Andover sisters Caroline and Maggie Averill to play for Team USA Hockey in world championship in Switzerland
ANDOVER - Sisters Caroline and Maggie Averill have been teammates since they were toddlers.
"Both our parents played hockey, so it was a pretty early age. They would build a rink in our backyard, we got out there when we were like two or three," Caroline said.
Hockey is in their blood, and they have always bled red, white, and blue. "We always had the USA jerseys and would put those on in the backyard rink," Caroline said.
The two grew up with a homemade rink in their backyard, and now they have come up the ranks together.
Caroline is now a sophomore forward, at Phillips Academy in Andover. Maggie, is a freshman forward for the school.
There is no sibling rivalry between the two. They both believe that one another is the better hockey player. The sisters share nothing but respect for what each of them brings to the ice.
"I just feel like watching you. Your work ethic is like admirable, in the gym, on the ice, just everywhere," Caroline said.
"I feel the same for her," Maggie said.
"The thing that's really cool to me is. It's obvious to me they do it because they love it," Head Coach Martha Fenton said.
Fenton has not only coached the two sisters, but their older sister Anne, who now plays for Dartmouth and their mom Ali.
Their mom was a two-time finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award while she played at Princeton.
"I see little pieces of her in all three of the girls," Coach Fenton said.
"It's cool to look at her old stuff and follow in her footsteps a little bit," Caroline said about her mom.
The sisters are not only following in their mom's footsteps to Phillips Academy, but all the way to Team USA. After participating in a series of camps and tryouts this spring, both girls learned they made the under-18 national team.
"Once you made the team it's kind of like, oh my gosh I can't believe I made it this far," Caroline told WBZ.
"I was just focused on making U-18 camp first then all of a sudden the next thing just happened so fast," Maggie explained.
The sister didn't just have each other to learn on, but another Andover teammate who is joining them on the national team.
Molly Boyle has competed in USA camps for the last three years.
"How surreal is that every time you put on the USA? Every time at the end of every camp I would think this could be my last time. So just make sure every time you put the jersey on you're doing everything you can. You're representing more than yourself, your family, the whole country you're playing for so just leave everything you have on the ice," Molly said.
Molly is a junior at Phillips Academy. She plays three sports, and is the captain of the hockey team.
"I'm more of a leader by example," she said.
"She's a huge role model on the team. Definitely we both look up to her and how hard she works and impressive she is on ice," Caroline said.
The three have built a special bond on the ice. And they plan to play on each other's strength son the game's biggest stage.
"I think it's very comforting to know you have two familiar faces, people you've played with before on the ice. Knowing some of the things they'll do, knowing when they have the puck I can trust them," Molly said.
Their goal is to bring home a gold when they head to Switzerland in January for the International Ice Hockey Federation under-18 women's world championship.
"What would it mean to bring a gold home? it would mean a lot. Just to everyone here that's sacrificed so much to be where I am today, all the support they've given me," Molly explained.
"It would be really special," Caroline told WBZ.
"It's on her [Caroline] birthday," Maggie said.
"That would be exciting," Caroline finished.
The two sisters are living out their childhood hockey dreams together on the ice.