BC’s Patrick Giles sets high aspirations beyond the NHL Draft

(Photo courtesy of BC Athletics)

Boston College forward Patrick Giles is familiar with the NHL Draft process. He participated in the Washington Capitals development camp last summer prior to his freshman season, and knew about the rigorous training and interviews required from potential employers.

Emerging from that experience, the Maryland native remained mindful of his great fortune as an undrafted participant in his hometown’s team development camp.

“I was a huge Capital fan growing up, and have been a fan of how Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie play the game,” Giles told Pucks and Recreation before last weekend’s 2019 draft. “Everyone wants to play for their hometown team so that would be a dream come true. Honestly, though, any NHL organization would be a dream.”

College Hockey Inc. had a hunch he would take a formal first step there, grading Giles as a prospective fourth-to-sixth round candidate. Ultimately, he was passed over, but still had reason to watch. Even going in, he was thinking about more than his own prospects.

“I am definitely going to be following it for my future teammates,” he said before the draft. “I am excited to work with this great group of guys we have coming in.”

Giles did not have to wait long for those current or soon-to-be teammates to be selected. Out of the Eagles’ connections in the 2019 pool, seven were projected as draft-worthy.
 



(Photo courtesy of BC Athletics)

Incoming BC forward Matthew Boldy (Minnesota Wild), goaltender Spencer Knight (Florida Panthers) and forward Alex Newhook (Colorado Avalanche) were all selected in the first round last Friday. Defenseman Marshall Warren was likewise picked by the Avalanche in the sixth round to cap off a stellar weekend for BC hockey. The celebratory news continued after that with head coach Jerry York earning enshrinement as a builder in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
 

Despite the disappointment of not joining the Eagles’ nest of NHL draftees, Giles remains level-headed and committed to improving in his sophomore season. 

“I went through the same process of meeting with teams, participating in pre-draft workouts and I think what I learned is that the draft isn’t the end goal,” he said. “Jack McBain, one of my current teammates who is a drafted player encouraged me just to focus on getting better every day.”

Giles certainly took that advice to heart as he improved once the calendar turned to 2019 this past season. He recorded four of his six points in the second half of the season, and even scored his first collegiate goal in the Beanpot against Harvard.

“Scoring in the Beanpot was definitely the highlight of my first season at BC,” said Giles. “I remember that goal vividly as I got a great pass from Graham McPhee. Even more than scoring that goal, I was just excited to get the win.”

Giles felt that his play improved in the second half of the year thanks to the now-Hall-of-Fame-certified coaching at Conte Forum.

“During the season,” he said, “I felt that I developed my game a lot through the great coaching at BC. I know that I need to keep getting faster and that I need to spend the summer working on my shot.”

Beyond the community of teammates and coaches at BC, Giles has also relied on advice from fellow Maryland native and current AHL Iowa Wild fixture Sam Anas.
 

(Photo courtesy of BC Athletics)



Giles and Anas have a unique friendship. They grew up within 10 miles of each other, with Giles residing in Chevy Chase and Anas in Potomac. Both also attended Landon High School. During his two years there, Giles led the Bears to two straight Mid-Atlantic Prep Hockey League titles.

Finally, like Giles to this point, Anas went undrafted before realizing his potential as a pro after signing with the Wild after his junior year at Quinnipiac.

Anas, who is seven years Giles’ senior, has yet to see action in Minnesota. But he is currently the best bet to become the first NHL player to have played for and graduated from a Washington, D.C.-area high school. Perhaps Giles can become the second.

“Sam’s been a great friend and mentor,” Giles said. “We went to the same high school and he has told me that the most important thing is to trust the process. We often work out together in the summer and his advice has helped a lot.”

Giles recognizes the support that is present all around him and knows where he needs to improve to have his name called on NHL Draft weekend. Since he will turn 20 next year, he still has an outshot at being selected in 2020. However, free agency is his most likely inlet at this point.

Beyond that, he selflessly recognizes the opportunity ahead of him during his sophomore season at BC.

“We have a great class coming in, and the players we currently have are now a year older and are more experienced,” said Giles determinedly. “Our end goal every year is to make a run at a national championship and I know that we have a chance this year.”

-          John Morton

Rebecca Lindblad lives March Madness, fosters fever for more college sports





(Photo by Stephen Slade)

 

The University of Connecticut’s Freitas Ice Forum is just that, an ice facility. It does not change over for basketball the way Husky athletics’ out-of-town home base in Hartford, the XL Center, can.

 

But one member of the UConn women’s hockey program, the Forum’s primary tenant, did make a noteworthy switch from one winter sport to the other last month. And she needed 20 days rather than 20 hours to complete the transition from one event to the next.

While the Huskies’ women’s hockey season ended March 2 in a conference quarterfinal sweep by Boston College, senior forward Rebecca Lindblad’s involvement in sports has merely begun. As an intern in the athletic department, she had the honor of joining the event staff when the women’s hoops powerhouse hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament at Gampel Pavilion.

In basketball, UConn always features prominently in national TV coverage, and this year was no different. However, Lindblad’s internship showcased what it is like to work in the sports industry and fueled her passion for her future career even more.

For the March 22 and March 24 games against Buffalo and Towson, respectively, Lindblad worked as the operation liaison, welcoming the opposing teams and assisting with event preparation.

“I fell in love with it and the excitement that sports brings,” Lindblad eagerly recounted in an interview with Pucks and Recreation.

UConn’s two victories propelled it to the Sweet 16 in Albany, N.Y., followed by a Final Four berth in Tampa. Although the Huskies bowed out to Notre Dame, the two victories Lindblad witnessed were significant in her career aspirations.

