BY BILL STEWART

Staff Writer

When the teasing came, and boy did it come, Winthrop High School seniors Liz Mulkeen and Ashley Marcellino had little to say.

"The boys were always like, 'it's not a real sport; it's a club sport,' " Marcellino, 17, said.

Now, the girls hockey players are full of answers and eager to share.

"Now we are MPA-sanctioned, and we're going to be pretty good," Mulkeen, 17, a defenseman, said. "It feels important now. Maybe people will take us more seriously. It feels different."

Added Marcellino, a goalie: "In a way, it's very exciting."

A new era in high school athletics is here as girls varsity hockey teams play this weekend for the first time since being recognized by the Maine Principals' Association.

"It feels pretty good to get the recognition because before the boys got all of it," Winthrop senior defenseman Emily Vickerson, 17, said. "But we do a lot of hard work, too. We're definitely being taken more seriously now."

Girls hockey teams previously competed at the club level, which meant less funding and little school involvement. To be MPA-recognized, athletics team must be sanctioned by their school boards.

The Winthrop High School-Maranacook Community High School cooperative team and Winslow are two of the eight teams that will comprise the East Division. There are nine teams in the West. With just 17 teams competing in the inaugural season, the MPA decided to lump everyone together in one class.

"It's a great to be part of the recognition," Winslow first-year coach Eric LaChance said. "Being the first group of girls that joined the MPA, no one can take that away from the girls. They'll always have that. It's good for the girls. Girls hockey has come a long ways."

A long way, indeed.

"If someone had told me when I was younger that we would be MPA-sanctioned when I was in high school, I would've thought they were crazy," Winslow senior Nikki Smiley said. "It's wonderful. It puts pride in the girls. It shows the boys that we can do it. They get to practice every day, and now we can, too. Before, we'd get one or two a week. This helps us a lot."

Winslow, which opens Saturday against Yarmouth, went 5-9-2 last season as a club team. Winthrop-Maranacook, which plays Saturday at Cape Elizabeth, finished 4-11-1 last season, but is expected to contend in the East.

"This is a great deal," said Winthrop-Maranacook second-year coach Marc Fortin, whose daughter, Katherine, plays on the team. "It's nice to be finally recognized. We've been playing girls hockey nine years at Winthrop. But now the girls are finally able to get a varsity letter. They are excited."

Fortin said Lewiston and St. Dominic Regional High School are two of the division's top teams.

"I expect us to be very competitive," he said. "We're basically a junior-senior team."

Winthrop senior Cait Raph, 18, is a relative newcomer to the sport -- she first played hockey her freshmen year.

She picked up the sport thanks to friend Katherine Fortin and because hockey "looked cool." Now, Raph says she is excited to be part of a ground-breaking team.

"It was just hard because it wasn't really a school sport," she said. "We had no one come to the games. But to be recognized, it's pretty cool."

Added Marcellino: "It's a good feeling. Now we don't have to worry about carpooling to games. Now we can take the bus. Another advantage of being recognized is that now the school can help out with funding. The boosters will help me get new equipment. Because all I've been playing with is hand-me-down stuff."

Mulkeen said the MPA recognition brings credibility to the sport, as well as motivates the team. After all, the carefree days of a club sport are over.

"Girls on the team are taking it more seriously," she said. "It was fun being club, but it was a learning experience. It just wasn't taken too seriously. Now we want to make the playoffs."

Bill Stewart -- 623-3811, ext. 515

bstewart@centralmaine.com