Senior world champion with 17: Kendall Coyne Schofield.
photo: Andre Ringuette / HHOF-IIHF Images
There is a fluidity to the women’s game in Europe whereby players move from junior to senior play quickly, so much so that it is not uncommon for a player to appear in the Women’s U18 Worlds the same year she plays in the Women’s Worlds or Olympics.
It is also common to see a player move up to the senior level one year and then play again at the U18 the following year. This is simply a numbers game because the European nations don’t have the wealth of depth as do the North Americans.
But rare are the occasions when a Canadian or American moves from U18 to the senior Women’s Worlds as easily and quickly and successfully. Two women stand out in this group – Marie-Philip Poulin and Kendall Coyne.
Poulin was first to do it, and she was fast. She played at the 2008 and 2009 WW18 tournaments during which time she recorded 26 points in ten games. Clearly among the best players at that level, she made such an impression on Hockey Canada that just three months after the 2009 event she played at the Women’s Worlds. Even more impressive, she scored in her first two senior games and never looked back.
What was clear about Poulin’s game was her maturity and her ability to think well above the level of her teammates and competitors. She had good size and upper-body strength, but she played a smart game and had great speed, with the puck and without.
When she played at the 2009 WW, the facts were obvious – she didn’t look out of place. Coach Melody Davidson didn’t have to treat the 18-year-old with kid gloves, and the kid didn’t play like a wide-eyed child out of her depths. There was no period of adjustment needed.
Two of Poulin’s greatest rivals at the 2008 and ’09 WW18 were Americans Kendall Coyne (-Schofield) and Amanda Kessel. Both, of course, have gone on to be equally brilliant at the senior level, but they got there at different rates. Kessel played her last WW18 in 2009 and then went off to college to play for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, not returning to USA Hockey and the Women’s Worlds until 2012.
Coyne, however, made the transition to the senior level almost as quickly as Poulin. Coyne played her last WW18 in 2010, by which time she was the all-time leading scorer in WW18 history with 22 goals and 33 assists, both records that stand to this day.
Because she was born in May, Coyne was still 17 after her final year of U18 eligibility, so even before she joined Northeastern in NCAA college and played for the Huskies, in the fall of 2011, she played for the U.S. at the Women’s Worlds in Switzerland in April 2011, at the age of 18. She scored the opening goal of the tournament, one of four she netted in five games, and, like Poulin, she did not look out of place.
Coyne was a different player, though. Much smaller, she used her powerful and energetic skating to be effective, her speed creating space, her quickness to get to pucks, her craftiness to create turnovers. She got to Northeastern a much more mature player than her teammates and was an instant star. In her senior year (delayed because she spent all of 2013-14 with the U.S. team to prepare for the Olympics), she won the Patty Kazmaier Award as the top female player in the NCAA for 2015-16.
Poulin and Coyne have had parallel careers. They played each other at the U18, again in NCAA, and now for nearly a decade at the senior Women’s World level. They are two of the greatest players in the game, but one thing that separates them from so many others was the speed with which they made the adjustment from junior to senior play.
Click here for the overview of stories.
It is also common to see a player move up to the senior level one year and then play again at the U18 the following year. This is simply a numbers game because the European nations don’t have the wealth of depth as do the North Americans.
But rare are the occasions when a Canadian or American moves from U18 to the senior Women’s Worlds as easily and quickly and successfully. Two women stand out in this group – Marie-Philip Poulin and Kendall Coyne.
Poulin was first to do it, and she was fast. She played at the 2008 and 2009 WW18 tournaments during which time she recorded 26 points in ten games. Clearly among the best players at that level, she made such an impression on Hockey Canada that just three months after the 2009 event she played at the Women’s Worlds. Even more impressive, she scored in her first two senior games and never looked back.
What was clear about Poulin’s game was her maturity and her ability to think well above the level of her teammates and competitors. She had good size and upper-body strength, but she played a smart game and had great speed, with the puck and without.
When she played at the 2009 WW, the facts were obvious – she didn’t look out of place. Coach Melody Davidson didn’t have to treat the 18-year-old with kid gloves, and the kid didn’t play like a wide-eyed child out of her depths. There was no period of adjustment needed.
Two of Poulin’s greatest rivals at the 2008 and ’09 WW18 were Americans Kendall Coyne (-Schofield) and Amanda Kessel. Both, of course, have gone on to be equally brilliant at the senior level, but they got there at different rates. Kessel played her last WW18 in 2009 and then went off to college to play for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, not returning to USA Hockey and the Women’s Worlds until 2012.
Coyne, however, made the transition to the senior level almost as quickly as Poulin. Coyne played her last WW18 in 2010, by which time she was the all-time leading scorer in WW18 history with 22 goals and 33 assists, both records that stand to this day.
Because she was born in May, Coyne was still 17 after her final year of U18 eligibility, so even before she joined Northeastern in NCAA college and played for the Huskies, in the fall of 2011, she played for the U.S. at the Women’s Worlds in Switzerland in April 2011, at the age of 18. She scored the opening goal of the tournament, one of four she netted in five games, and, like Poulin, she did not look out of place.
Coyne was a different player, though. Much smaller, she used her powerful and energetic skating to be effective, her speed creating space, her quickness to get to pucks, her craftiness to create turnovers. She got to Northeastern a much more mature player than her teammates and was an instant star. In her senior year (delayed because she spent all of 2013-14 with the U.S. team to prepare for the Olympics), she won the Patty Kazmaier Award as the top female player in the NCAA for 2015-16.
Poulin and Coyne have had parallel careers. They played each other at the U18, again in NCAA, and now for nearly a decade at the senior Women’s World level. They are two of the greatest players in the game, but one thing that separates them from so many others was the speed with which they made the adjustment from junior to senior play.
Click here for the overview of stories.