February 28, 2011
World of opportunity
Plattsburgh’s Steadman giving herself a chance to experience collegiate and Olympic glory
by Mike Zhe/Staff Writer
Kelly Steadman
Kelley Steadman was in her first year playing hockey at Northwood School, and the stars were out.
During its pre-Winter Olympic tour in 2006, the U.S national team stopped in Lake Placid, N.Y., to play a game at Herb Brooks Arena. Afterward, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the Olympic Village, they set up tables and signed autographs for local fans and teams.
Steadman, then a sophomore, and her teammates entered the room and were immediately noticed.
“Kelly walks in and one of the players says, ‘Look at the size of her feet!’” recalled Tom Broderick, then the girls’ varsity coach at Northwood. “She was wearing size 11½ boys back then. Here are the Olympians, (Julie) Chu and (Angela) Ruggiero, passing the shoe all around. All the players are giving her a hard time.”
These days, Steadman (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) is one of the top players on a fifth-ranked Mercyhurst team that’s on the short list of potential Division 1 champions. She recently returned from USA Hockey’s women’s winter training camp in Blaine, Minn., where she worked out with 40 of the country’s top players, including some of those same Olympians.
“I’m known for my big feet,” she said. “I should have brought that up with them.” Standing 5-foot-11 — “6-1 on skates,” she noted — Steadman cuts an imposing figure on the ice. But there’s some good skill in the package, too.
“For a big player, I think I have some speed,” she said. ”There are a lot of big players who can’t handle the puck or skate that fast.”
Now, in her junior season at Mercyhurst, Steadman is continuing to put her best foot forward. Her 15 goals are fourth most on the team, and with 15-11-26 totals in late January, she was on track for her most productive season yet.
“She plays center, she plays wing, she plays on different lines and power-play units,” said Mercyhurst coach Mike Sisti (Buffalo N.Y.). “She’s very versatile.”
One-game-at-a-time is a popular mantra in college hockey these days. But it’s particularly tough at Mercyhurst, which is hosting the Frozen Four for the first time in April. In late January, more than 3,000 tickets had been sold, many to fans eager to cheer on the hometown team.
“Every year, (getting to the Frozen Four) is one of our goals, so there’s no more or less pressure,” Sisti said. “But it’s one of those things you can’t get away from. There are signs all over the rink. It’s on the news. You can’t miss it.”
Since the league that Mercyhurst has dominated in recent years — the five-team College Hockey America — has no automatic bid to the eight-team NCAA tournament, the Lakers (20-5-0) will need a total body of work to gain entry. They sat fifth in the PairWise Rankings in late January, and probably can’t afford more than one stumble the rest of the way.
“It’s always there in the back of your head,” said Steadman, who reached the Frozen Four as a both a freshman and sophomore. “You don’t want to be the team that hosts and isn’t there.”
Northwood School followers (see Page 36) can even envision a tournament game between the Lakers and No. 8 Boston College, which counts among its best players sophomore defenseman Blake Bolden. Bolden was a year behind Steadman at Northwood and the two have remained close friends.
“That would be great,” Steadman said. “Blake and I were roommates for two years at Northwood. We definitely became pretty close.”
Steadman credits her parents, Robert and Nancy, for the development of her career, driving her all over the region growing up. She picked up the game in the wake of her brother, Joe, who is four years older and played goalie.
“That’s kind of how I got started,” she said. “I started skating all the time because we had a rink in our backyard. I probably wouldn’t even be playing if not for him.”
Broderick, who spent a total of 20 years as the boys’ and then the girls’ varsity coach at Northwood School, said Steadman hadn’t really been pushed as a player before she arrived, and though her talent level was high, she wasn’t totally invested on every shift.
“Kelley, at an early age, learned to coast,” he said. “The issue was consistency. She clearly has some of the best speed in the nation.”
At Mercyhurst, she was in the lineup every night her first two years. She scored 13 goals as a freshman as the Lakers reached the Div. 1 championship game in Boston, then topped it with 15-13-28 totals last season as they reached the national semifinals, losing to Cornell in overtime.
“Work ethic,” Sisti said, when asked where Steadman has made the biggest strides. “She was a player who would go in spurts. She wouldn’t always play hard without the puck. She’s become a more complete player in that sense.”
On another team, she might be the star. But her teammates include Meghan Agosta, the leading scorer in Div. 1 and the MVP of last year’s Winter Olympics; reigning Patty Kazmaier Award winner Vicki Bendus; and snipers such as Bailey Bram and Jesse Scanzano.
Getting invited to the winter training camp was Steadman’s first experience with USA Hockey since the World Under-18 Championship in 2008. She also learned in late January she’d been selected for the U.S. team that will take part in the World Women’s Championship in Switzerland in April.
The 2014 Winter Olympics may be three years away, but Steadman’s certainly … well, got her foot in the door.
“I have a long way to go until the Olympics,” she said, “but if I can keep going like this, nothing’s out of reach.”
“I think Kelley has yet to peak as a player,” Broderick said, “which is scary.”
Mike Zhe can be reached at mzhe@nyhockeyjournal.com
