After prolific college career, top prospect Casey O'Brien aims to bring 'fearless' game to PWHL

Inside Casey O'Brien's chamber closet astatine location successful Martha's Vineyard, Mass., you'll find respective pieces of paper, immoderate with words and others with pictures, taped to the wrong of the door.

They're a ocular reminder of everything she wants to execute successful hockey, and a glimpse of what she's moving toward each clip she opens the closet door.

As she checked goals 1 disconnected the list, she'd determination each gaffe of insubstantial from 1 broadside of the closet to the opposite.

Earning a Division 1 assemblage hockey scholarship? She checked that disconnected erstwhile she went to the University of Wisconsin.

Making the Under-18 Women's World Championship? O'Brien did that twice, and won golden with Team USA successful 2018.

Winning a nationalist championship? She did that 3 times successful 5 seasons with the University of Wisconsin Badgers, including this past season.

Winning the Patty Kazmaier Award arsenic the champion subordinate successful assemblage hockey? She was yet capable to transverse that extremity disconnected the database successful her 5th twelvemonth of college. Her 88 points successful 41 games this past play earned her the grant implicit Wisconsin teammates Laila Edwards and Caroline Harvey.

It wasn't connected her database of goals to go Wisconsin's all-time starring scorer with 265 vocation points, surpassing women's hockey fable Hilary Knight successful the process. She couldn't person imagined that. But she did that, too.

By adjacent week, she'll execute different extremity she didn't cognize was imaginable erstwhile she started visualizing her dreams: getting drafted into the PWHL.

The 2025 PWHL Draft is acceptable for June 24 successful Ottawa, and O'Brien is projected to beryllium drafted precocious successful the archetypal round, acknowledgment to her hockey IQ, imaginativeness and skating. 

She's a 200-foot centre who tin thrust her ain line, fuelled by axenic competitiveness and smarts.

"She's the benignant of subordinate you tin physique a squad around," said Gordie Stafford, who coached O'Brien successful prep schoolhouse astatine Shattuck-St. Mary's.

'She plays fearless'

O'Brien started playing hockey due to the fact that her older brothers, Max and Jack, were doing it. Her begetter was the manager of a location league squad successful New York City, wherever the household lived astatine the time. He fto her hop connected the crystal to springiness the athletics a effort with her brothers.

From the infinitesimal her skates deed the ice, O'Brien knew it was going to beryllium her passion.

When she was a kid, she acceptable the extremity of becoming an Olympian. The PWHL didn't beryllium backmost then, and O'Brien wasn't definite it was imaginable to beryllium a nonrecreational pistillate hockey player. So she decided she would go a manager aft going to the Olympics.

"I knew from similar five or six that hockey was what I wanted to bash for my full life," she said.

Paul Vincent met O'Brien a mates years later. Right away, helium knew O'Brien was an athlete. She was wired for it.

The long-time skills and skating coach, who's worked with NHL players for much than two decades, brought O'Brien to the rink 1 time to amusement his pro radical however she skates.

That radical included Chris Kreider and the precocious Jimmy Hayes. O'Brien was lone 10 oregon 11 astatine the time.

"Her imaginativeness portion skating is really, truly good," Vincent said. "She has large lateral mobility, the quality to chopped and crook connected a dime. And she's fast."

O'Brien went to a Shattuck-St. Mary's hockey campy erstwhile she was 12. After 1 on-ice session, Team USA players Monique and Jocelyne Lamoureux told Stafford that helium had to enlistee O'Brien to the Minnesota prep school. She was the champion subordinate they'd seen astatine the camp.

"She's ever conscionable been specified a fluid, fantastic skater, but she's 1 of those ones who her hockey IQ, and her finesse with her hands, correlates good with her ft speed," Stafford said. "You tin person kids with bully hands and benignant of dilatory feet oregon whatever, but she's got a operation of everything."

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O'Brien would walk 3 seasons astatine the school. Many times, coaches astatine the prep schoolhouse absorption connected teaching their teenaged hockey players the fundamentals, including however to amusement up each time and enactment hard.

But O"Brien already knew however to bash that. She learned from an aboriginal property however to transmission her competitiveness. 

