Melanie Cartwright '24 Recruiting Profile

My name is Melanie Cartwright, and I can't imagine a life without hockey. My 4-year-old self was mesmerized by Alexander Ovechkin, and I wanted more than anything to try my hand at the sport. Coming from a very rural, non-traditional hockey community in Northeastern NC this was not an easy task. I began my journey at the age of 4 1/2 by convincing any family member I could to shuffle me back and forth to Chesapeake VA, approximately an hour away.  For the next six years we made the trip at least 2 times per week for me to participate in house league and become a member of the high-performance team at Chilled Ponds. My summers were spent attending any hockey camp my family could get me to. At the age of 11, I was "scouted" by the Carolina Eagles out of Raleigh, NC and thus began about 6 years of weekend model travel hockey. My childhood was not filled with sleep overs and slumber parties with my classmates, I spent my free time practicing, or traveling to hockey games and tournaments. In the spring of 2022, I finally decided to try for the Carolina Jr Hurricanes full time 19U Premier Girls' team. Making this team was a milestone for me, but it also meant leaving my home and my parents, at the age of 17 to live and train in Raleigh, NC. I offer this brief summary of my hockey history as a testament of my dedication to the sport and my determination for achieving my goals. However, this one paragraph summary doesn't even begin to tell the story of the setbacks and challenges I encountered along the way.