice hockey team.

Lebanon has a girls team, but under the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association’s strict co-operative agreements, only girls from Stevens and Kearsarge are able to skate alongside Lebanon students.

The arrangement is slightly different for the Lebanon boys team, which has a cooperative agreement with Stevens and Mascoma, which opened up the possibility for Ballard to play on the boys team, if she was willing.

“I knew the competition would be good and it would be good to better myself as a player, and that’s proven to be good,” Ballard said earlier this month. “The competition is really good. They’re all fast players, all good players, and they’re all nice to me, and it’s been a good season, fun, and it’s kind of a different perspective.”

Ballard said the team adapted “very well” to her presence, and she credited head coach Dean Cashman with constant support that ensured she was “comfortable.”

She noted that the biggest hurdle was ensuring she had a place to change in lieu of the boys locker room.

It may have helped that her brother Mason is the Raiders’ captain and starting center. Mason Ballard said his sister’s participation on the team has made them “stronger as family members.”

“It’s been good watching her play and makes me proud,” he said

He said that the team treats her as one of their own.

“I think the guys and I treat her the same as everyone else. We don’t let down; we don’t go harder; we don’t go easier on her in practice; we treat her as a teammate just like everyone else,” Mason Ballard said. “I know her capabilities on the ice are perfectly fine.”

Left winger Benjamin Fogg said that Montana Ballard has helped the boys team maintain intensity on the ice.

“She brings energy to every game that we feed off of,” he said in an email.

Junior defenseman Ryder Desharnais plays with Montana Ballard on the Raiders’ blue line.

“I think it’s been an overall positive experience,” he said. “She fits right in, and she’s a really great player.”

Ballard said she understands the lack of girls hockey players at Mascoma. With no girls team to play on past the youth level, it’s difficult to convince young girls to commit to the sport.

She had to travel out of the Upper Valley to find high-level girls teams as a youth player, which meant driving to Boston for games.

“I think that’s probably a struggle for a lot of people other than me, because while playing on the boys hockey team, we’ve come across other teams that have girls on their teams, too,” she added.

There is a possibility that Ballard will be able to skate with the Raiders girls team next winter.

According to an email to parents this month from Dan McGee, head coach of the Lebanon-Stevens-Kearsarge girls team, the program currently has “zero active players from Stevens and Kearsarge” and no players from either school are expected to participate in the co-op in “the next year or two.”

As a result of the shortage, McGee said he “will be working with the Lebanon athletic department and administration to create new cooperative agreements with schools that can contribute to Lebanon hockey.”

In the meantime, Cashman said he’s happy to have two Ballards on the roster for this season: “We are thrilled that opportunity exists.”

After what Montana Ballard termed a “rough start” to the season hampered by illness and injury, Lebanon-Stevens-Mascoma has put together multiple wins down the stretch to position the team for a playoff berth heading into Wednesday’s season finale at home against Alvirne-Milford. The Raiders hold the ninth and final slot for the 13-team NHIAA Division II tournament entering the finale.

“I think the team is really motivated,” Mason Ballard said. “And I think everyone is committed now, and we’re gonna really try hard for the playoff spot, because once you get in, it’s like a whole new season. So I think I’m looking forward to playing these last few games with her (Montana) and the team, and just having a new level of commitment and energy on the team.”

Puck drop on Wednesday is scheduled for 5 p.m.

The team will honor seniors Landon Beattie, Keegan Dannehy, Nate Dube and Aidan Snow before the game.

Adriana James-Rodil can be reached at ajamesrodil@gmail.com.