March Madness is normally a tumultuous time for fans filling out brackets, but Lindblad embraced the frenzied pace behind the scenes. Not unlike Geno Auriemma’s understudies, she took this experience as a grand reward for a season’s worth of seen and unseen preparation.

(Photo by Stephen Slade)

As an event management intern for nine months, she has supervised interns, prepared for and cleared out after events and welcomed visiting teams to the Storrs campus.

Lindblad juggled these responsibilities while working toward a sports management degree and playing hockey, where she was an alternate captain. However, she views these formative experiences as sign posts guiding her in her job search.

“Similar to hockey, my work in event management exposed me to a unique work environment,” she said. “There are so many overlaps between my job and playing hockey. Things like a positive culture, teamwork, collaboration are significant to ensuring good results. We are all working towards something bigger than us.”

While hockey and her event management internship have cultivated Lindblad’s love for sports, one can say that passion was instilled at an early age. Before matriculating at UConn, the Illinois native starred as a dual-sport athlete in high school.

On the ice, she traveled with the Chicago Young Americans in the Elite Hockey League. Interscholastically, she played golf for New Trier High School, capturing all-state honors and a state championship.

“Golf has always been a huge part of my life,” reflected Lindblad. “My dad and brother played, and I still play in the summer. We also watch many of the golf tournaments every year. With the Masters coming up this week, I will be watching some of my favorite golfers, including Jordan Speith, Matt Kuchar and Patrick Reed.”

Naturally, Lindblad prioritized hockey during her four years in Storrs. While her stats were not the most sparkling, her labor on the ice and in the gym has still drawn accolades. One year ago this week, she was one of four UConn student-athletes named an All-American for their commitment to strength and conditioning.

(Photo by Stephen Slade)

As she told the program’s website at the time of the honor, “I came to UConn full of doubt and insecurity. UConn was more than a thousand miles from home but the school, coaches, and my teammates have brought out the best in me both on and off the ice.”

Despite focusing on hockey, Lindblad’s love for all sports did not dissipate. In fact, she collaborated with other student-athletes and developed her interests even more. As an underclassman, she built her foundation for this via the Husky LEADS (Lead, Elevate, and Develop Student-Athletes) program.

“I was paired with a mentor who happened to be the current director of event management,” she told Pucks and Rec. “In fact, working with Danielle Upham was instrumental in helping me get my current role as an event management intern.”

Beyond networking, Lindblad’s two years in LEADS served as another method of personal growth. The two-year program focuses on identifying leadership traits, developing one’s strengths and improving on one’s weaknesses. In the second year, UConn invites athletes to volunteer in their local community and meet other athletes along the way.

Rounding out her experience, Lindblad spent last summer as a Recreation Intern for the Park District of Highland Park in Illinois. While there, she assisted with the planning and execution of various programs and events.

Lindblad’s leadership and interpersonal skills from these experiences will inevitably assist her as she looks beyond her time in Connecticut. However, all of her Husky teams have certainly left an indelible mark on her.

“In the future, I know I want to work in the sports industry,” she said. “I am currently applying to graduate schools in sports administration. Collegiate athletics is something that I am working towards, and hopefully I will be working in the athletics department at a university.”

-          John Morton

Maine hockey enters 15th year as a key cog for MAAV

Chase Pearson (Photo by Tutuny, courtesy of Maine Athletics)

 

For members of the University of Maine’s Male Athletes Against Violence (MAAV) initiative, numbers stick like preseason statistics. That is if the experience of its two most recent hockey ambassadors is any indication.

“I can’t remember many specifics,” junior Chase Pearson told Pucks and Recreation. “But I know they shocked me enough to really get interested in the class.”

And so, every week last fall, Pearson, along with classmate Mitchell Fossier, joined a smattering of Black Bears from the other six men’s athletic programs. Together they constituted the 14th iteration of a unique domestic violence awareness class.

Dr. Sandra L. Caron, who teaches family relations and human sexuality, established MAAV for the 2004-05 academic year. The club’s mission statement reads, in part, “Violence is a way of asserting power, privilege, and control. Men perpetrate the majority of violence, and yet this issue is usually framed as a ‘woman’s issue.’ Change will come when we challenge the social norms and institutions that actively or implicitly condone and promote violence. MAAV is an effort to involve men so that we can begin to understand that violence is very much a ‘man’s issue.’”

One product of MAAV’s first go-round, James Henry, soon penned a six-line poem on the matter. Of those lines, the lede stands out for Pearson. Scripting everything in lowercase, Henry begins by stressing, “female abuse on a scale can’t be measured.”

For Pearson, that “shows that we have a problem in our society that is greater than we know. Abuse occurs daily, and we cannot stop it every time. But we can inform people, and the more informed people are about the issue, the more chance it can be put to a stop.”

The fifth line, “mutual respect is rich like a blank check,” proposes the remedy. That message resonates the most with Fossier, who will wear an “A” on the ice in this season.

“I think too many people walk around without a sense of respect for others, as well as themselves,” Fossier told Pucks and Rec. “A very large root of this issue is a lack of respect. The poem is a great depiction of this.”

Despite Henry’s first statement on quantifying the problem, data will continue to flow in. Last week, The Nation’s Miguel Salazar submitted a study on domestic violence pervading Latin American soccer communities.

The article’s subheading articulated one statistical finding. “In Colombia, cases of intimate-partner violence against women rose by 33 percent during the past two World Cups.” In between those FIFA festivals, one of the nation’s stars faced domestic battery charges in Miami Beach, only to return to the pitch within a year.

Similar patterns have plagued the NFL, NHL, MLB and NBA alike. The reason for such uncomfortable publicity is nothing new, but certainly more prominent on the 2010s media landscape.

That system has captured and covered incidents much closer to Pearson and Fossier’s current circle. MAAV was half its current age when the Black Bears became a footnote in an on-ice rival’s dark weekend.

On Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011, Alfond Arena entertained a Hockey East tilt with Boston University. Maine fell flat in a 5-1 final, with Terrier senior Corey Trivino’s two goals fetching him first-star status.

With that, Trivino, then a New York Islanders prospect and BU’s scoring leader, extended his production streak to four games entering the holiday break.

Barely 24 hours after that game, back on his own campus, Trivino took his dive into infamy. On that night, a female student told police Trivino had forcefully entered her dorm room and made unwanted physical advances.

As it happened, two months prior, Trivino had been featured in a long-form BU Daily Free Press feature. Besides highlighting prior troubles, the piece naturally focused on his hockey potential. It ran under the headline “Trivino Suave,” and noted his expressed commitment to “improving his behavior off the ice.”

His violent indiscretion later that fall was his final strike. Before the midseason break, Trivino was promptly dismissed from the team on the grounds of intoxication. Eight months later, he pleaded guilty to assault and battery.

Mitchell Fossier (Photo by Buehner, courtesy of Maine Athletics)

In between, BU stepped up its soul-searching after another player, Max Nicastro, faced charges from a similar incident following a February 2012 game.

In the six years since underdoing a rigorous task-force investigation, the Terriers have had no further eruptions. But putting two and two — or Saturday and Sunday — of those weekends together presented athletic empowerment at its worst. The internal task force pointed to “a culture of sexual entitlement…stemming in part from their elevated social status on campus.”

Before and since, BU’s clean-record leaders have taken steps, sometimes opposite their three Beanpot rivals, to craft the opposite image. Likewise, MAAV’s hockey torch-bearers want to keep their culture’s impression wholesome.

“I think athletes often have somewhat of a spotlight in college, both in positive and negative aspects,” said Fossier. “Because a lot of eyes are on collegiate athletes, though, it gives a good stage to raise awareness and get some traction for an issue like this.”

At the time of MAAV’s inception, Black Bear hockey was at or near its peak in popularity. Maine was coming off its fourth Frozen Four and third national championship game appearance in six years. It was also defending its second Hockey East tournament title in five seasons.

The program has struggled in the win column for most of the past decade, reducing its exposure on ESPN and the New England Sports Network. Even so, its legacy keeps it a magnet for publicity. In turn, it remains a key cog for MAAV.

“We strive to have members of all sports teams,” Caron told Pucks and Rec. “And of course having our high-profile hockey team as part of the program has always been important.”

Pearson, for one, is not oblivious to the hook that renown lends him and fellow puck ambassadors to MAAV. Last year he and Fossier spearheaded a slew of initiatives tailored to students at each educational bookend. They would read Hands Are Not for Hitting to local kindergartners and present and lead a workshop titled Reel Men vs. Real Men to their fellow collegians.

“I think it is important for us to be the ones who take a stand because we have recognition on campus,” said the Black Bears co-captain and Detroit Red Wings prospect. “People will listen regardless of if they know us personally because maybe they support the hockey program or the football program as a whole.”

During at least one game per year, Alfond Arena sets up an awareness table as part of White Ribbon Week. The observance is an extension of the global White Ribbon Campaign, which originated in Toronto in 1991 under the same essential pretense as MAAV.

As the faces of the allied programs, Pearson and Fossier took charge of organizing that last fall. When they were not engaged in a concomitant game, they put their own faces behind tables at the Memorial Union building, the three-story hub of Maine student life.

As Caron noted, they literally sweetened the deal with treats for good measure. For added hockey flavor, their shifts might also entail distributing MAAV-logo foam pucks.

From present to prospective members, word of mouth keeps the MAAV torch passing along. One prominent puckster early this decade was Will O’Neill, now a seventh-year pro who made his NHL debut last season. Conor Riley, who wore an “A” as a senior when Pearson was a freshman, is now a staple with the ECHL’s Adirondack Thunder.

Filling Pearson and Fossier’s skates this fall are sophomores Alexis Binner and Kevin Hock. With Binner, a blueliner from Stocksund, Sweden, MAAV will have intercontinental representation.

Currently coordinated by Jean Point-Dujour, a football player turned academic counselor, the group meets Monday evenings at the Memorial Union. As Point-Dujour indicated last winter on the Maine Black Bears YouTube channel, the conferences stress inclusive game-planning. Each member is invited to raise and weigh in on what needs attention.

At times, though, tabling alone is enough to reel in overwhelming awareness from the broader community.

“The responses we got were awesome,” Pearson said of his stint with MAAV. “Everybody was so supportive and really appreciative of the fact that we were out there supporting a cause that is swept under the rug a lot of times.”

Taylor Willard prepared for a game change, in hockey or food science

(Photo by Brian Jenkins via UVM Athletics)

 

Taylor Willard studied, and may keep studying, in a state that lends its nickname to a popular brand of coffee.

In her future, though, the conventional kickstarter and perk-up potion for an American workday may assume positions outside drinking cups.

This past week, several outlets highlighted a study suggesting coffee’s cardiovascular benefits. That study spread one week after California regulators decided against plastering cancer-warning labels on the product’s containers.

In February, Forbes was apt to note conflicting contemporary findings regarding java’s effect on cancer risk and treatment.

The moral is no ruling is final in science, just like no lead is safe in a hockey game. That is why, if and when she applies her major in nutrition and food services from the University of Vermont to a vocation, Willard will have her head on a swivel.

“It’s always changing,” she said in a recent phone interview with Pucks and Recreation. “So it’s really hard to have a perspective on something.

“Every year something new comes out about certain food or certain nutrients. Certain fats are better for you, or not. There’s not one set thing with nutrition.”

Nor is there one set path in Willard’s post-collegiate career. Not that she is ill-equipped for the multitude of potentialities.

