Every Monday afternoon during the hockey season, the St. Mary’s of Lynn girls’ squad proceeds to the chapel basement for a plyometric workout involving planks, squats, and medicine ball exercises.

Since 2005 — when coach Frank Pagliuca arrived — this regimen is repeated twice weekly to help players build endurance for the sport’s physically grueling demands. While its implementation reflects a program’s desire to outwork its competitors as more and more high schools field girls’ teams, completing the routine also reveals a deep devotion many players possess for a game they started playing almost before they can remember.