Woodstock
Kuhn, who played club hockey as a freshman, produced 22 goals and two assists as a Woodstock sophomore before putting up 21 goals and eight assists last winter. The defenseman’s end-to-end rushes became more measured as the Wasps improved and didn’t need her to carry their offense every night. She caught the eye of NAHA scouts this summer, when she played so often that, at one point, she’d been on the ice for 10 consecutive days.
“It got hard toward the end,” Kuhn said last weekend, between Woodstock soccer games at the Rivendell preseason jamboree. “I missed out on a lot of social stuff over the summer.”
While Kuhn will miss her senior hockey season with the Wasps, she’ll get to play part of a soccer season before she attends NAHA from Sept. 30 to March 11. Her return timing should allow her to play a spring sport for Woodstock as well, although she’s not sure if she’ll go back to softball or give tennis a try.
“Part of the reason for taking this offer was that I might not have to do a postgraduate year at a prep school,” said Kuhn, who’s targeting upper-tier NCAA Division III schools such as Middlebury as a college choice. “This way, I also don’t have to fully miss out on my senior year at Woodstock.”
Kuhn said she was recently asked to fill a spot on NAHA’s U19 team when one of its players was injured. Her parents, John Kuhn and Julie Martin, said they had initial misgivings about their daughter playing 75 games and traveling to places such as Detroit, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and Chicago with the Winterhawks. However, they don’t want to deny her such a playing opportunity.
The NAHA website shows last season’s U19 team as finishing 52-22-5 and outscoring its opponents, 205-89. The site also has a prominent “college placements” section, which lists more than 200 alumni in the NCAA ranks, dating back to 1999. They range from obscure Division III schools to the likes of Harvard, Minnesota and Boston College.
Dartmouth has been the recipient of several NAHA players, including recent graduate Mackenzie St. Onge. Emily Desmeules, from North Pomfret, attended Woodstock full time as a freshman before playing her last three prep seasons at NAHA and later skating at Yale. Hanover’s Miriam Drubel used NAHA as a springboard to playing at Colgate.
“I’ve seen Castleton State’s (Division III) team practice, and Sadie could definitely play with them,” said Woodstock coach Ian Coates. “She’s one of those players who do extra work. Maybe she could even play Division I, who knows?”
Kuhn was part of a group of female players who revitalized Woodstock’s girls hockey program at the youth and high school level in recent years. The Wasps at one point lost 61 consecutive games but were 10-10-1 during the 2015-16 season and reached the playoffs for the first time in six years. Woodstock was 15-6-1 last season and seeded second in the Vermont Division II playoffs, losing to No. 3 Missisquoi in the semifinals.
After a game against Hartford earlier in the season, during which Kuhn was clearly the best player on the ice, Hurricanes forward Caitlin Gaudet said her team knew it had to watch No. 14 every time she got the puck.
“She’s fast and strong and can get around people and finish with a really good shot,” said Gaudet, who once played club hockey with Kuhn. “She’s definitely a team player no matter what team she’s on. She can do whatever she wants with the puck, but she’s unselfish with it. I hear her talking to her team, helping them out.”
Coates, who’s heading into his fifth season at the Woodstock helm, said he was surprised to discover via an email two weeks ago that Kuhn would no longer skate with the Wasps.
“It wasn’t on my radar, but it makes sense,” said the coach, who also guided Kuhn for a year in youth hockey. “Her skating is fantastic, and she’s always been ahead of everybody else here.
“We like to win as a team, but if we needed a boost, she would look over at the bench and I’d give her a nod. You don’t have to say much for her to understand it’s time for her to make something happen.”
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.