After a win in the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey Under-18 Women’s World Championship in Hungary, the U.S. team gathered in the locker room and danced — to Miley Cyrus’ hit “Party in the USA.” The team, forward Brooke Ahbe ’18 said, was determined to celebrate in style on its way to an eventual silver-medal this spring.
Back in the U.S., fans and supporters of the Big Green women’s hockey team are hoping that Ahbe will have a few more reasons to celebrate over the next four years. The standout recruit from Colorado, who has been open about her desire to represent her country in the 2018 or 2022 Olympics, will arrive in Hanover with four invitations to play with the national team camp under her belt, in addition to her appearance with a competitive U.S. squad last March.
“Everything we got back from her school was what a great person in the classroom, a leader, a hard worker she was,” head coach Mark Hudak said. “Any coach — I think any school — wants something like that.”
Hockey runs in the Ahbe family. Her father, a former collegiate player in Ontario and current coach, first taught her to skate at the age of 3, she said. Ahbe soon moved on to wearing her brother’s hockey equipment around the house, and experienced a major moment in her career at 7 — when a member of the national team visited her rink in Colorado before a game against Canada.
“That’s probably really when the dream started,” Ahbe said. “I went to their game too, and it was just such a cool environment. It just really looked like the job was awesome, to travel around the world to play hockey.”
By the time she reached high school, Ahbe had established herself as enough of a standout that she could do some traveling of her own, leaving Colorado after her sophomore year to suit up for Shattuck-St. Mary’s school, a national hockey powerhouse.
Director of girls’ hockey at Shattuck-St.Mary’s Gordie Stafford said that he was immediately impressed by Ahbe’s work ethic and drive.
Ahbe, he said, was as hard a worker and as dedicated an athlete as any player he had coached in his career.
“When she came to Shattuck, I don't even know that she was necessarily on USA Hockey’s radar,” Stafford said. “And she ended up making the U-18 national team.”
Hudak said that Ahbe had been on the Big Green’s radar since her freshman and sophomore years. Her competitive spirit, he said, initially caught the eye of the Big Green.
“It’s a huge piece of competing at this level,” Hudak said. “There’s a lot of players out there who work hard, but there is a difference between the kid who works hard and the kid who is really competing out there. That was something we noticed right away.”
Off the ice, both Hudak and Stafford were effusive in their praise of Ahbe’s personal qualities. Stafford, who taught Ahbe in American literature at Shattuck-St.Mary’s and also served as her senior advisor, said that he was continually impressed by Ahbe’s excitement for learning, calling her a “catalyst for discussion” in class. Stafford also praised Ahbe’s genuine excitement for learning.
Looking to the future, Ahbe said that she hopes to hit the ground running in her first year at Hanover. Among other goals, Ahbe said, she hopes to maintain consistency in her play and become an impact player.
In addition to Ahbe, the Big Green will gain four additional recruits this fall: Elena Horton ’18, a forward from Cincinnati, Hailey Noronha ’18, a defenseman from Ontario, Casey Nunnelly ’18, a Massachusetts-based goalie, and Morgan Turner '18, a forward from Chicago.
Captain Karlee Odland ’15 said that the team hopes its new members, including Ahbe, will have a quick impact on the team.
“I think our whole team is really pumped about meeting these girls,” Odland said. “We’re looking forward to this year.”
