Last March, led by MVP Julia Pellerin and eight other seniors, the New Hampton Huskies upset Groton in the Dorothy Howard Small School Tournament to win the NEPSAC championship.
This year, head coach Craig Churchill’s squad will look to a solid junior class to defend its title.
Returning forward junior Kennedy Walker (Middleton, Mass.) and newcomer True Thompson from the Little Caesars AAA program in Detroit will help lead the way, not only with their hockey skills but by bringing more diversity into the sport and being role models for other young girls.
They share a background as minorities in a predominantly White sport. Walker is Black and Thompson is First Nation Cree.
The two have become friends from their past years at USA development camps and are excited to be teammates this winter at New Hampton.
Walker grew up in Michigan and never had a Black hockey teammate until she got to New Hampton and met Taylor Settles (Newton, Mass.).
“It was hard to find much diversity in hockey growing up. I would get funny looks from the parents sometimes, but not other kids,” Walker said.
Walker looks to Sarah Nurse, who recently signed with the Toronto franchise in the new Professional Women's Hockey League, as a prominent role model for Black girls in hockey. “I have seen her play in person and what she is doing on and off the ice is important, and I also want to be a role model for others,” Walker said.
Thompson would also do that too.
“I am very proud of my Native American culture and being indigenous, and I hope to show other indigenous girls and boys that they can do what I am doing,” she said. "It is just awesome to be part of all of it.”
Walker and Thompson traveled different paths to New Hampton.
Walker started as a synchronized figure skater in Michigan for four years before trying out hockey.
“My first time in hockey equipment I was wearing figure skates,” she said, laughing. “I did both for a few months but then decided I wanted just to play hockey. I was 10 at the time, and have been playing ever since.”
Thompson, on the other hand, comes from a hockey family, as her father, Rocky Thompson, played 25 games in the NHL and several years in the AHL. He then went into coaching and is currently an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Flyers. Thompson was born in Peoria, Ill., where her father was coaching. She has been skating for as long as she can remember.
“My older brother Tyr and my older sister Taze played hockey, and I wanted to as well,” she said.
Walker moved to play AAA hockey at Culver Academy in Indiana for a year but it was not a good fit for her. After joining the Junior Eagles program, she played in a showcase tournament and met Churchill.
“I liked [Churchill] right away and visited New Hampton and fell in love with the campus,” Walker said. “[He] really wanted to help me develop and grow as a hockey player and person. He is very devoted to all of us.”
The Walker family even moved to Massachusetts to be closer to the school's campus in New Hampton, N.H.
Thompson, however, bounced around as her father’s coaching career took her to several new cities.
“I played mainly for the San Jose Junior Sharks, the Chicago Mission and Little Caesars this past year with my dad in Philly," she said. "I stayed with many teammates and friends in Detroit to practice, play in games and tournaments and my mom would come out and take me to Philly during breaks.”
As for New Hampton, it was the only prep school Thompson would go to if she was going to that route.
“My sister Taze (who plays for Northeastern University) played at New Hampton and loved it and I felt it paved the way for me,” Thompson said. “I look forward to being with new teammates, classmates, teachers, and coaches and feel my moving around has made me adaptable.”
Alongside their different development paths, they’re also completely different players. While Walker, a 5-foot-8 power forward, likes to forecheck hard and play the boards, Thompson is a 5-foot-8, smooth-skating defender who likes getting the puck up ice and joining the rush.
Walker has been working with trainer Mike Boyle since May. She has also been working with Toni Ann Miano and Dan Holland, two power skating coaches, and skating with the East Coast Wizards.
Thompson is also on the East Coast Wizards but has been splitting her time between Massachusetts and Philadelphia. While in Philadelphia she has been able to use the Flyers practice rink and facilities training with her sister Taze and her father.
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Walker and Thompson made the Top 40 at USA Hockey’s U18 development camp at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in July. She also was chosen to advance to the Lake Placid camp. Both still have a chance to be selected for the U18 team. The tournament will be in Switzerland in January.
When Division 1 recruiting opened this summer, both girls heard from numerous schools and said they plan to visit this fall and winter. That's one reason for Walker and Thompson to be motivated this winter. So, too, is making the U18 team and helping New Hampton defend its title.
But they are also motivated by inspiring players of different cultures and backgrounds to play the sport they love: hockey.
