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Three-sport
star Brittany Lyons defined greatness at Canton High
By Jeffrey Cattel
Citizen Staff
Her coaches
have described her as a natural-born athlete; her opponents have
called her unstoppable. And after four stellar seasons in
soccer, hockey and lacrosse, Canton High School’s Brittany Lyons
may very well be remembered as the best female athlete in
Bulldog history.
 “She has
athlete written all over her — in the way she walks, talks, and
most importantly, the ways she plays,” said Rich Bourgelas,
Lyons’ soccer and lacrosse coach at CHS.
Lyons said
her love affair with sports goes back as far as she can
remember. She began playing recreational soccer at the age of
four, and at age seven she began playing her favorite sport: ice
hockey. She then picked up lacrosse while in middle school,
playing two years of boys’ lacrosse before switching to girls’
lacrosse in her freshmen year of high school.
Bourgelas
has coached Lyons in at least one sport throughout her entire
high school career, and when he first met her as a freshmen, he
knew she was a very good athlete. In soccer, during both her
sophomore and junior years, she broke a bone in her hand while
playing goalie. Neither injury seemed to stop her, however, as
she played at the same level she had in previous years.
As a
lacrosse player, she broke just about every school record
imaginable. In her junior year, she set three records — most
goals in a game with 12; most points in a season with 92; and
most career goals with 191. Lyons then broke all three records
again in her senior year, and ended her high school career with
286 goals and 37 assists.
Lyons said
she has gotten a unique perspective playing a sport each season
at the high school and playing with a number of different girls.
Although each team is different, she said they each have a good
sense of camaraderie and sportsmanship.
“I really
enjoy being on a team because every member works so hard
together for a common goal,” she said.
But of all
the teams she has played on, Lyons said the closest bonds have
been formed on the rink. “Even at the first practice of the
hockey season, we all work so well together, practicing hard in
hopes of making it to the state championship that year,” she
said.
Dan McLean,
the CHS girls’ hockey coach for the past two years, vividly
remembers the first time he met Lyons, which was not on the ice.
“The first
time I met Brittany was while she was a counselor at St.
Gerard’s Kids Camp,” he said. “I had heard she was an excellent
athlete, but I was also amazed by her involvement in the
community.”
 When he
first saw Lyons perform on the ice, he said it was almost like a
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-type story, but in a good way. For as
kind and caring as she was around the children at the camp, she
was powerful and aggressive on the ice. Like lacrosse, Lyons has
broken school records for goals scored in a season for hockey;
she first set the school record as a sophomore, and then again
as a senior.
McLean took
over as coach of the Bulldogs on the heels of a perfect season
(20-0) and the girls making it to the state championships.
Although the team was not able to duplicate the effort in Lyons’
junior or senior seasons, they still managed to compile a record
of 28-6-2 against increasingly competitive hockey programs.
“Let’s just
put it this way,” said McLean, “I don’t think anyone will be
wearing number 25 on the hockey team anytime soon. They’ll have
some big shoes to fill.” He also noted that the underclassmen
who have played with Lyons will have to step up their game to
fill the massive void left by a player of her caliber.
In addition
to playing hockey for Canton, Lyons has also played on the
Concord, Mass.-based Assabet Valley club team for the past five
years. As a junior, her team won the U16 national championship,
and as a senior her team made it to the national championship
again.
Lyons has
also had the privilege of going to the Olympic training center
for the past three years. This past year, she was one of only
ten girls in the state to make it to the training center. After
being put on a team of approximately 20 players, she practiced
in the morning, and then played a game in the afternoon in front
of college coaches and scouts for the U.S. Olympic hockey team.
Next year,
Lyons will be attending Winchendon Prep, where she will continue
to play hockey and lacrosse. She then hopes to play division 1
hockey at the college level the following year, and continue to
make it to the Olympic training facility in hopes of one day
making it to the Olympics.
June 5, 2008
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