Coming to Vermont via suburban Chicago, Willard established herself as a playmaking two-way defender on the ice. She has a tinge of international pedigree, having represented Team USA at the 18-and-under level. And she is entering the CWHL Draft this August.

If she lands with Les Canadiennes, she would have a prime position to juggle hockey with her continued education. For now, she is favoring an extended stay in Burlington, building on the horizons she widened here.

“There’s a lot of different ways you can go with nutrition,” she said. “I knew I wanted to do something science-related.

“When I went to school, I originally went into dietetics, where you’re a dietitian and you help people with their diet. But I felt like I wanted to go broader.”

Fostering a finer grasp on the ever-evolving studies on food safety and resultant recommended regulations hit home. One of the many doorstops Willard has whipped out props open the threshold to medical school.

Photo courtesy of Taylor Willard

 

Without any prompting, she explained how that possible path became personal.

“I always really wanted to be a doctor or nurse, or just be in the hospital to help people in general,” she said. “Nutrition is a very key part of that. I could work on nutrition in a hospital setting.

“For example, I thought about going into oncology a lot…cancer affects a lot of people.”

Her voice briefly broke when she added, “my dad actually passed away from cancer.”

Through her father’s experience, Willard witnessed the ongoing, universal, team-oriented push for better survival and recovery rates among cancer patients. Besides the emotion of her father’s memory, she has her education to bring to her role in the battle.

“When you’re on chemo, you can’t eat certain things,” she noted. “There is hospital food, obviously, but sometimes hospital food isn’t the best option.”

When the time comes to devote the majority of her time to food science, Willard will have her chance to influence an improved breadth and quality of options. Whether she stays at UVM or latches elsewhere, she is presently eyeing a master’s degree in nutrition.

The legacy of another dearly-missed figure, one from her sport’s extended family, will be attached to that endeavor. Through her academic prowess, on-ice performance and community involvement, Willard garnered this year’s Sarah Devens Award.

Open to women’s players in Hockey East and the ECAC, the award memorializes a former three-sport star at Dartmouth. Devens was dubbed “the Devil” in the most endearing context for her fastidious drive to better herself and, by extension, her teams. She was a plugger in the classroom, defying any real or perceived assertions that she was below Ivy League caliber.

Of her personal appeal, then-Dartmouth field hockey coach Julie Dayton once told Sports Illustrated, “It seemed she was everyone’s older sister.” Those in ostensibly thankless positions always felt her thanks through her gestures.

Author Sonja Steptoe added, “She would have lunch with someone she met at the rink after a game, drop off a bag of caramel cremes to Dayton, visit a friend in the hospital, mail a gag gift and fire off a dozen E-mail messages--all between classes and practices.”

When Devens took her own life in 1995, attendance at her funeral came close to the thousands. One season later, the ECAC inaugurated the award in her name for “leadership and commitment both on and off the ice.”

Since six programs seceded to create Hockey East in 2002, the award has applied to both conferences. Although Willard is only the second WHEA player to win it, breaking up an ECAC dynasty that started after Karen Thatcher of Providence prevailed in 2006.

She is also among the first Devens Award winners whose life did not overlap with Devens herself.

More than two weeks after her selection, Willard’s struggle for words evoked the prize’s namesake.

“I’m just really honored to be recognized and chosen for this award between both conferences,” she said. “I know it’s a big honor to have. From everything I’ve heard and read, Sarah Devens was just an amazing athlete and person. I’m just honored to be chosen for this award.”

Photo courtesy of Taylor Willard

 

The Devens Award yields $10,000 toward the recipient’s continuing education. With that aid, as she breaks out of her zone, Willard sees the passing lanes proliferating.

The best news may be that this game offers more time for a scenic route toward her ultimate goal.

“I have a lot of different things that I feel like I want to do,” Willard admits. “I would want to work in a hospital, but I have a love for hockey still.”

A part of Vermont’s leadership structure as a junior and senior, Willard would not rule out a college coaching job. But the comparatively finite nature of a playing career has her seeking and savoring every sip of that cup.

“You’re never too old to coach,” she reasoned, “so I want to keep playing for right now.”

Still, an assistant assignment behind the bench would sustain her blended brew of studying and skating.

“Being a coach at the collegiate level, I could always get my degree while I’m coaching,” Willard said.

Ah, yes, the master’s in nutrition, and every avenue that unlocks. Once she steps in there, much like in her sport, she will be primed to expect the unexpected and adjust on the fly.

But whatever her vocation and task, Willard will want to be all-in all the time. Missing a commitment, particularly a practice or contest, was always a taboo setback from beginners’ to Burlington.

That adamancy paid off in shaping her legacy at UVM. A mild injury barred her from playing in the 2017-18 season opener. Otherwise, she dressed every night as a Catamount, joining classmate Amanda Drobot with a new career program record of 145.

“Growing up playing hockey, and also in college, any athlete learns time management,” she said.

“That really helps in the real world too. You still have to manage your time with your job and then also with real life, with possibly family.

“And then, being a captain for two years at UVM really taught me how to be a leader, work on my communication skills. Just developing as a person and handling the responsibility factor.

“College hockey is a lot like a job. It’s a fun job to have, of course. But you still have to make sure you’re showing up every day and giving everything 100 percent. Otherwise, you’re not doing your jobs the way you should be.”

Jobs, plural? Better keep the Green Mountain pot brewing. That is assuming Willard and company’s educated findings keep coffee’s green light shining.

Alyssa Holmes: A tale of two Burlingtons from Ontario to Vermont

Alyssa Holmes hopes her choice to follow Jim Plumer’s half-joking counsel marks a storybook beginning.

The prelude has been gripping enough. Holmes hails from Burlington, Ont., a middle-heavyweight of a city wedged between Toronto and Hamilton. Her neighborhood there is none other than Vermont Crescent.

