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Brianna Walkom Was Destined For Hockey Success
One of the greatest pleasures of my life is to connect with people and share their stories. From athletes who grew up in my hometown, to one’s who calls cities home, each one of their journeys is truly a gift to learn about and showcase.
While I think I was out here to share the stories of others, there’s little to no debate that Brianna Walkom, a native of Moon Township, was born to first be a hockey player, and later in life, a doctor.
When an outsider hears that Walkom has Canadian heritage, her two older siblings also played Division I hockey, and her father was a longtime National Hockey League official and now serves as the league’s Vice President and Director of Officiating, it seems likely she would love the game, too. And those assumptions would be correct.
From an early age, she started skating. As early as elementary school, she started playing organized hockey. With the boys no less. It pushed her to play hard, skate faster, and develop the unique skill set that hockey players possess. From her days as a youth at Robert Morris University in youth league to eventually in juniors with Pens Elite, her appreciation and dedication to the sport has only grown.
She started her relationship with Pens Elite in middle school and has had a front row seat to watch this program grow into the true junior hockey power that it is today. Young people from Pittsburgh, and now from around the country, flock to represent this organization and find their way to college or professional hockey.
During the middle of her high school career, North Catholic High School developed a program in which hockey players were granted release to train in the afternoons called the EXCEL Hockey Program. This program provides access for these student athletes to the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex for high class hockey and weight training. Though the program still is rather new, it has proven to be successful and has bringed many new hockey players to North Catholic from not just around Pittsburgh, but from around the nation. This program was one she enrolled in beginning in her junior year of high school after transferring from Moon to North Catholic. Even in her gap year, she was welcomed to train as a part of this program while continuing her play with the Pens Elite U19 club team.
Walkom’s Pens Elite experience saw her play in 40 to 50 games per year from the time she was in middle school all the way through her prep season. Tournament weekends featured four or five games per weekend and were some of the most tiring, yet fun experiences of her hockey career. She helped the organization to four Mid American (MIDAM) District titles and had the chance to play in USA Hockey nationals on multiple occasions. These memories are some of her fondest from the sport as she had the opportunity to represent her home city of Pittsburgh on a national stage for the first time. But now as a forward for Stonehill College, she has the opportunity to do this each time she takes the ice.
Stonehill is new to Division I women’s hockey as the program had 18 freshmen this past season. While many outsiders didn’t think the Skyhawks would have a strong showing this past season, the program finished third in New England Women’s Hockey Association (NEWHA) and finished the season 19-16. Walkom was an important part of the scoring attack as she scored five goals and dished out nine assists across 37 games.
The programs coaching staff composed of former Wisconsin standout, Lauren Williams, Utica College all-time great, Megan Meyers, and Olympic Gold Medalist, Tara Watchorn, were a big reason why she chose to go to North Easton, Massachusetts to join this new program. The vision that these three women have and what they believe that can be built at Stonehill is impressive and their pedigree in the sport is unlike most.
Since she was a little girl, and having grown up seeing the impact her older sister, Stephanie, made on the inaugural Penn State women’s hockey team, and the path her brother Brendan made for himself on the prep and later Division I scene, she was inspired to be a college player herself. Uniquely, both her and her sister have helped kickstart something special in women’s college hockey at their respective institutions. Having the chance to take the ice each game, no matter what school it is for, is one of the greatest privileges for an athlete in the NCAA today. Playing a sport with around only 900 athletes this past season, Walkom considers it a true honor to be one of the few to represent this sport.
Women’s college hockey continues to rise and more programs will be added over time. But, at the end of the day, Brianna Walkom being a hockey player is her “first career” per se. She looks forward to what the rest of her college days have in store and is hopeful to have the chance to play the game professionally one day. After her days as a competitive player, she plans to pursue a career in medicine and believes dermatology or anesthesiology are the paths most likely for her. But for now, she’s going to soak in what it means to have “made it” to the pinnacle she always dreamed of.
Brianna Walkom is one of the several young women who are living their dream as college hockey players. An increasing amount of players from Pittsburgh, or who played for Pens Elite, continue to find their way to college hockey. Western Pennsylvania is filled with amazing athletes in all sports, but when it comes to women’s college ice hockey, it’s on the rise as a preferred destination to build your game and carve out a path to the next chapter of your athletic journey.
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