by Jashvina Shah
When Kaitlin Finnegan was growing up, ice time was rarely available. But what seemed like a curse in the deserts of Kansas became one of the reasons she committed to Lindenwood.
Finnegan grew up in Topeka, Kan., and started skating at four years old, following her brother’s stride. As a child, she attended public skates — complete with pink gloves — with the Topeka RoadRunners, currently known as the Pilots, of the NAHL. She played her youth hockey with the team’s namesake junior team.
“There’s not a lot of hockey,” Finnegan said. “It’s actually really hard to get ice time here anymore, just because we still have our junior hockey team but the rink here in Topeka, the ice isn’t permanent. It’s used for a lot of concerts and stuff like that so it’s really hard to get ice time here.”
At eight years old, Finnegan joined a boys team in Kansas City, commuting an hour to all practices and games. Six years later she left Kansas City for all-girls hockey. Finnegan joined the St. Louis Lady Blues, living at home and commuting four a half hours for games.
The next year the Finnegans decided billeting in St. Louis would be easier for Kaitlin. It was an easy decision, as her older brother had moved to Minnesota for hockey, also at age 15.
“I definitely built a better bond with my teammates just because I was always with them and always talking with them,” Finnegan said. “I noticed that I built better chemistry with my linemates by practicing with them all the time instead of just once a month, which is what I used to do.”
Finnegan struggled to adapt when she first joined the team, starting as a fourth-line player.
“I was kind of upset about that. I felt like I should be higher but I understood I was just joining the team,” Finnegan said. “I knew I had to work hard to get up to first or second line so that was a pretty tough challenge and I just always kept hearing my coaches say, ‘You’re too small, you’re not strong enough, there’s no way you’ll make it to a high level.’”
Her response was similar to advice she recently heard from Brianna Decker at a camp: “You’re either in or you’re in the way.”
“When people told me that, it kind of made me angry and it made me want to turn it around and prove them all wrong,” Finnegan said. “So my first instinct was to start working out daily, start stick handling and shooting all the time and just try to become a better hockey player so I can prove all those people wrong.”
Her approach worked. It also helped her jump start the recruiting process, where she spoke with Quinnipiac, Princeton and Brown. She chose Lindenwood, the closest Division I program to home.
“It was pretty big for me to stay close to home and Lindenwood was obviously the best place for me as to being close from home,” Finnegan said. “They just sounded like they really wanted me and that’s one of my biggest things. I don’t want to play for a school that doesn’t want me. Lindenwood really showed a lot of interest in me, which I really enjoyed. I found out my brother was actually going to go to Lindenwood as well, and that kind of helped make the decision a lot easier.”
Finnegan, who excels in hockey sense and is working on her strength, plans to join Lindenwood in 2020-21.
“I would say if there’s not enough ice or hockey talent where they are, I would definitely encourage them to move away,” Finnegan said. “Just because it’s such a good experience to be close to your team and that was the biggest thing for me. Even though there wasn’t much ice here in Kansas or anything like that, just connecting with my team was a very big aspect of my life.”
It was also the Division I program she had the most exposure to, as Lindenwood was around 30 minutes away from the rink where the Lady Blues AAA practiced.
“When I first made contact with [the Lady Blues], my head coach Tommy Lange had just said [Lindenwood] would be coming to a few practices to watch us practice, watch how we play. So that’s how it all started with Lindenwood,” Finnegan said.