(Photo by Brian Jenkins, courtesy of UVM Athletics)

 

Plumer implored her to bring her hockey talents to his capstone class at the University of Vermont. UVM is a flagship institution in Burlington, Vt., the big fish of the comparatively modest Northern New England state.

Historically, the homonym is hardly a hollow coincidence. UVM’s city has celebrated a sisterhood with Holmes’ hometown for nearly a half-century. And when she committed, the blueliner unwittingly reopened the vent on what has lately been a dormant partnership.

There was a time when the two Burlingtons staged an annual athletics festival, rotating the hospitality duties each year. Beginning in 1969, the Burlington International Games (BIG) let young Vermonters and Ontarians convene for friendly cultural clashes. The cities later integrated a third community — a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa — to the bonanza.

But by the time the event’s 40th anniversary passed, the luster had faded. The games had discontinued by the year Holmes turned 11.

In a phone chat with Pucks and Recreation, Holmes admitted she has no memory of the festival. Being in an exponentially growing city that boasted 175,000 residents at the 2011 census, it was not impossible to miss. But given the range and richness of her subsequent sports resume, the BIG’s demise could not have been more untimely for her.

Not that she is dwelling on the what-ifs.

“I didn’t know it was even a big thing,” she said. “For sure, if I had the opportunity participate in the event, I would have. But yeah, it’s a cool connection.”

The end of the formal Burlington get-togethers has yet to match the duration of the gap between the cities’ hockey gift exchange. Holmes is the first women’s Catamount from the Ontario town in question and the first overall in 13 seasons.

Per the Internet Hockey Database, three members of the UVM men’s all-time roster came from the Canadian Burlington. Winger Mark Litton and center Rob McConnell both enrolled in 1980. They had previously capped their respective upbringings as Burlington Cougars in the Ontario Junior League.

Forward Scott Mifsud later spent parts of three season with the Cougars, then committed to the Catamounts in 2001. He ran away with the team’s scoring lead with 48 points as a senior in 2004-05.

The Cougars have no women’s equivalent, but Holmes started generating hometown headlines in 2012 at the latest. By that point, she had medaled at a local cross-country meet for four consecutive years. Representing the Sacred Heart of Jesus School, she topped her division in 2012.

The next fall, Holmes elevated to the Corpus Christi Secondary School, where she lettered in five different sports. As a freshman, she joined the Longhorns soccer team on a perfect 20-0 tear to a regional championship. She later keyed Corpus Christi to regional and provincial titles in field hockey and volleyball, respectively.

Individually, Holmes nabbed the school’s athlete of the year laurel as a sophomore and senior. She added a $3,500 athletic scholarship from the town’s Rotary Club of Burlington Lakeshore this past spring.

In a statement to Pucks and Rec, Rotary Club spokesperson Jay Bridle noted that Holmes combined her comprehensive athletic resume with “sustained high academic achievements, along with balancing a part-time job.” He was also apt to note that she roamed a Vermont Street in their town.

Her subsequent move to study and skate in Burlington, Vt., lends the narrative a “uniqueness” that “was not lost on the committee,” Bridle offered.

The Rotary Club doled out its 2017 student awards on June 13. UVM announced Holmes as a member of its incoming recruiting class 13 days later, though she committed the previous fall. That formality fulfilled and sweetened Plumer’s prior statement to Holmes that “you have to come here now because you’re from Burlington, Ont.”

Trivia aside, the university’s athletic therapy studies program radiated the allure for good measure. Rigorous activity consumes Holmes to the point where she is pursuing a degree in exercise and movement science.

Her adopted Burlington’s trademark Green Mountains promise to help sustain her love of running and competitive fever as well.

“I love the outdoors. I just love the atmosphere and the landscape,” she said. “And I know there’s a lot of marathons around here. I would for sure want to compete in one of those.”

Does she think she could match her medal-caliber mojo from middle school? Is she subject to eagle eyes from the Lakeshore Rotary Club and beyond in her bid for a follow-up? Does her de facto status as a Burlington sisterhood revival ambassador raise the urge to please both cities?

“Not yet,” said Holmes. “But I think, in the future, I might because in my hometown it might be talked about more. But right now, there isn’t a lot of pressure, I would say.”

Regardless, better late than never for the versatile Ontarian who missed out on the BIG to test Vermont’s varied grounds. Or for her to start appreciating her long-lost extended geographic family.

“To be honest, I didn’t really know much (about the Burlington connections) until this year,” she confessed. “When I was looking at the school, I didn’t really think of that. But I think it’s kind of unique because not many people have this opportunity.”

Alexis Crossley racing to sustain fitness — her own and others’

Just a little more.

Alexis Crossley comes from a household and neighborhood where craving, pursuing and doling out more enrichment is the norm. Especially if that enrichment comes via competitive exercise.

The way she recounts her upbringing in Cole Harbour, N.S., on the outskirts of Halifax — and the way she represents the place as one of its products — one might think anything less would draw a wave of concerned glances.

Reached by Pucks and Recreation nearly a full year after garnering her bachelor’s in biology from Boston University, Crossley is still suppressing senioritis in pursuit of another academic milestone. She is up for a master’s degree in urban affairs this spring.

Seven weeks after her final game as a Terrier, she is still following the daily springtime regimen of the program’s non-seniors. She has her first attempt at the Trans Am Bike Race in June to think about.

A second-year transfer out of New Hampshire, Crossley has already amassed five years of the college athletic experience. Most NCAA women’s hockey players will have decelerated to a studies-only regimen at this stage of their fourth year on campus. But with the rigorous cycling tour on the horizon, she has made a need out of a want by joining BU’s slated returnees for 2017-18 in the weight room.

