Craig Churchill didn’t know the name of the player. He had no idea she was the daughter of a Hobey Baker Award winner who went on to play in more than 500 National Hockey League games.
This is what he did know: The girl — he learned it was Julia Pellerin — was flying all over the ice and making plays every time she jumped over the boards.
“I had no idea who she was at the time,” said Churchill, the head girls coach at New Hampton School in New Hampton, N.H. “I think she was wearing a yellow jersey with no name on the back.”
It was a prep showcase in Massachusetts and Churchill wanted to know who the girl was.
An onlooker pointed to the girl’s dad. Churchill walked up, extended his right hand, and greeted Scott Pellerin, the 1992 Hobey Baker winner as the best men’s college player in the nation.
Churchill, a native of Durham, N.H., was well aware who Pellerin was. He had watched Pellerin and the Maine Black Bears take on the University of New Hampshire in some epic battles at Snively Arena, not far from his home.
Fast forward four years.
Julia Pellerin, 17, is in her third season at New Hampton and one of New England’s top prep school forwards.
“She’s the most fundamentally sound skater I’ve seen in my life,” Churchill said, “in boys or girls hockey. Her stride is as perfect as you would want to see. You watch NHL players and you just break down their strides, her edgework is as good or better than most of the guys in the league. Her dad has to take a lot of credit for that. She’s a real student of the game in that regard.”
The 5-foot-7 junior forward had 16 points in New Hampton’s first 12 games. She burst onto the prep school scene as a freshman, netting 18 goals and 33 points in 30 games. Last season, in a COVID-interrupted campaign, she had nine goals and 14 points in nine games.
Pellerin uses her elite skating skills to corral pucks. Once she has possession, the Windham, N.H., native is a chore to catch.
“I like to get the puck and get going. When I get my feet going, I can go, go, go. I feel like I’m on top of the world. It’s a great feeling. It’s something that I’ve worked on all of my life,” she said of her skating. “I think it’s a strength of mine on the ice. A lot of it came probably naturally because it was in the blood.”
Scott Pellerin takes no credit for his daughter’s successes.
Pellerin is still talked about with reverence at the University of Maine, where he collected 223 points in a legendary four-year career capped by the Hobey Baker award. As a pro, he played in 536 NHL games, netting 198 points for New Jersey, St. Louis, Minnesota, Carolina, Boston, Dallas and Phoenix.
The director of player development for the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2015-21, he is now a scout with the Arizona Coyotes.
“She’s very athletic and she has great body mechanics. She’s worked very hard on her edges,” Pellerin said of his daughter. “It’s nothing we pushed. I don’t take any (credit). It’s nothing about me. She’s very coachable. She’s had some great coaches throughout her time in youth hockey, people who have guided her.”
“He taught me everything that I know,” Julia said. “He says it’s all on me, but a lot of it is him. He’s a humble guy, but sometimes he’ll see some of his old games on TV and ask us to watch with him. People say we skate just like each other. Sometimes when I watch him, I’ll be like, ‘Oh, that’s what he meant when he said that.’ ”
Pellerin was coaching his son, Jacob, in youth hockey when Julia, who was 4 or 5 years old, asked to go to practice. Pellerin and his wife, Jennifer, were surprised. Pellerin agreed on one condition: Julia would have to put on skates so he could keep an eye on his daughter.
“I wanted to see my brother and my dad,” Julia said. “My dad didn’t want me to roam the rink like a little rink rat. I’m so thankful that I started that young. I fell in love with the game. My parents didn’t think I was going to be a hockey player.”
It wasn’t long before Scott Pellerin saw her passion for the game. He remembers one youth hockey practice when Julia and three boys were brought together. They were told to race several times around the rink in a certain pattern. The four took off and Julia was in the slight lead. Things got competitive. Suddenly, Julia tripped one of the boys, Blake Bazin, the son of UMass Lowell head men’s hockey coach Norm Bazin. Bazin fell to the ice, knocking down the other two boys in the process.
With a huge smile on her face, Julia won the drill in easy fashion.
Scott Pellerin says he rarely offers advice to his daughter unless she asks for it.
“When the puck drops she’s very competitive, very driven, very pro-like in her approach to the game,” he said. “We weren’t looking at the end goal. It was more about the process. Julia has a high hockey IQ. She sees the game differently.”
Pellerin made her college commitment prior to her eighth-grade season. Both her parents are University of Maine graduates. Julia’s older sister, Jordan, also attended the school.
But Julia dreamed of playing for Boston College and decided to commit to the Eagles. She said her parents, jokingly, gave her a hard time over her decision.
“They were kind of mad that I wasn’t going to be a Black Bear,” she said. “They were a bit shocked. They’re happy that I wanted to create my own path. I didn’t want to go to a place where the name (Pellerin) was a thing. I’m very thankful to have very supportive parents.”
Asked if any players act as an inspiration to her, she quickly said her brother, Jacob, a defenseman for the Maine Nordiques of the North American Hockey League who recently committed to play at the University of New England.
“I just love his work ethic,” Pellerin said. “He’s been a big part of my life.”
Churchill, in his 12th season as New Hampton’s head coach, said Julia Pellerin compares favorably to three former greats he coached - defender Cayla Barnes, who’s about to represent the U.S. at her second Olympics; Taze Thompson, a Harvard University first-year forward; and Allie Munroe, who’s playing professionally for the Connecticut Whale.
“She’s like a freight train. She just wants to go, go, go. When she gets going, it’s hard to stop her,” Churchill said. “She does such a great job on the wall. She has such command of her edges.”
For all her talent, Churchill said perhaps the most impressive thing about Pellerin is her drive to be a great teammate.
“She’s all about accountability. She’s a star player, but she doesn’t want to be treated that way,” he said.
Pellerin’s ability to play in all three zones makes her special. Other players may put up more points, but Churchill doesn’t see any prep school players he would put above her.
“You tell me a better player in the country. You could put her on a college roster right now and she would be accountable,” he said. “She’s always around the puck.”
Churchill said Pellerin has the skill set to someday make a U.S. Olympic roster.
“She’s got the skill. To be at that level it’s all about the mindset. Once she gets that mindset, that killer instinct, yeah, she’ll be there,” he said.
Pellerin is looking forward to putting on a BC uniform. But there’s plenty of work to be done before that happens.
“Boston College has always been a dream of mine,” she said. “I’m very thankful for the opportunity. I’m working hard to get there. It seems like it’s coming up quickly so I’m cherishing my time at New Hampton.”
Pellerin was a major reason New Hampton bolted out to a strong 7-3-2 start.
“I think we have a real good future. It will depend on how we stick together,” she said.
Julia is proud of the Pellerin name, even if it sometimes creates tough expectations.
“There is pressure to live up to his history,” she says of her dad. “He’s a male hockey player. I’m a female hockey player. You can’t compare the two.”
Pellerin, also a talented lacrosse player, isn’t afraid of putting in the work to get better.
“She has high expectations for herself. It’s been really good. We had some options with prep schools, but New Hampton was by far the best choice for us as a family,” Scott Pellerin said. “Coach Churchill has done a really good job.”
For Churchill, it all comes back to that day scouting in Massachusetts. The day he spotted the girl in the yellow jersey. The one who, as it turned out, had the famous last name.