Over 2 decades astatine Shattuck-St. Mary's, Stafford has coached tons of aboriginal pros and Olympians. The ones who are astir palmy are players helium calls killers, who person the competitory occurrence to beryllium astatine their champion erstwhile it matters the most. O'Brien fits into that category.

Since she's near Shattuck, Stafford volition substance O'Brien from clip to time. Sometimes, he'll nonstop her a representation of a lion oregon different chaotic predator.

"Because that's what she is connected the ice, offensively," helium said.

Dominant Badgers team

In her last play astatine Wisconsin, O'Brien was 1 portion of a stacked roster that besides included Edwards, Harvey, Kirsten Simms and Lacey Eden, to sanction a few.

O'Brien was cleared to play lone days earlier the play began, aft she had off-season wrist country to hole a lingering issue.

But that didn't clasp her, oregon the Badgers, back. The squad finished with a 38-1-2 record, and O'Brien had a ascendant play offensively connected the mode to smashing Knight's record.

The second is thing that's hard for her to grasp, having grown up watching Knight vie successful an American jersey. Knight adjacent texted her earlier the game, telling O'Brien she hoped she'd interruption her record.

"I bash deliberation it's a reflection of the teams that I've been connected astatine Wisconsin, the teammates I've been fortunate capable to play with and conscionable immoderate contributions I've been capable to marque for the team," she said.

When O'Brien, Edwards and Harvey were named the top-three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award, it was was lone the 2nd clip successful past that each 3 finalists came from the aforesaid school.

As competitory arsenic she is connected the ice, and arsenic overmuch arsenic winning the grant was a goal, O'Brien said determination wasn't a consciousness of contention betwixt her teammates erstwhile it came clip for the grant ceremony. All 3 knew the apical prize would beryllium coming backmost to Wisconsin.

"We were conscionable benignant of blessed that the schoolhouse was represented and each of our absorption was connected winning the nationalist championship," she said.

They capped the play disconnected with a thrilling 4-3 overtime triumph implicit Ohio State.

Using her size arsenic an advantage

At lone five-foot-four, O'Brien volition beryllium 1 of the smaller players successful the PWHL. She'll beryllium facing tight, checking hockey that's a measurement up from the NCAA.

It's not the archetypal clip O'Brien's size has been brought up, and it won't beryllium the last.

But she's built her crippled astir her size. O'Brien has modelled her crippled aft players similar Kendall Coyne Schofield and the precocious Johnny Gaudreau — undersized players who've learned to usage their size to their advantage.

"Growing up, I learned beauteous rapidly that being smaller does person its advantages," she said. "I person a little centre of gravity. I deliberation that helps with my skating and conscionable being beardown connected my feet, truthful erstwhile I get into tighter situations, I'm astir capable to flight a small easier."

Vincent besides drew a examination to Gaudreau. O'Brien has the aforesaid elusiveness and quality to outsmart her opponents.

After the draft, she could find herself heading to New York, which has the archetypal prime successful the draft. She could squad up with prima guardant Sarah Fillier connected a line. Or she could beryllium an violative menace beside Alina Müller connected the Boston Fleet, which volition prime second.

Going archetypal wide would beryllium an honour, O'Brien said, but she's not excessively acrophobic with however precocious she's picked. She wants it to beryllium a bully fit.

"I privation to lend close away," she said. "I privation to beryllium an interaction player, and I privation my benignant of crippled to acceptable immoderate the squad strategy is."

Olympic dream

Back successful her country successful Martha's Vineyard, there's different extremity inactive lingering connected her closet door, incomplete.

That's going to the Olympics with Team USA and winning a golden medal.

O'Brien has gotten a sensation of wearing an American jersey with the elder nationalist squad aft playing successful the Rivalry Series. It's the imagination she's had since she started playing hockey, and the happening that drives her each day.

"I consciousness similar I americium there, conscionable my quality and the show that I've had," she said.

Whether it's connected the satellite signifier with Team USA oregon wherever she ends up successful the PWHL, the manager who's watched her turn up has nary uncertainty astir 1 thing.

"I deliberation she'll beryllium a star," Vincent said. "I truly do."