“After finishing a college hockey career, it’s hard when all of the girls start off their postseason training and you can’t join them anymore,” she said. “But luckily, I’ve had something like the Trans Am Bike Race to motivate me and keep me competitive.

“And it’s nice to have it so close to after finishing my college career because, one, I’m still in really good physical shape from my season and from all of the training I’ve done over the course of last year for hockey. And two, I still get to get into the gym and see the girls all the time and watch them work hard and get better for next season, too.”

After a season that saw three senior forwards combine for 51 goals and Crossley lead the blue-line brigade with 21 points, BU will task as many as 16 holdovers with filling those spacious skates. Crossley has her own foundation in place for her next daunting-by-design endeavor. And she has not relinquished the team-based strings in the process, either.

In tandem with her father, Brad, Crossley will cover the 10-state Trans Am trail to raise money for the IWK Health Centre in Halifax. The two will be one of only seven registered pairs in an event that also features 146 individual racers representing 22 countries.

Six weeks ahead of the race’s June 3 beginning, the Crossleys have already fulfilled one-fifth of their $30,000 fundraising goal. “And that keeps increasing every day,” Alexis noted.

Meanwhile, the timing bar is set near the ceiling. Last year’s individual first-place finisher, Lael Wilcox, completed the tour in 18 days and 10 minutes. The tandem participants in the 2016 race took anywhere from 25 to 87 days.

“We’re aiming to get about 160 miles in per day, give or take a few depending on weather and other circumstances,” Crossley said. “The ultimate goal would be to finish in 26 days, but I guess maybe a more realistic one might be 28.”

At the time of her interview, her preparation rate was in a footrace with the pledge rate of Team Crossley’s supporters. As she continues to recover from a postseason shoulder surgery, she has yet to transfer her training from stationary bikes to the outdoors.

“Once a week, I’m trying to get in a long bike anywhere that’s above two-and-a-half, three hours, just to try and get my body ready to sit on the bike for 12-plus hours a day,” she elaborated. “Right now, it’s all about having my butt used to the seat and my head used to looking up ahead of me.”

On the figurative front, what is ahead is unclear to Crossley. With her fiancé accepting a job on the University of Arizona men’s basketball coaching staff, she will relocate to Tucson on the other side of her month-long bike tour.

For now, once there, she plans on shaping her near future on the fly.

“Hopefully, a future job opportunity will come my way and it’ll be something that I am passionate about,” she said. “I’ve always aspired to be a dentist, so I’m not counting that out of my future, either.”

Exemplary energy

For all of the mystery ahead, there are many well-defined motivators in Crossley’s background. The reigning BU co-captain is keen on continuing her exemplary leadership in a campaign to curtail childhood obesity.

Both of Crossley’s parents witness the best and worst effects of early life habits as elementary-level teachers in the Halifax Regional School Board. Her father has made physical education his day job for 25 years. Her mother, Leslie, oversees the fifth-grade class at Bel Ayr Elementary in Dartmouth, N.S.

“They have one of the most important jobs in our small communities, where they are creating the future,” she said. “And I think that their role in the education system also inspires me to want to make others around me better and teach people about important things, such as childhood obesity, obesity in general and the importance of living healthy, active lifestyles.”

Brad Crossley has set a straightforward precedent in his household. He will go into the Trans Am Bike Race with a smattering of previous intensive cycling excursions, including triathlons and transcontinental tours, already on his transcript. When the season is ripe for hockey, and thus for taking his gym-teacher’s instinct to the ice, pulling him away from the rink rivals shoveling two feet of wet snow in difficulty.

Alexis Crossley and her three brothers have each translated their inherited puck passion to college- or junior-caliber skill sets. Neither she nor any relatives have let obesity hang around their personal ponds since the puck dropped on their respective games of life.

Still, as Statistics Canada concluded in 2014, Nova Scotia was second only to Newfoundland and Labrador among the nation’s most obese provinces. The rate there was a startling 27.8 percent the time of the study. Neighboring New Brunswick was third at 26.4 percent.

Through her father’s work in the local school system, in particular, the comparatively inert behaviors of several students have never escaped Crossley.

“I noticed how much the current generation spends so much of their time indoors or playing on an iPad or asking parents to use their cell phones to play games,” she said.

“I wasn’t a little kid too long ago, but I can’t remember a day where I didn’t want to go outside and run around and play games. So I hope that through this we can help promote a little bit more of that and try to create some healthy, active lifestyle thoughts in my community at home and maybe in other communities surrounding that.”

Cole Harbour already bears multiple examples of exertion yielding exhilarating rewards, and both Brad and Alexis have been in on the production. Brad coached the Dartmouth Subways Midget AAA team when, in 2001-02, Sidney Crosby came through the ranks en route to NHL superstardom.

Nathan MacKinnon, who went first overall in the 2013 draft eight years after Crosby achieved the same distinction, is one year younger than Alexis. In turn, the two crossed daily paths at school and even played together in organized hockey before breaking off into their respective single-gender divisions.

“I was fortunate to grow up in Cole Harbour, where probably every other kid on my block played hockey in the Cole Harbour minor hockey association,” Crossley mused.

Of Crosby and MacKinnon, she added, “Just sharing the hometown with them and having such big role models come out of my town as far as athletics and sports goes, I think they are just extra pieces to the puzzle in this battle that new generations are facing in regards to healthy and active lifestyles, and hopefully my dad and I can contribute to that as well.”

In Cole Harbour, the phrases “Brad Crossley” and “contribute” have all but meshed the way the names “Sidney Crosby” or “Nathan MacKinnon” go with “highlight-reel play.” Beyond his gym classes, the elder Crossley has also served as an assistant men’s hockey coach at nearby Dalhousie University and devoted untold hours to youth programs.

