“I started playing hockey when I was in third grade because my sister wanted to try it. We started playing when we lived in Pennsylvania and I spent three years playing hockey there, immediately loving the sport. When we moved to Michigan I played a year on Honeybaked (the best team in Michigan) until I got cut four years in a row. I always wanted to get back on the team so [while training for it], I played for the Icebreakers. After four years of getting cut [from Honeybaked], I finally made the team. Now I have been playing on Honeybaked for three years.

I was determined to make the Honeybaked team, and even though I got cut from it four years in a row, I kept working and trying out every year until I made it again, and I did. Hockey is very important to me, and it’s a sport I want to continue playing for the rest of my life.

I want to play [hockey] in college, but I don’t know where yet, so that’s where I got the idea of taking a gap year.

I was scared to take the gap year at first because not a lot of people do it, and I feel like sometimes it’s looked down upon. To me, it’s only a longer transition period from high school to college. I will work a lot, save up money for college, visit many schools, and have a full extra year to play hockey. I talked to a lot of coaches and have been getting offers from a lot of schools such as Adrian College, Chatham Univ. in Pittsburgh, Morrisville State College, and St. Olaf. [The gap year] will give me the advantage of time to play and train. I’m still going to be working and volunteering, but without the stress of school work.

There’s not much for women beyond college in terms of playing professional hockey besides the National Women’s League; when I was 10 years old, yeah that was a goal, and so was playing in the Olympics, but now I just want to play hockey for as long as I can because it’s the sport I love. I plan to play in college and adult leagues later on in life, and finish out my days playing hockey.

As I stole from Michael Scott who stole from Wayne Gretzky, ‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.’ To me, playing [hockey] in college has always been a dream of mine, and I’m not going to miss this shot.”