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Her extra private achievements embody being a three-time finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, which is given to the highest feminine faculty ice hockey participant annually. She lastly gained the award on the finish of this previous season (and gave an important speech afterwards.)
What might presumably be left for her to realize? Turning into knowledgeable. For O’Brien, becoming a member of the PWHL is a part of a dream that extends again to her childhood.
“Once I was 5 or 6, I had chalkboards in my room with years written on them, and so they had been Olympic years,” stated O’Brien. “I knew from a younger age I wished to be an Olympian and play hockey.”
She was born in New York Metropolis, right into a household of 5 that included older brothers Jack and Max. As many youthful siblings do, O’Brien seemed as much as her older brothers and emulated their enjoyment of sports activities. She credit her older siblings for getting her into hockey and creating her aggressive streak.
O’Brien’s mother and father, Erika and Jamie, had been athletes. Erika performed squash at Yale whereas Jamie ran monitor at Bates. They rapidly realized their kids’s athletic potential and determined to maneuver the household to Milton, MA when O’Brien was 9.
Essentially the most transformative determination that O’Brien made early in her profession was enrolling at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, the elite prep program in Minnesota.
“With all the massive names that went there, like [Brianna] Decker, I used to be like, I must go right here. This place is my dream,” stated O’Brien.
Although she initially utilized to hitch the prep faculty in eighth grade, she ended up ready till her sophomore yr to attend. “I believe it was good that I waited these two years as a result of even once I went as a sophomore, I did get actually homesick,” stated O’Brien. “I adjusted, however it undoubtedly took a bit. I believe it was properly price it as a result of I knew my dream was to get nearly as good as I might at hockey, and Shattuck was the place to do it.”
Common messages from dwelling and journeys to see video games had been the principle methods through which her household supported her in these years. To this present day, O’Brien stays shut along with her household. Her mother and father attended practically each Wisconsin sport final season. Those they couldn’t be in individual, they watched on-line.
In the end, O’Brien made her title at Wisconsin, profitable nationwide championships and creating into a really harmful participant on the ice. “Realizing how proficient each single participant on the workforce was, I used to be simply attempting to be a sponge and study as a lot as I might,” O’Brien defined. “With out Wisconsin, with out the teammates that I had … I don’t assume I’d be wherever close to the participant I’m in the present day … that’s the place I actually rounded out my sport and discovered that being a 200-foot middle is extra precious than simply offense.”
