Her head not yet reaching the crossbar, she would play goaltender and face a barrage of shots.
Wrist shots. Slap shots. Shots designed to sail inside a post. Or go through her.
Caroline Harvey didn’t mind the physical pain, even if the shooters were much bigger, and boys. One of the boys blasting shots was her brother Nolan, who was four years older. He was often accompanied by friends.
“They were killing me but I loved competing with them,” she said of her street hockey days growing up in Groton, Mass. “They pushed me to get to the next level. Sometimes I’d cry. When I won it felt great.”
To understand the competitive fire that fuels Harvey, now 19 and one of the top under-20 women’s hockey players in the world, it’s important to realize she didn’t cry during those early days because she was in pain from getting hit with street hockey balls. She sometimes shed a few tears because she allowed goals to her brother and his friends.
“I’m grateful for all those experiences,” she said.
Harvey lived in Groton for the first 11 years of her life. She then moved with her family to New Hampshire, just over the border, first to Pelham and then to Salem, where she’s spent the past four years.
Her hockey journey has taken her all over the world. Next stop: The University of Wisconsin, where the 5-foot-7 defender will try to lead the Badgers to the 2022-23 national championship.
Nicknamed “KK,” Harvey is expected to be one of college hockey’s top incoming players.
Wisconsin associate head coach Dan Koch, who has coached seven All-American defenders, is excited to see Harvey take the ice.
“The offensive game is something she’s really been working on the last couple of years,” Koch said. “She’s very good at making a good first pass. She has a very heavy shot. She can defend very well. Obviously you have to defend first.”
Harvey became an elite recruit at age 15. Her size, speed and passion for the game put her on the radar of Division 1 colleges. She had plenty of options, but Harvey said Wisconsin stood out early in the process.
She was scheduled to play for the Badgers last season, but her plans changed when she was picked to represent the United States at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. The youngest player on the American roster, Harvey played in seven games, including the gold-medal game against Canada.
To make the U.S. squad, Harvey had to settle her nerves. Many of the players at camp were ones she had spent a decade looking up to.
“I was just taking it day by day at the camp. I was pretty star struck,” she said. “I had to calm down. Inside I was freaking out. But after a couple of skates at camp it became more normal. They become your friends and your sisters. At first it was a tough transition, adapting to being with older players. It took some time to build relationships. I definitely got comfortable moving on.”
The sting of losing the gold-medal game to Canada, 3-2, is still felt deeply.
But Harvey is grateful for playing on women’s hockey’s biggest stage against the best players in the world while still a teenager. She brought home a silver medal, a plus-one rating and memories that will last a lifetime.
“It was pretty incredible. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It was something I will obviously remember. Sometimes I had to pinch myself. Honestly I felt a lot more pressure at worlds the summer prior. I felt a little bit more comfortable. I surprised myself. You just need to stay relaxed. Just take a deep breath,” she said.
Now she's ready for another showcase event. Harvey is on the U.S. roster for the Women's World Championship that begins play Aug. 25.
Those experiences should prepare her for suiting up for Wisconsin, a national power in search of a seventh NCAA championship.
“As a team we’d like to win a national championship, honestly,” she said. “Anyone would say that, but I think we have a really good shot, a really good team. I know when it gets hard as a team we can get through anything. I’ll do whatever I can to help the team.”
Expectations are high as Harvey enters her freshman season. That’s OK with Harvey. She’s used to the spotlight.
“I go back to the basics. I know how to do this,” she said. “I’ve done this so many times. It’s just another level.”
Koch expects Harvey to make an immediate impact at Wisconsin. He said Harvey’s skill-set reminds him of defender Meaghan Mikkelson, who tallied 114 points at Wisconsin from 2003-07 before representing Canada in three Olympic Games.
“She takes to the ice every day with a smile on her face,” he said of Harvey. “She needs to continue to evolve all her skills.”
Harvey began figure skating when she was 3. Another sport that requires skates soon caught her attention, though, when her father would bring Nolan to hockey practice. She begged her father to bring her to the rink.
“I used to watch my brother,” she said. “He was a role model of mine growing up. I obviously wanted to watch him and do what he did.”
David Harvey played high school hockey in Massachusetts, while Martha was a three-sport star at Lawrence Academy who went to play two sports at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.
It wasn’t long before Harvey’s figure skating skills translated to the rink. She has continued to work hard on her skating, crediting former Merrimack College player David Breen with honing her technique.
Harvey’s road to a Division 1 scholarship and the Olympics began when she moved to Rochester, N.Y., in eighth grade to play for Selects Hockey Academy.
“I was homesick the first couple of weeks. I was a homebody. But I adapted,” she said. “I think it was the best thing for me at the time.”
She played four seasons for Selects before spending her senior season with the North American Hockey Academy in Wellesley, Mass.
Harvey led the Selects Academy U-19 team to New York state championships her sophomore and junior seasons and was named team MVP following her junior campaign.
Harvey knew her summer wouldn't exactly be a leisurely one. She spent several weeks in Wisconsin, skating and working out with her teammates.
“It’s been good to get to Wisconsin and get with all the athletes,” she said. “The kids all welcomed me. You feel at home. They’re really inclusive.”
In announcing a seven-member freshman class, Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson said of Harvey, “It’ll be exciting for our fans to watch her.”
After returning to New Hampshire to spend time with her family, which includes her parents, David and Martha, her brother, Nolan, 23, and her sister, Grace, 20, she’s been training for the World Championship.
She would love to get another crack at rival Canada.
“I know how badly I want to be part of the team and get revenge against Canada. The rivalry fires you up so much,” she said. “Even in warmups you give each other bad looks. There’s always some type of fight during a game that sets the tone. It’s like the best thing ever.”
She is no stranger to international competition. At the 2020 Women’s World Championship she tallied a goal and two assists while shining for the U.S. Harvey finished the tournament with a plus-8.
She calls fellow defenders Kacey Bellamy (Westfield, Mass.) and Megan Keller two of her role models. Except for a brief stint as a goaltender, Harvey has played defense her whole career.
“You can see all the ice. I like to see the play develop,” she said. “I’m an offensive defenseman.”
