Kathryn Noreen is bundled up in a dark red uniform.
The familiar colors are covering various pads and gear as she tries to stay warm on a frozen sheet of ice while crashing opponents into the boards and firing pucks at masked net minders.
This time, however, the swatches are not Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears’ red and black but are the red, dark blue and white of the Daniel Webster College Eagles.
“College hockey is the greatest thing,” Noreen, 19, said. “I am living the dream, playing the sport I love at a higher level that I have never even imagined.”
On Friday Noreen and the Eagles played the first-ever women’s hockey game for NCAA Division III Daniel Webster.
“It was amazing hearing my name for the starting line up,” Noreen said. “A big crowd, tons of kids from school showed up.”
The score was not in favor of the Eagles who fell 12-1 to the deeper NCAA Division II Franklin Pierce Ravens (1-0), a team coming off a 20-win season a year ago.
Noreen stole the puck in the neutral zone and passed to teammate Brittany Tierney for the Eagles’ historic first goal, meaning Noreen had the team’s historic first assist.
“It felt very awesome,” Noreen said.
The goal tied the score at 1-1 at the 10:56 mark of the first period.
The Ravens took the action the rest of the game for the win.
“I think it was good for our first game,” Noreen said. “We were a little tired running three defenders, but now we know what college hockey is. It is fast.”
The ice road
Noreen is now in her 10th season of playing hockey.
She began with four years in the Juneau Douglas Ice Association’s house league, played as a freshman for JDHS, played as a sophomore in Fairbanks for the Alaska Ice Breakers girl’s comp team, and returned to the Crimson Bears to earn ice time as a junior and major shift time as a senior.
Noreen graduated from JDHS in 2014 along with Crimson Bears’ ice mates Ethan Seid, Logan Coleman, Zach Easton, Neal Chapman, Liam McDermott and Anchorage transfer Josh Lahnum.
The Boston Jr. Blades Hockey team, a 19U women’s program affiliated with the Boston Blades professional women’s team, had contacted Noreen her senior year but she wanted to graduate in Juneau.
After graduation Noreen spent the summer running her dad’s gillnetter, the F.V. Ritz, then joined the Jr. Blades and played from August through December 2014.
“It was awesome because I was playing on a women’s team instead of men’s like I had my whole life,” Noreen said. “We went to a lot of different showcase tournaments and it was cool looking into the stands and seeing scouts, which we don’t get a lot of in Alaska.”
The team played in various tournaments including Harvard and New York. They home-iced at Cranston, Rhode Island and the University of Massachusetts in Boston.
“The women’s game, in my opinion, is a lot more systematic,” Noreen said. “You can’t just come in and hit them and take the puck, you have to play off what they do. There is a lot more learning and paying attention to who is going where. It was less intense. I am not standing at the blue line and as soon as I let go of the puck I am getting hit. It was nice.”
Checking is not allowed as Noreen discovered.
“There was a tournament in Canada,” Noreen said. “A girl was about twice my size and I didn’t really go to hit her but I stopped right in front of her as she entered our zone and got the penalty because I fell and stood her up. You are not allowed to use your body like that. You can do rub outs in the corner but you can’t full on check people into the boards and stuff.”
Noreen continues to make her mark as a defensive standout.
“I am not a goal scorer, I am a play maker,” Noreen said. “I think I had two goals that were mine last year, but I played defense for the sixth year in a role. There is not really much women’s hockey on the West Coast so this got me exposure and allowed schools to see me.”
College
During the Jr. Blades season coach Digit Murphy, a former D1 coach and top-five-all-time leader in career wins at Brown University, was contacted by DWC coach David “DJ” Fimiani. After several discussions with Noreen they suggested early enrollment at DWC and she began school there January 10, 2015.
“At the time the girls we had in, including Kathryn, were playing with our men’s club team as the Eagles were out recruiting for the women’s first season this year,” Fimiani said. “Kathryn came in and demonstrated right away her willingness and commitment to become a better player and once this school year started, she became a leader with our off-ice conditioning and workouts. She was taking the lead on some projects and handling recruits when we have them on campus, working the Alaska connection with perspective student-athletes from Alaska playing out East. Kathryn is going to be a staple on our blue line for the next four years.”
DWC has had a men’s team for three seasons. Now the women have joined the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Women’s Ice Hockey League.
The ECAC North Atlantic is comprised of eight institutions: DWC, Becker College, Endicott College, Johnson & Wales University, Morrisville State College, Salem State University, Stevenson University and SUNY Canton.
The ECAC East has 14 members: Saint Michael’s College, University of Southern Maine, Franklin Pierce University, University of Massachusetts Boston, Manhattanville College, Norwich University, Nichols College, Saint Anselm College, Castleton State College, College of the Holy Cross, University of New England, New England College, Plymouth State University and Salve Regina University.
The ECAC West has 10 members: Plattsburgh St., Chatham, Potsdam St., William Smith, Oswego St., Cortland St., Neumann, Elmira, Utica and Buffalo St.
The Eagles
The DWC hockey team practices daily at 6 a.m., something Noreen was familiar with while at JDHS.
“It is not a bad transition,” Noreen said. “Except I don’t live right up the hill from Treadwell Arena any more.”
Noreen stays on campus. The women’s team all live on the same dorm floor and the rink is a 15-minute drive. She has scheduled her classrooms for Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
“I set it up so I could have Tuesday and Thursday off for staying on the ice longer,” Noreen said.
She also stays longer on the ice to help other teammates on their hockey skills.
On Wednesday of last week Noreen was voted Daniel Webster College Women’s Ice Hockey’s first ever team captain by her teammates.
“Kathryn has developed into a leader of this team through her example on and off the ice that goes hand in hand with her work ethic,” Fimiani said. “She will have the honor and privilege of wearing the C along with her assistant captains Kerrigan Toth (Maryland) and Jennifer Johnson (Gillette, Wyoming). We have come a long way from where we were a year ago and it is going to take a lot of work, especially from Kathryn, and she knows it and wants to take it all on head first.”
Fimiani said the team stood and applauded when the announcement was made.
“I was extremely excited,” Noreen said. “This is a new team and I kind of took charge right off the bat, ran the workouts and such. I was really working hard for it. I was super nervous when we were voting and when the coach announced it I felt great. I feel like I earned it. It was cool when they cheered. I feel like I am approachable.”
“The game is a lot more serious in college,” Noreen said. “In Juniors, you are kind of playing for yourself because you are trying to be seen by colleges. Whereas in college you are playing for your team and you depend on them to help out. You are playing your best for both obviously.”
Junior’s hockey was more of a show up and skate. College hockey has warm-ups, zamboni appearances before the puck drop and between periods, the national anthem and lineup announcements.
“It is really official,” Noreen said. “I am super excited.”
Next goal
Noreen returned to fish the Ritz between her stint with the Blades and joining DWC. She will do that every summer and is planning to make her commercial fishing life a part of her college business management major.
“I want to end up doing something with marketing and owning a business where I buy fish and travel around the world and sell it,” Noreen said. “Market it around the world so I can go to places like Hawaii.”
Noreen said skates, pads and a stick will go along.
“Oh yeah, I don’t ever want to quit playing hockey,” Noreen said.
2014 JDHS graduate Kathryn Noreen is shown playing in the first-ever Daniel Webster College women’s hockey game on Friday. Noreen was selected captain of the Eagles.
