Yesterday was a great day for women’s hockey - at least for me. My former college team, Dartmouth, won the ECAC Hockey Championship (see picture). I was so pumped after hearing about their big win, that I had the one of the best training session I’ve had in a long time today. The sad thing is that…

The weights I was lifting today are nothing compared to what I used to be able to lift when I was at Dartmouth. Those were my pre-back surgery days, but they were also probably the fittest four years of my life. Back in my glory days, I could squat almost 300 pounds - although with pretty crappy form (which is probably one of the many reasons I had to have my surgery in the first place).

We did two hours on the ice every day, three or four hours of off-ice training per week and a couple of high-intensity, full-out games on the weekend. Either way, after putting in all of those hours training on and off the ice with my teammates, I knew we could achieve anything together.

And I have to admit, I miss every single second of it. If I could back and do it all again, I would in a heartbeat. You know how people always say that the years you spend at college or university are the best of your life? They aren’t lying.

When I looked at the picture of the current Dartmouth team with the ECAC Championship trophy, I immediately thought of the picture I still have of our “old” Dartmouth team celebrating in front of our net after beating Harvard for the ECAC title my junior year. I know exactly what those girls are feeling - and I am jealous.

I know that they put in as much hard work and energy as we put in 8 years ago (yup, I’m that old) to get where they are today. They had to make every single practice, game and training session count in order to achieve the level of success they have so far.

But this isn’t even close to the end. There will be a few more focused high-tempo workouts before they face off against Wisconsin in the NCAA quarterfinals this weekend.

The biggest prize we ever won when I was at Dartmouth was the ECAC title.

They’ve certainly put in the hard work to get there.

Good luck this weekend girls. Enjoy every second of it. Us “oldies” will be cheering for you!

Work Hard. Dream BIG.

~ Kim