ACHIEVING AND LEADING / ATHLETIC NEWS
Hockey alums return to Lake Placid for NWHL BY ANDY FLYNN GUEST WRITER AND EDITOR, LAKE PLACID NEWS
The 1980 Rink in the Herb Brooks Arena is home ice for three Northwood School alumni who returned here to play professional hockey in the National Women’s Hockey League “bubble” season between Jan. 23 and Feb. 5. Brooke White-Lancette, class of 1998, and 2015 graduates Cailey Hutchison and Alyson Matteau spoke with the Lake Placid News on Monday, Jan. 18, five days before their first games at the Olympic Center. The shortened season was necessary due to the coronavirus pandemic. BROOKE WHITE-LANCETTE , 41, is a forward
on the Minnesota Whitecaps. This is her 17th season with the team. When she attended Northwood School, she had to play on the junior varsity and varsity boys’ teams; there wasn’t a girls’ hockey team until the 1999-2000 season. She also played on the all-girls community team, the Lake Placid Rockets. “That was the first time I played girls hockey,” she said, “because coming from California, I played guys hockey growing up all the way through.” After graduating from Northwood, WhiteLancette played at Northeastern University from 1998 to 2003. During that time, she took a year off from college to take part in the U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team residency in Lake Placid during the winter of 2000-2001. She played in the 2001 World Championships and pre-Olympic Tour and participated in several development camps for the national program.
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White-Lancette enjoys playing a leadership role on the Whitecaps. Her biggest piece of advice for the younger generation? “Just enjoy what you’re doing. Have fun. And if you’re having fun, you’ll keep playing.” CAILEY HUTCHISON , 23, is a forward on the
Metropolitan Riveters. This is her second season on the team. “When I was a freshman at Northwood, until my senior year, my goal was to play at a Division I school and make a USA world championship team or an Olympic team,” she said. “So, toward the end of my Northwood career, I started learning about different opportunities to play professional.” Hutchison said her experience at Northwood shaped her as a person and a hockey player. “I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today without it,” she said. “I learned so much about myself. I knew before going to Northwood I loved hockey, but Northwood helped me find my purpose, what I wanted to do with hockey, and led me to achieve my goals playing Division I and now playing professionally, playing at one of the highest levels I could possibly play in.” Hutchison played hockey for the University of Maine, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in child development. She is currently earning a nursing degree at Stony Brook University. At the University of Maine, she played with fellow Northwood graduate and teammate Alyson Matteau. They were college roommates.
Former Northwood teammates Cailey Hutchison ’15 and Alyson Matteau ’15 catch up in Lake Placid.
ALYSON MATTEAU , 23, grew up in Montreal, Quebec, and began playing hockey when she was 5 or 6 years old. Her father, Stephane Matteau, played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League, and he was a member of the New York Rangers 1994 Stanley Cup championship team. Her brother Stefan currently plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the NHL. Matteau plays defense with the Buffalo Beauts. This is her first season with the team after taking a year off from hockey after graduating from the University of Maine with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Matteau spent her junior and senior years of high school playing for Northwood, which was key preparation for a hockey career as a Black Bear and a Beaut. “It definitely opened up my options of looking into colleges in the U.S., so I was able to continue my growth in hockey,” she said. “And it was good to be on the ice every day, as opposed to when I was back home, it was only once or twice a week. So that was a really big difference in my development.” (This story was used by permission of the Lake Placid News.)