In addition, Alexis noted, her father suggested the IWK Health Centre as the charity of choice when she first expressed interest in the Trans Am race a year ago.

“My dad had a contact with a player’s mother who works at the IWK, and he kind of brought the idea up,” she said.

“He has always gone above and beyond for everyone in my community at home or in the hockey world. He’s always spending hours and hours in the rink with local kids, teaching them some extra hockey skills or putting in an extra hour on the ice after a practice or renting some ice out for some of the local kids to go out and get better.

“So just watching him in that regard has motivated me to go above and beyond with my community, no matter where I am, and do anything I can to help people out.”

Crossley all but grew up together with the current incarnation of the IWK, which caters specially to women and children from the three Maritime Provinces. She was two years old when, in 1996, the old Isaac Walton Killam Hospital for Children joined forces with Grace Maternity Hospital.

The newly singular institution, whose website includes a 43-minute video on childhood obesity, has since built its reputation as a go-to center for family care. Through her proximity to Halifax and her strenuous upbringing, Crossley got to know that firsthand, particularly in the orthopedic ward.

“The IWK is somewhere I’ve unfortunately visited a few times as a kid due to injuries from being physically active,” she said. “But I hope that I can encourage others to be active and stay physically active and hopefully not have to visit the children’s hospital due to health concerns.”

Breaking away

The stationary bike Crossley has stapled herself to in her initial phases of Trans Am prep sure beats an IWK bed. But her competitive pangs will not taper off in full until she loses the confines of the gym and fully simulates her late-spring-to-early-summer plans.

The fourth annual Trans Am Bike Race will start on the first Saturday of June in Astoria, Ore., culminating in Yorktown, Va. In between, the trail covers Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky. Cyclists will soak in the likes of Yellowstone National Park, the Continental Divide and Mammoth Cave as part of their scenic odyssey.

“I’m excited to see different terrain and to climb some mountains, even though that’s going to be probably one of the most difficult parts of the race,” Crossley said. “I’m really excited to just take in the scenery and enjoy some fresh air and some peace of mind away from academics and the rigors of college athletics.

“It’s going to be a tough battle, but it’ll be a rewarding one and one that will allow me to have some of my own time and some thinking time and also some important bonding time with my dad, too.”

Yet even the hallowed landmarks of nature cannot fully tug Crossley away from the sense of a task at hand. The change of scenery may underscore a change of pace from her recent years of daily half-mental, half-physical biathlon in Boston. But she is using her last free moments in her adopted American community to prepare to join her father in representing their already famed Canadian locality.

Just a little more attention to Cole Harbour and a little more attention for their cause. That is the expressed greater goal.

“Even though it might not be to the extent that people may be aware of Crosby and MacKinnon, maybe we’ll be remembered for our efforts as well,” she said.

Boston College women’s hockey procures Honeybaked flavor

(Photo courtesy of BC Athletics)

Collecting quotes from Megan Keller and Tori Sullivan can be akin to watching actors rotate a shared role in a stage production. Either that, or performers in successive adaptations of the same story, with only negligible dialogue discrepancies and mutual justice to each other’s character portrayals.

They two freshmen are living the same essential tale as Detroit Honeybaked-turned-Boston College women’s hockey prodigies, and recount the joint journey through analogous articulation.

“After my first time visiting BC, I was 14 years old,” Keller, the defender from Farmington Hills, Mich., told Along the Boards via e-mail. “I remember right when I got home telling my parents, ‘This is the place I want to go.’”

“I first visited BC when I was 14 years old,” Sullivan, the forward from West Bloomfield, Mich., wrote in her own e-mail to ATB. “After the visit, I remember saying to myself that this is, without a doubt, the place where I want to be.”

It did not hurt their decision to have a pair of former Honeybaked allies preceding them as Eagles recruits. Forwards Andie Anastos and Haley McLean, now sophomores at Chestnut Hill, shared action with Keller and Sullivan for the southeast Michigan travel program in multiple age groups.

“Coming into BC, I felt like I already knew the team through Andie and Haley,” said Keller. “And the team in general is one of the nicest groups I have ever met. That alone made it easy to adjust.

“We are together every day, and you’d think it would be easy to get sick of each other, but it’s not. I love being around our team and the whole BC community. It is truly something special to be a part of."

The facility of the transition has doubtlessly helped all four players coalesce into a near-perfect composition of 23 players. The Eagles enter Thanksgiving weekend the decisive top-ranked team in the country, brandishing a 14-0-1 overall record and seamless 9-0-0 transcript in Hockey East play. Results-wise, it is the uncontested best start in the modern BC women’s program’s 21 seasons of operation.

Each of the second-time allies, though appreciative of one another’s company, have punctuated their team-wide compatibility in every environment. Although Anastos and McLean are second-year roommates in their dorm, and Keller and Sullivan share common campus digs as well, they graciously accept assigned arrangements on road trips.

And whether they are grooming their game at Conte Forum, entertaining their own boosters or invading another barn, they have meshed with previously unfamiliar linemates and defensive partners. Anastos, Sullivan and McLean have generally spread the depth on BC’s second, third and fourth forward units, respectively. Keller is making steady strides as a depth defender, likely to reach the top tier in due time.

All, however, have established an indispensable niche, and reaffirm their common roots through a common drive.

“They’re all really hard workers,” Eagles head coach Katie King Crowley told ATB in a phone chat this week. “They come in ready to go every day, and they like to have fun. All four of them are great hockey players, and have developed their own style, but they all contribute. We’re fortunate to have them.”

Stacked with incentive

With the successive enrollment of Anastos and McLean, then Keller and Sullivan, the all-time Honeybaked-BC pipeline has quickly quintupled. Until last fall, the institutions’ connections were strictly confined to a certain 2011 Eagles graduate by the name of Kelli Stack.

