Sophie Orlicky '26 Recruiting Profile

I was three years old when I started figure skating, no stick and puck, just spins and twirls.  Through lots of practice and good coaching I quickly moved up my levels and at 7 years old I was skating with other girls twice my age. I realized that although competitive and fun, I wanted to play a team sport.  My older sisters already played hockey, so I saw the friends they were making and the family fun that was involved in this sport.

The next fall, I joined the local girls hockey association, U9 Storm.  I moved up through the divisions and was on a Tier 1 team in a couple years.  The top tier stream showed me that there is a lot of opportunity to continue playing through High School and later in College as a student athlete.

My game has been described as typical power forward, hard to play against and not easy to move.  I have strong puck handling skills and heavy shot.  I play a good two way game and have spent the last two seasons on the top line with power play and penalty kill.  I won the top forward award for my club last year, and this year was a top scorer as a first year U18AA.   

I have excellent time management skills which I work very hard on and this has had a very positive result on my athletics and most importantly my studies.  I stay organized in order to balance my priorities and always maintain a structured schedule for my activities. It has kept me from getting overwhelmed from unexpected obstacles that might come up.  In addition to club hockey, I played High School hockey, volleyball and track.

In addition to my regular classes, I tutor younger students from school in math and sciences.

My peer leadership course has taught me the importance of helping and leading students to achieve their goals for the semester.  I have always taken summer online courses to get ahead and stay focused, year round studying has helped me push to keep my grades high.  The first two years of High School, I have made the honor roll.

This past season our club team had a weekly team building and mental health coach session.  It has taught us many things, but one was to build a team mentality through setting personal growth goals.  I need to continue to push and use obstacles to learn and adapt to new challenges.  The next big step will be attending college.  I would like to continue to play hockey and attend a college that will allow me to keep working hard and contributing to a team at the highest level.  I have seen what playing on a team can do for your self confidence and the positive effect it has on your mental health.  Hockey, I feel, has prepared me for the next stage in my life, provided me the opportunity to achieve a yet realized outcome.