The women’s hockey team has achieved unprecedented success this season, setting a school record for home wins. Much of that is due to the hard work and dedication of players like junior forward Deanna Dougherty.
Dougherty is second on the team both in goals scored—with 14—and total points—with 32. Twenty-seven of those points have come in conference play.
“I’ve never had this much fun playing hockey and have never been on a team with this much talent,” said Dougherty.
A native of nearby Albany, Dougherty has been playing hockey since she was eleven years old. Her dad had tried to convince her to take up the sport three years before that, but Dougherty only enjoyed playing softball and basketball at the time. She quickly changed her mind, however, when her little brother began playing hockey. “It just looked like so much fine. I love it. It’s probably one of the best things I’ve gotten into,” said Dougherty.
Dougherty credits much of her team’s success to the strong chemistry among the players, who have become friends both on and off the ice. They often go bowling together and regularly send out team e-mails about their happenings during school vacations. “We’re always thinking about the hockey team,” said Dougherty.
In order to prepare for hockey’s grueling schedule of 29 regular season games between November and March, Dougherty and her teammates are committed to a rigorous routine of lifting, running, and agility development. “It really impresses me the way everyone works hard day in and day out ... everyone is so disciplined,” said Dougherty.
Dougherty hopes that the hard work they have put in this year will lead to winning an ECAC Championship, and maybe even RPI’s first Women’s Hockey NCAA Championship. “I think that [a championship win] would just be the icing on the cake for this year. It would just be a fitting end to this season. I think that it would reveal a lot about team chemistry,” said Dougherty.
She noted that her team has the ability to bounce back from difficult losses because their determination creates a feeling of “never being satisfied, always wanting more.”
In order for them to win the conference tournament, it is likely that the women’s hockey team will need to defeat their rival Manhattanville in the finals, something they have been unable to do recently. RPI lost both games played against Manhattanville three weekends ago.
“If we’re going to face them in the finals, we know now what we have to do to beat them, and I think everyone’s ready,” said Dougherty.
In addition to being a star player on the ice, Dougherty has also excelled academically at RPI. Dougherty is earning dual degrees in psychology and management in a five-year master’s program, and eventually wants to become a sports psychologist. She had a 4.0 GPA last semester and has a cumulative GPA of 3.66.
“After next year, it’s time to enter the real world. I’m here [primarily] to get a degree,” said Dougherty. Nineteen of her teammates also made the dean’s list last year because “everyone works on and off the ice.”
With the tremendous success of the WNBA basketball league and WUSA soccer league in recent years, Dougherty feels that it might be possible to create a women’s hockey league at the professional level. “It’s something they should really think about starting. I think it could be the same as the WNBA. I would do it in a heart beat,” she said.
