March 25, 2011
Sophomore bump
From wearing Harvard’s jersey to Team USA’s, Pearl River, N.Y., native Josephine Pucci is having a breakout season
by Mike Zhe/Staff Writer
Josephine Pucci (photo: Gil Talbot)
For the best female players growing up in the Hudson Valley region of New York, it’s not unusual to boast a background that includes lengthy stints playing with and against boys.
It wasn’t unusual for Josephine Pucci. Of course, her introduction to the game came from skating with a man.
Pucci, a sophomore defenseman at Harvard, is enjoying a breakout year, regardless of whether the Crimson push their way into NCAA tournament. Three times, the Pearl River, N.Y., native has earned the right to pull on the Team USA sweater, and she’s a candidate to make the U.S. squad for the Women’s World Championship in Switzerland in April.
With 11 goals and 24 points, she’s the fourth-leading scorer on a Harvard team that surged in the second half and finished second in ECAC Hockey behind second-ranked Cornell. She’s a physical, two-way player who’s also one of three finalists for the “best defensive defenseman” award in the league.
“She’s having a really good year,” said Harvard coach Katey Stone. “She’s a dynamic player and tough as nails.”
Pucci is also a self-made player. Neither of her parents played hockey. But when a 5-year-old Josephine expressed an interest in skating and, soon after, the gloves and sticks that went with it, it was her father, Victor, who laced up his own skates and joined her.
“He got me into the sport, taught me the basics,” she said. “He was always a fan of the game and knew the game, and we kind of learned to skate together.”
It was the start of not just a great hockey career, but also a family infatuation. Middle sister Samantha, now 17, will play for Division 3 Utica College next year, while Victoria, 16, is skating at the Canterbury School.
“I remember the first day,” said Josephine. “My dad found a rink close to our home. He got the whole family in the car and, since then, we’ve all been skating.”
Pucci hasn’t just been skating. She’s been skating well.
After growing up playing with programs like the Ramapo (N.J.) Saints and Connecticut Stars, Pucci made the decision to leave home and board at Choate in Wallingford, Conn. -- a 90-minute ride from Pearl River without traffic, which is never.
Pucci thrived at Choate, on and off the ice. She was the team’s MVP as a junior and senior, and as a sophomore helped the team win a New England prep championship. In a program that boasts four Olympians as alumni – Angela Ruggiero, Kim Insalaco, Julie Chu and current Wisconsin star Hilary Knight – there are plenty of interested eyes at Choate wondering if Pucci will be the fifth.
“We’d love to add her to the list,” said Courtney Riepenhoff, her coach at Choate and a former classmate and teammate of Chu’s.
After a freshman year at Harvard that saw her put up 4-9-13 totals, playing in every game for a team that reached the NCAA quarterfinals before losing to Cornell, Pucci was selected by USA Hockey for its Under-22 Select team that played three games against Canada in August. The Americans lost all three, but the experience was invaluable.
“I was so excited,” she said. “That was my first time having the opportunity to wear the USA jersey. I did everything I could to prepare. I came back to Cambridge and trained all summer. Going up to Canada to play Canada, I learned so much.”
Next up was the Four Nations Cup in Newfoundland, where she’d be teammates with many of the women that helped the U.S. earn a silver medal at the Vancouver Olympics, and have been among the sport’s biggest names for years.
“She looked like she belonged,” said Stone, who’s coaching the U.S. national team this year. “She played with confidence and composure, and played physical when other kids might not have.”
The holidays brought a trip to Blaine, Minn., to train at USA Hockey’s Winter Training Camp with 40 of the country’s top players. And she was one of nine defensemen named to the preliminary U.S. roster that will gather April 4-12 in Ann Arbor, Mich., in preparation for the Women’s World Championship. The final 21-player team will be announced April 9.
Before that, Pucci will try to help second-place Harvard (15-10-4, 14-5-3 ECAC Hockey) reach a second straight NCAA tournament. Because of the non-conference losses that piled up early in the year, the Crimson may need to win the ECAC Hockey tournament to guarantee a spot in the field. As New York Hockey Journal went to press, they were preparing to host third-place Dartmouth in a semifinal at the Bright Center.
At 5-foot-8 and 157 pounds, Pucci isn’t the size of a Ruggiero, but she plays a hard-nosed game that she began honing at an early age.
“I try to be as physical as I can be while staying within the rules,” she said. “I played with the boys when I was younger and that taught me to be physical, to battle in the corners, the 50/50 battles.”
“She definitely developed it as she got older,” said Riepenhoff. “As a 14-year-old, sitting in my classroom in the fall of her freshman year, she was a skinny little girl. She’s not a huge player now, certainly not by Division 1 standards, but physically, she’s a big player.”
After this year, she’s developing some big dreams, too.
Mike Zhe can be reached at mzhe@nyhockeyjournal.com.