Stack, a two-time silver medalist with the U.S. Olympic team, helped the Honeybaked 19-and-under team to an appearance in the 2006 USA Hockey national tournament. Afterwards, she wasted little time lending a face to the alumnae of her last travel program, let alone relevance to the women’s wing of the Kelley Rink at Conte Forum.

Stack bookended a five-year stretch with a piloting role in BC’s first two Women’s Frozen Four appearances (2007 and 2011). She thrice garnered the Hockey East player of the year award, only falling short as a sophomore.

After a year’s leave for a 2010 Olympic excursion, she finished rewriting the program record book with career totals of 98 goals, 111 assists and 209 points, and led the Eagles to their still-only WHEA postseason pennant.

No wonder Crowley and company took another look at southeast Michigan when reloading in the wake of Stack’s graduation, right?

“Obviously, we’re trying to find the best fits for our program,” Crowley said. “I feel like those kids — coming through that program after Stack really fit that mold —they got on our radar, and we wanted to continue to watch them play.”

No later than the end of May 2013, Crowley and longtime top assistant Courtney Kennedy had seen enough to extend offers to some of Stack’s successors.

For Anastos and McLean, the faith was mutual. They formally signed on to join what was then a three-time reigning national semifinalist a full two years after Stack snagged her degree.

“Being recruited by BC was a rather short process for me,” Anastos, Keller’s fellow Farmington Hills resident, recalled. “I just remember going on a visit to the school and being like, ‘Yes I want to go here. This is the place for me.’ I just really liked the coaches, and obviously knew they had a strong program, with great players like Stack that have gone through the program.”

With Keller and Sullivan, the pattern reran itself in the latest recruiting cycle. “While it’s safe to say I was pretty set on going to BC, knowing that Kelli Stack came here before me and had success only ensured my decision,” said Keller.

Granted, the locally bred Alex Carpenter has filled the unofficial void as BC’s resident prolific, otherworldly, Olympic-seasoned talent. But Stack’s successors in the pipeline from suburban Detroit to the outskirts of Boston have squandered no time upholding the program’s celestial status as asked.

Anastos, in particular, made instant ripples when the radar opened to her in 2013-14. While Carpenter spent the season on Team USA’s trek to Sochi, Anastos led the Eagles with 21 assists and placed second on the team with 14 goals and 35 assists. She would join current junior teammate Haley Skarupa (2013) and Stack (2007) as the latest BC player to claim the WHEA’s top rookie laurel.

“Andie obviously had a great year last year,” Crowley said. “She really came on when we needed some help. She certainly came on strong for us, and has continued to do that this year. I think a lot of kids really enjoy playing with her, really want to be on her line, because she’ll set people up.”

Of Anastos’ classmate and campus roommate, the skipper offered, “Haley is feisty, and I think that’s something she continues from her Honeybaked days. She has really done a good job for us this year. She’s a kid who will shoot from anywhere, puts pressure on the other team with our forecheck and with the way she can skate.”

Crowley was courteously cautious when she underscored the common threads between the two rookies and Stack. Keller and Sullivan have ample time to burgeon, but each bring enticing skill sets and backgrounds bearing shades of the decorated Honeybaked pioneer.

Both saw action on U.S. 18-and-under national team last season, claiming silver at the World Championships. Entering this weekend, Sullivan is second among Hockey East freshmen with eight goals and 13 points.

“Tori has a little bit of a different style than we have,” Crowley said. “She sees the ice really well, and is kind of similar to a stack in that she slows down the game a bit when she has the puck and makes a really nice play.”

She added, “Keller has obviously been able to play with the national team a bit, and is a good, solid defender. She’s a big, strong kid who sees the ice really well.”

Twice in a lifetime?

While Stack spent her senior year leading BC to its most ornate season so far, the four future Eagles back in Michigan were fast-tracking to their top pre-collegiate memory together.

Anastos’ hat trick spelled the difference in Honeybaked’s 3-0 victory over the Chicago Mission in the 2011 16-and-under USA Hockey national championship game. It was the first title of its kind in any age group for the program.

Anastos and McLean also teamed up on a Michigan District title run at the 14-and-under level in 2009 and in the 19-and-under group in 2012. Sullivan went to additional national dances in 2010, 2012 and 2013.

But none of the four won another title before graduating the elite youth ranks. The passage of time and the change of scenery have more than honed their hunger to stir a sequel on NCAA ice.

“Winning the national championship back on 16-U was definitely the highlight of my hockey career,” said McLean, “especially because I was able to share the moment with Andie, Meg and Tor, who I have always been very close with.

“Knowing we have a shot at it again is awesome especially because it is something — I think — every college athlete dreams of. Winning a championship with your best friends is something special that we would remember for a lifetime.”

McLean’s word choice in that last sentence would have one believe she has yet to savor national glory with Anastos, Keller or Sullivan. Perhaps that is proof of the fresh-sheet mentality she and the other three are harboring.

They have already played a role in bringing home one elite program’s first national crown. Now all four are fastidiously bent on remaking their own triumphant narrative with new costumes, a new setting, a new supporting cast and new challenges.

They will have a maximum of three chances to deliver their dream as a group at Chestnut Hill. Not that they are showing any unnecessary patience. Even now, in the young months of their working reunion, they are forming an infectious, impactful nucleus for the rest of the roster.

“The four of them are together all the time,” said Crowley. “They were friends before they were teammates, and they’ve been through a lot of different things together.

“I think it only helps your team. They’re a great group that everybody wants to be around, so it’s something that as a coach, you know those four kids are good leaders — even though they’re young — and they’re good people as well as good hockey players.”

“We try to recruit good people and good players, and to get that combination, we’ve been very fortunate with these kids.”

 

This article originally appeared on Along the Boards