When Katie ’12 told her father at eight years old that she wanted to play goalie for the town ice hockey team, he tried to convince her otherwise. “He immediately told me I wouldn’t like goalie because of the extra equipment, pressure, and training it required, but there was just something about the position that intrigued me,” she explains.
After attending her first camp at Providence College (and even though she was hit in the head with the puck multiple times), Katie became even more passionate about playing in the net. Fast forward 10 years later to her senior year at Middlesex, where she has just capped her impressive high school ice hockey career with a 58 save performance in the Class B New England Championship game against Proctor Academy.
Katie's road to success has not always been easy. Over the past four years, she has fought through physical injuries and the emotional toll that comes with the pressure of playing in goal. After each setback, however, her resolve to improve only continued to grow. Katie’s mental toughness is arguably one of the strongest aspects of her game. Her teammates and coaches knew that they could rely on her to make the big saves when it counted.
Showing up to practice every day with the same fire and determination as the day before can be challenging over the course of a long winter season. Whenever Katie found herself struggling, she looked no further than her teammates and coaches for support and inspiration. “I love the feeling of being a part of something that is so much larger than myself, “ she says. “It makes me want to put in the extra work every day.” The admiration and respect she felt for her teammates and coaches was all the motivation she needed to continue to put on the pads week after week.
Reflecting back on her athletic career at Middlesex, Katie claims that her senior year has been the most rewarding. This fall, the varsity field hockey team surpassed all expectations after losing 10 seniors the previous season. They completed the 2011 campaign 15-4-1 and made it all the way to the championship game against Thayer. The ice hockey team also had a great season with the best record in program history at 22-3. Although the numbers are certainly impressive, what stands out the most in Katie’s mind is the way that her teammates played for one another. “I attribute most of our success to team chemistry,” she remarks. “We were able to make it as far as we did because we made a decision that we wanted to be together as long as we possibly could.”
As Katie heads off to Hamilton College next year to play both field hockey and ice hockey, she has a list of impressive accolades to bring with her In her mind however, success is not a word that can be measured by individual accomplishments. To Katie, success is defined by each and every member of the teams she has played on. The championship games, the All-League honors, and her captain positions are all just wonderful bonuses.
