FARMINGTON — About 40 days from now, two Mt. Blue High School students will travel to Florida to compete in games at the National Hockey Festival in West Palm Beach over Thanksgiving weekend.

Rileigh Blanchet, a senior goalkeeper from Farmington, and Victoria Newbill, a junior center-forward from Wilton, play on the Mt. Blue field hockey team.

They are also both on the Maine Majestix team, a club team comprised of high school field hockey players from around the state. On the Majestix team, they work with girls they compete with in the high school teams.

This is the third year Blanchet has tested her skills in the national competition. She played in the 2011 competition in Phoenix, Ariz., and the competition last year, which was also held in Florida.

It’s a first for Newbill.

Both athletes are excited and ready to play.

“I’m a little bit more nervous,” Newbill admitted of the expected exposure at the festival, where field hockey is played continuously on 26 fields, all day long. “I hope to show what I can accomplish.”

Newbill, who also joined the Majestix indoor field hockey team, likes everything about field hockey. Her stick work is fast and she scores often.

Blanchet is working on her saves before the national games.

“I’m hoping to not let anything in,” she said.

The National Hockey Festival provides an opportunity to play against six teams of similar age and skill from across the country with the hope of moving on to the next level.

Last year, the Maine Majestix team won all six games they played at the festival, Blanchet said. It was quite a feat, as the Maine team overcame some pretty competitive teams, including the WC Eagles of Pennsylvania, she said.

“We’d never beat them — nobody had,” she said. “It was the hardest game ever.”

Being a part of the Maine Majestix’s team is more than national exposure; it’s a commitment to traveling to Waterville every other Sunday morning for practice at Thomas College, she said.

“I commute for my team,” Newbill said.

It’s also a commitment to rigorously working and improving their own skills — ones that could lead to future college scholarships — as college team scouts watch the national games.

According to the Majestix website, premier teams attend tournaments like the National Festival “to provide advanced training and preparation necessary to become a successful college student and field hockey player.”

Neither Blanchet and Newbill have that in mind, though; neither has decided what they want to do after Mt. Blue.

Being on the Majestix team does provide some insight as to what players on other local high school teams can do, Newbill said. That knowledge is something they can share with their Mt. Blue teammates, along with the skills they are learning from being on the Majestix team.

The Mt. Blue team is having a great year, Blanchet said. Last week during the interview, they had a 10-2 record with a game against Skowhegan coming up.

Both athletes were also excited about their involvement in a youth feeder program at Mt. Blue.

Young girls in grades 3-6 are given a chance to learn and play field hockey. It can provide up to six years of experience before they reach the high school team. 

Most who start playing in eighth grade only have three to four years experience before joining the high school team, Newbill explained.

The girls serve as role models and help motivate the younger players.

abryant@sunjournal.com

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