Katie Woodward will be returning this year as right wing for the Women’s team. Woodward, a native of Keene, NH, and four-year veteran of the squad, is a senior majoring in Electronic Media, Arts, and Communication and hopes to find a job in advertising design following graduation.
Woodward has been playing hockey since she joined the PeeWee league in sixth grade. “I had guy friends who played,” she said, “and it always looked like fun. I dragged one of my girl friends to tryouts because I didn’t want to be the only one there.” Woodward made the cut, and was one of only three girls on the traditionally boys team. In fact, she counts among her biggest influences her coach from those early years. “He really taught me the most. He taught me to love the game of hockey.”
Woodward brings to the ice a strong dedication to the sport and her team. “When I look around and see the other people on the team working hard, it really makes me want to work harder as well,” she said. When asked what she did off the ice, the response was simple: “Relax. Sleep, eat, hockey—that’s about it.”
When prepping for a game, Woodward is always pumped up by the team’s pre-game discussion. While music blares in the background, every member of the team describes their goal for the match. “It really gets me going, gets me envisioning what I have to do in the game. I envision the goals, how I’m going to score.”
Her favorite game? An easy and quick answer for Woodward. “Definitely the Manhattanville game,” she said. “ECAC finals last year. We lost, but that was a great game.” Got a favorite player? “Definitely Steve Yezerman [of the Detroit Red Wings].”
Woodward will definitely be a strong contributor to the team, even if you don’t look at her player statistics, which are quite strong: 25 goals and 34 assists in 75 games puts her second on the Engineers.
