Head Coach of the women’s hockey team, Marissa O’Neil ’05, began playing hockey at age four. She grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire, where she practiced on the rink in her back yard. She was always the only girl on her hockey teams until she was 16.
She continued playing hockey in high school. After attending Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire, she applied and came to Bowdoin as a student athlete, playing both ice and field hockey. She was coached by current Head Coach Nicky Pearson in field hockey.
O’Neil received several athletic awards while at Bowdoin. For field hockey, she received the Rookie of the Year award in 2001, the NESCAC Player of the Year award in 2003, a First Team All-American, and was a three-time First Team All-NESCAC selection. As an ice hockey player, she was named to the 2003 NCAA Division III All-Tournament team, and was a three-time All-NESCAC honoree.
Additionally, she received the Lucy L. Shulman Award in 2005, which is given to the most outstanding female athlete of the year.
After graduating from Bowdoin in 2005, O’Neil began a successful coaching career, with positions at Amherst and Williams.
“My experiences at Amherst and Williams were incredible, but I think there’s something different in the locker room at Bowdoin,” O’Neil said. “They genuinely enjoy being around one another, and support one another’s endeavors outside of hockey. For me, going into the rink everyday and working with them is definitely the best part of my day.”
Under O’Neil’s leadership for the past three years, the women’s hockey team has been extremely successful. She was named NESCAC Coach of the Year last year.
After the team recorded a losing record in 2007-2008 and a .500 record in the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons, the program’s turnaround has been evident since O’Neil’s arrival as head coach in the 2010-2011 season. The team has boasted winning records for all three seasons, and hoisted a NESCAC championship banner last season.
“In the program, something that we talk about a lot is balancing working hard and playing hard,” O’Neil said. “Everyone within ourprogram has that mentality, and I think it’s really important for student athletes to have. They’re such diligent workers on and off the ice.”
“[It’s important] to make sure they step back and enjoy themselves throughout the process,” O’Neil said.
Captain Madeline Lane ’14 credits much of the team’s success to O’Neil’s coaching.
“Honestly…I’ve never had a coach as good as Marissa,” she said. “She makes me want to be a coach.”
“My expectations of college hockey have gone beyond anything I could’ve imagined, and a huge part of that is her,” Lane said. “Last year we had some trials and tribulations within the season. By the end of the season, the whole team was leaning on her. I told her at the end of the season, ‘we won NESCACs because of you. We would not have gotten there without you.’”
The players describe O’Neil’s coaching style as direct, precise, methodical and with high expectations for the team. According to Lane, O’Neil is extraordinarily knowledgeable about hockey.
“We’ll be doing a drill and there will be something that we can do to make the drill better, and she’ll stop us and tell us that,” Lane said.
“It’s how do you approach the puck from a different angle, how you need to get shots off, and why do you need to pinch, or not pinch. She continues to surprise me with the sheer amount of knowledge she has,” she added.
Looking ahead to the start of this season, O’Neil plans to remain consistent with her coaching strategy, which has proved to be a successful one.
“We really focus on individual player development and that sort of instills confidence in them,” she said. “We don’t try to change too much year to year.”
This year’s team is young, featuring eight new players, but “it’s not about a skill change, it’s about an experience change,” added O’Neil.
The women’s hockey team will play their first game of the season against Colby today at 7 p.m. in Watson Arena.