Braintree 3, Framingham 0: Tough transition

Prior to the season, John Gallagher expected a bit of a transition year for his Framingham girls hockey team.

But he didn’t want to believe it, especially early on when the team’s season still could have gone in any direction.

However, the seventh-year coach’s preseason expectation has become reality, as the Flyers dropped to 4-13 (4-10 BSC) after being blanked by Bay State Conference Carey Division-leading Braintree 3-0 yesterday at Loring Arena.

So what’s been the main reason why Framingham has struggled so much?

“We’ve been kind of snake-bit. … We haven’t really been able to put up goals when we needed them,” Gallagher said. “Capitalizing on those opportunities that teams give you during games, we just haven’t done that, and that’s where the frustration lies. We just haven’t put ourselves in too many positions to win games this year. No matter what league you’re in, if you’re not going to score more than 33 goals in 17 games, it’s going to be darn hard to win.”

The Flyers’ inability to finish opportunities showed yesterday, mainly in the second period with the hosts down a goal.

Just 1:30 into the second, Casey Diana sliced through the Wamps’ defense but slid her backhand just wide of the far post. Under two minutes later, Amanda Gallagher’s wrister beat Braintree goalie Rachael Brazil, but didn’t beat the crossbar.

Later in the frame, Brazil made a stellar glove save to deny Natalie Taylor’s powerful wrist-shot. And with 39 seconds left in the period, Cassie McKinnon, like Diana, weaved her way through the defense and made a move to her backhand, but Brazil stuck out her right pad at the last second to make the stop.

“We get a lot of good scoring opportunities, we just can’t always put them in the net,” said Taylor, who is second on the team in points with nine and one of just two seniors on this year’s squad. “It’s always really frustrating when you’re getting a lot of chances and you can’t put them away. Sometimes, the puck just doesn’t bounce your way.”

Part of the reason why the Flyers haven’t been able to score as much is that over the previous three seasons Framingham lost offensively gifted players such as Allison Manzella (‘09), Brooke Guertin (‘10), Suzanne Friedman (‘10), and Sophia Agostinelli (‘11).