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+ CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT ALL WINNERS E in his time behind a hock- ey bench, the Assabet Valley Girls 14 & Under coach knew his schedule was getting tight. There he was at the end of regulation, tied, 1-1, in a USA Hockey National Championship title game, with overtime looming against a familiar rival that had blown Assabet out prior to Nationals, and Gray was pressed by the hands of time. ric Gray had somewhere else to be. During one of the most thrilling games Gray had to leave the bench to make his next appointment: Another championship game. The other team Gray coaches, Assabet's 12 & Under squad, was all dressed up and ready to play for its own title on an adjacent rink. the ice and managed to beat Kaitlin Burt, one of the best goalies in the field, to cap a 2-1 overtime win. As Gray made his way out, he heard cheers from the rink he'd just left. Assabet's Caitrin Lonergan had rushed up Gray turned back, quickly shook hands with the runner- up East Coast Wizards and apologized for having to run to the other rink. Valley. So many title games, so little time. And Gray's 12Us and 14Us Such is life at Assabet were only the half of it in 2012 event that was held in Marlborough, Mass. By the time the 12Us topped Honeybaked, 3-2, in the tournament finale, Assabet's 16Us and 19Us had also won Nationals titles. A clean sweep. Four four. for Scan the list of teams at USA Hockey's annual spring showcase of the best of the best, and you will notice the recurring theme that Assabet Valley girls' program. Founded more than 40 years ago in Concord, Mass., it is the brainchild of Carl Gray, Eric's father, who didn't like the fact that his daugh- ters had fewer opportunities than his sons when it came to sports. Tournament titles soon followed. is the "The success was teach- ing them to be motivated to play as a team," says the elder Gray, who was the recipient Eric Gray, above left, led the Assabet Valley Girls' 12 & Under and 14 & Under teams to titles at the 2012 USA Hockey Girls' Tier I National Championship tournament in Marlborough, Mass. Dennis Laing did the same as the head coach of the 16 & Under and 19 & Under teams. The Assabet Valley program is under the direction of Carl Gray. of the 2004 Wm. Thayer Tutt Award for his lifetime of ser- vice to grass-roots hockey. He was talking about those early years, some of which included the late Patty Kazmaier, but the principle is as timeless as it is golden. "Any time you have an 'I' in the middle of a team, that's the quickest way to destroy a team," Carl Gray says. "If you convince them to play togeth- er as a team, that's probably one of the most important parameters in why we've been so successful." ment. alone, Assabet has won 11 titles since 1988 and appeared in 13 of the past 15 champion- ship games. Since 2004, the Successful is an understate- At the 12 & Under level 14Us have won five titles and added two runner-up finishes. The 16Us have also won five championships in that span. And the 19Us have six cham- pionship game appearances since 2003, coming away with three titles. "Honestly, I think that every year we put together a team, we have a pretty good shot at making it to Nationals," says Dennis Laing, who coached the 2012 title-winning 16Us and 19Us and has been with the program since his eldest daughter, Denna, now a soph- omore at Princeton, was 10-year-old. a Of course, the wins don't come without talented play- ers, and Assabet is uniquely positioned to draw from a deep pool of very talented and USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM JUNE/JULY.2012 15 19 & UNDER