Sharp On The Ice — Sandy Hook Girl Skating Toward Olympic Dream

By Andy Hutchison

Sandy Hook’s Melissa Samoskevich has made some significant strides on the ice — literally and figuratively — in a short time. The 15-year-old’s latest hockey-playing achievement puts her closer to the goal of making the biggest advancement of all: participating in the Olympic Games.

Samoskevich, a defenseman, made the final cut for the USA U18 National Women’s Hockey Team this summer and competed in a three-game series with Canada in Blaine, Minn., following a couple weeks of rigorous training camp drills in August.

The U18 group is a feeder team for the U22 squad that will be pulled from for the Olympics in six years, in some instances again in ten years.

“I think it would be amazing,” she said of competing in the Olympics. “Even [in the series with Canada] to put on the United States jersey was an honor,” she said.

The second youngest player to make the team, and one of only two born in 1997, Samoskevich has a few years to make her mark on the U18 squad and is hoping to work her way up to the U22 team and, ultimately to the Olympic team.

There are a lot of things that will happen before then, including college — at least the start of college — but the lifelong Sandy Hook resident is already thinking about Division I college hockey, perhaps at an Ivy League school, she notes.

Samoskevich plays for a boarding school in Faribault, Minn., called Shattuck-St Mary’s. “It was hard to let her go,” said her mom, Patty Samoskevich, adding that the hockey enthusiast was recruited by a handful of private schools thanks to her success on the Stamford-based Mid Fairfield boys’ hockey team throughout the years.

The team participated in major tournaments around the country and in hockey‘s home, Canada, drawing interest from scouts, Patty Samoskevich said.

Sure, there are plenty of top-notch-for-hockey boarding schools in the area, but playing out in the Mid-west gave Samoskevich the opportunity to compete in a full season, from September through March.

“I wanted to play hockey all year round. The Minnesota school gave me that opportunity,” Samoskevich said. “It was a no-brainer for me.”

So was it hard for a young teenager to leave home? “I thought it would be. At first it was tough leaving my family and all, but I just got used to it,” she summarized.

Then, of course, there are the perks: Getting to see an unfamiliar part of the country and experiencing new things. “I like it a lot,” she said. “It’s nice to see different people.”

Around hockey, which is pretty much Samoskevich’s life, she has to play a spring sport at school, and opted to stick with the theme of swinging something. She plays golf. “I’m not very good, but it’s fun,” she commented.

When the school season isn’t on, Samoskevich remains on — the ice and her game. She goes to open ice “sticks and pucks” sessions at area rinks and works out every day.

The experience with the U18 team was one Samoskevich won’t soon forget. She called it amazing. “I’m so happy that I didn’t miss out on this opportunity,” she said. The team is headed to Finland for the World Championships this winter. In between, Samoskevich will be training hard and skating with her Shattuck-St Mary’s teammates.

The 15-year-old says her days with the boys’ team went a long way in helping her. She liked the challenge enough that she opted not to switch over to all-girls’ hockey despite the opportunity, sticking with the boys from the day she first got on skates at the age of five.

“They pushed me more. I never really moved over because they were all kind of like my brothers,” she said. “They pushed me so I got better. It was a great experience.”

Then came boarding school hockey and a natural yet unfamiliar experience of being on the ice with nothing but girls. “It was weird when I switched over to girls — not being able to hit,” Samoskevich said.

The Sandy Hook hockey player had no qualms about enduring contact when skating with the boys. “The first year, I had size on everyone,” she recalls.

Samoskevich is now among the shortest girls on her team; the U18 roster has a handful of players who stand at 5-foot-4. She is among the sturdiest, however, at 155 pounds. Hitting may not be a part of the girls’ or women’s games, but there is contact and size and durability count for something in any sport.

Samoskevich’s favorite part about playing, she says, is the fact that hockey puts her in another mode, apart from everyday life’s worries and stresses. “I think when I get on the ice everything kind of gets lost and I don’t think about anything else. I just love the game,” she said.

The 15-year-old has two younger siblings, nine-year-old twins, in fact: a brother, Mackie, and sister, Madison. They both play hockey for the Connecticut Junior Huskies. When there’s an opportunity, they all lace up the skates and take to the ice together.

“It’s always fun. We’re always so competitive with each other,” the oldest of the three hockey playing siblings said.

Maybe some day they’ll all put on the USA jersey and go for the gold.