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Matt Williams: Kick Saves: Marblehead honors McKay's legacy with Mental Health Awareness

Salem News - 1/12/2023

Jan. 12—If there's one lesson hockey players in Marblehead — or on any team, for that matter — can take from the life of Rachel McKay, it's this: Be a great teammate.

Marblehead's girls hockey program will be honoring McKay this Saturday when they play the second annual Mental Health Awareness game in her memory against Newburyport at Salem State (5:30 p.m.). An alumni of the Lady Headers program, McKay passed away at just 23 years old while serving in the Army in 2019.

Working together with the McKay family, Marblehead is determined to help eliminate the stigma that sometimes comes with talking about mental health.

"It's always important to realize high school sports are about more than sports. It's not just a 45-minute game and it's over ... there are so many life lessons in hockey," said MHS head coach Brittany Smith, who was McKay's co-captain when they set a program record for the highest scoring line in 2013.

"Mental health is super important and prevalent in this day and age," Smith added. "It's OK to feel your feelings, and it's OK to bring it someone's attention if you're not OK."

In addition to raffles (a 50/50 and another for Boston Bruins tickets) and a bake sale at Saturday night's tilt at Rockett Arena, there is an online donation page at https://tiltify.com/@dgmckay/mental-health-awareness-rachel-mckay. When it was all tallied up last year's fundraiser topped $6,700, with proceeds going to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Playing four seasons for the Lady Headers from eighth grade through her junior year, McKay was a decorated forward on the ice. Her 98 career points are fifth on the program's all-time list; she was a two-time Salem News all-star, and received the team's 7th Player and Michael Snow Unsung Hero Awards in her underclass years.

"Rachel was the best teammate and captain I ever had in the entirety of my hockey career," said Halle McKay, who shared the ice with her older sister Rachel for one varsity high school season.

"She was constantly challenging me as a player both physically and mentally on and off the ice. Maybe it was because we were siblings, but she wanted to bring out the best in me as she possibly could — and it definitely worked. She boosted mine and everyone else's on the team's confidence."

Rachel McKay truly excelled as a leader in everything she did. A two-sport college athlete at William Smith, she stuck with ice hockey and was also the Most Valuable Player on the school's golf team. Her teammates on the links lauded her instincts for relating to any player of any ability, at once bringing out their best while making the sport fun.

That wouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that shared a locker room with her at Marblehead.

"She challenged us, but also lightened any mood with her goofy personality," Halle McKay said. "She was hilarious — easily the funniest person I've ever known to this day. She was caring, empathetic, always looking to boost everyone's moods around her ... and she always succeeded at that."

On the ice McKay was a relentlessly competitive skater, always looking for ways to get better. She had tremendous skill, with 45 goals and 53 assists in her career plus the 2011-12 North Shore scoring title on her resume. Yet she was a complete player, intimidated by none and never shy about going nose-to-nose with an opponent that crossed one of her teammates.

"Rachel was a special one ... she reminded me of myself wen I played by being the enforcer," said Emily Hudak Ries, McKay's head coach who led Marblehead's girls hockey team for 12 highly successful seasons.

"She was a competitor who had a grit about her every time she hit the ice. She wanted the team to do well and motivated her teammates to get better," Ries added. "I was fortunate to coach a lot of great players, and Rachel will always be one that holds a special place for me."

McKay was as unselfish a player as Marblehead has ever had. In 2012 when her team needed her to score, she potted 22 goals. The following year, she saw that she could feed Smith and linemate Brittany Lydon, and they wound up with a school best 123 total points; the 23 assists McKay had that winter were the most by any Marblehead girl since 2007.

"She was the kid you always hoped would be on your line. Her favorite part of hockey was the battles and getting pucks in front. She didn't want the pretty plays, she wanted the dirty ones," said Smith, who fondly remembers going against McKay's William Smith team when she herself was playing college hockey at Sacred Heart.

"Right from the start of the season, we'd circled that game and we had fun going at each other on the faceoffs. It was like we'd never left Marblehead."

The message to the Marblehead and Newburyport skaters suiting up Saturday is one of hope. It applies to all young athletes ... whatever you might be going through, there's a coach or teammate out there who can help.

"Don't cover it up; be transparent," Smith said. "It's so important to shed light on this issue, and I'm so thankful the McKay family is collaborating on this with us."

Helping others is a perfect way to make a legacy for McKay. It's what she would've done as a teammate on the ice, on the links and as a soldier.

"I miss her and love her more than anything," Halle McKay said. "Not a day goes by that I don't think of the memories we shared in such a short time," Halle McKay said.

----Peabody presented one of the founding fathers of its program, Vinny Patermo, with one of the team's new jerseys after their home win last Saturday.

An assistant coach on the first Tanner girls hockey team 17 years ago, Patermo helped original coach Larry Minehan get the program up and running and has long been a big supporter of the girls game in the Tanner City.

When the team ran a fundraiser to get new jerseys that included logos of its co-op partners Lynnfield and North Reading, Patermo (a Peabody police officer) was a big help in getting donations from police and fire associations in Peabody and the surrounding communities.

Peabody coach Michelle Roach had Patermo's badge number (477) put on the back of his jersey and even made sure it was a goalie size, since Patermo plays the position and has always been a great resource for goalie coaching tips.

----Awesome bit of team building for the Masconomet girls last Friday night when they went into Fenway Park to watch the women's college hockey tilt between Boston University and Holy Cross. The Chieftains played their best game of the season the following night in a 2-1 overtime loss to undefeated Winthrop, and it might not have been a coincidence.

"They're progressing with every game," assistant coach Alex Jones said on Saturday. "They're getting to know each other better and it seems like every game they're playing better than the last one."

----Cool moment for Pingree at last Saturday's home game against Kents Hill. Todd Angilly, who sings the national anthem before most Boston Bruins games at TD Garden, belted out a great rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at Johnson Rink.

Pingree went on to tie Kents, 2-2, on another solid goaltending performance by Maddy Santosuosso, who stopped 28 shots and now has a North Shore best 323 saves on the season.

----Feeling lucky? Why not take a chance on winning $500 worth of scratch tickets.

Beverly's girls are running a raffle fundraiser, with $10 tickets for a chance to win the prize of scratch tickets that could furnish a fortune. The drawing will be held at the Panthers' February 11 home game against Masconomet (5:30 p.m.) at Bourque Arena. Fans and supporters can purchase raffle tickets over Venmo by messaging @bhsgvhockey.

Kick Saves, a column on North Shore girls hockey, appears in The Salem News each Thursday during the winter season. Contact Matt Williams at MWilliams@salemnews.com and follow along on Twitter @MattWilliams_SN

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