Ice Queen
Robert Morris University ice hockey goalie Brianne McLaughlin goes for the gold at the Olympics this month.

By Leslie Hoffman


Brianne McLaughlin set the Division I career record for
most saves while on the Robert Morris Colonials.

 

Brianne McLaughlin

This month, as you watch the televised opening ceremony for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, look carefully among the United States athletes for a lanky blond woman standing proudly with the U.S. Women’s Ice Hockey team. Brianne McLaughlin is taking a break from her studies at Robert Morris University to compete as a goalie at the world level with the team.

She started playing hockey when she was just four or five years old, following in the skates of her older brother. Growing up in the Cleveland area, she played on boys’ leagues until her sophomore year of high school, when she joined the girls’ traveling ice hockey team, the Ohio Flames. When she was deciding on a college, she was attracted to Robert Morris University because she would be part of the inaugural women’s ice hockey team, added in 2004. “I could start my freshman year, so I figured I would go where I could play all four years instead of sitting on the bench. I made a good choice. I liked it a lot.”

As a goalie for the Robert Morris University Colonials, she set the NCAA Division I career record for saves by a goalie, with 3,809. She joined the U.S. Women’s Ice Hockey team in August, and has been working out and practicing with the team, as well as competing in tournaments and games all around the world, leading up to the Olympics this month.

“It’s obviously great for us,” says James Duzyk, sports information director for RMU. “She’s the first Olympic athlete that we’ve ever had here, and for it to be someone who played for four years, from the creation of that program ... she was our inaugural goalie, and that’s a pretty impressive story.”

What is your expectation for competing in the Olympics?
Well, it’s probably going to be us and Canada. We’re the top two teams, and then there’s Finland and Sweden. Those are the top four, and it always ends up being us and Canada, and so far we’ve been splitting wins with them this year. When we play well, though, we beat them every time. As long as we play well, it will be us and Canada and the gold medal.

What is your training schedule like with the team?
Every morning at practice, we skate from an hour and a half to two hours. We might do some power skating and work on skating skills, strengthening, and quick starts. We go to the weight room and have a circuit weight lifting program to do; normally that lasts about 45 minutes. Once in a while, we have an extra goalie practice. On Wednesdays, we add in yoga.

How does yoga benefit you as a hockey player?
I wasn’t sure how much I would like yoga because I had never done it before. But, it’s actually great. The room is really hot, so we sweat a lot, and there’s strength building exercises with abs and holding certain positions for lengths of time, so it does build strength. And there’s a mental aspect to it, like meditation, which is also great. And of course, flexibility, too, which you need as a goalie.

What are some other qualities you need to be a successful goalie?
Eye-hand coordination. Those days that we do goalie practices, our goalie coach takes us into the weight room, and we’ll do a tennis ball drill, where he throws tennis balls at us. In another exercise, he stands behind us and throws the balls, and we can’t see where he’s throwing them. This is for developing a quick reaction coming off the wall. He’ll throw playing cards at us, so they’re going all over the place and you have to somehow figure out how to catch them. We do exercises with a stability ball. Before practice and games, I throw a racquetball off the wall to get my coordination going.

How do you think you will be involved in hockey after the Olympics and when you’re finished with college?
There aren’t a lot of teams to play for after college, so I will probably finish my nursing degree at Robert Morris, then get on a men’s team, just to continue on the ice. I will also continue to try out for the U.S. Women’s Ice Hockey team; I’m assuming that I’ll get invited to try-outs again, but I have to keep making it. In the summer, I might run my own hockey camp in Ohio or in Pittsburgh.

What advice do you have for girls who want to play ice hockey?
Just keep playing as hard as possible and seek out new opportunities, whether on a new team or in a clinic. If there are no girls’ teams in your area, play on a boys’ team, or even do both.  


Todd Hamer

A Holistic Approach
Brianne McLaughlin trained with Todd Hamer for three years at Robert Morris University, where Hamer is the strength and conditioning coach for the school’s 400 student athletes. A competitive power lifter himself, he knows what it’s like to be an athlete, and he takes a holistic approach to training, encompassing strength, nutrition, and psychology. At RMU, student-athletes are encouraged to build their minds while they’re building their bodies: political discussion at the gym is encouraged! Hamer is impressed with McLaughlin’s natural athletic ability; she may look lanky, but in fact, he says, “She’s explosive, she’s lean, and she always has a good attitude when she comes into the room. Neurologically, she’s a very efficient athlete; she really knows how to control her body.” Hamer tells us what the rest of us can learn from the training that got McLaughlin onto the U.S. Olympic team.


Get more explosive!
Hamer invented an exercise that he calls the “Jump-Pull.” To do the exercise, position yourself beneath a pull-up bar. Do a push-up, then jump to your feet, jump up and do a pull-up. Hamer had McLaughlin complete sets of these exercises regularly. “Five sets in one minute, five sets of ten, we have done every variation you can imagine, and to me, it’s a great relative strength exercise because it’s controlling your body weight, it’s teaching you to be explosive, it’s teaching you how to do a pull-up and how to jump, which are basic human movements,” he says.

Oh, Kettle Bell!
Hamer extols the virtues of strength training with kettle bells. Pittsburgh, in fact, is home to Brett Jones, a world-renowned kettle bell expert, and with whom Hamer consults for training advice. With McLaughlin, he might have her complete a kettle bell complex: five swings, five squats, and five presses, in repetition, for five minutes.

Eat More Plants
Hamer says “every college student-athlete has holes in their diet.” He is a proponent of Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, encouraging his students to incorporate more fruits and vegetables in their diets, as well as making sure they’re eating breakfast, and also taking in proper post-workout nutrition.

Run Up That Hill!
“Pittsburgh is wonderful because we have so many hills,” Hamer says. “If you’re going to run, go find a hill. Instead of jogging for four miles, sprint up hills for two miles, and you’ll get a better workout.”

Robert Morris University, 6001 University Blvd., Moon Twp. 412.397.3000. For the U.S. Women’s Ice Hockey team’s Olympic schedule, visit Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.