Gold Medalist. Retiring Bellamy Lived Out Her Olympic Dreams

DURHAM, N.H. – A couple of championship medal games in the Winter Olympics – the first a glorious gold and the second a tough loss that helped fuel that celebrated triumph – lead Kacey Bellamy's list of top five hockey memories.

No surprise there.

Coming in just a couple of spots later on the list – at No. 4 behind any game against Canada, "we played every game like it was the gold-medal game" - was a highlight from Bellamy's outstanding University of New Hampshire playing career: the fourth straight Hockey East tournament title won by the Wildcats in her senior season of 2008-09.

Bellamy, one of UNH's most accomplished and decorated athletic alums, announced her retirement last week at the age of 34 from the US Women's National Team.

The standout defenseman put in 15 years with the national team, starting after her freshman year at UNH and capped off by winning a gold medal with shootout win over fierce rival Canada in 2018 at the PyeongChang Games.

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"That (gold medal) was the highlight," Bellamy said late last week from her home in Calgary. "Absolutely. One hundred percent. Winning that gold was something that was my dream after getting to the Olympics and losing in the gold medal game. You set little goals and little dreams for yourself throughout your career."

The Olympic dream started to take shape at UNH.

"I definitely knew I wanted to play at the highest level," Bellamy said. "My dream was to go to the Olympics."

Bellamy came in from Westfield, Mass. and quickly helped a good Wildcat team become much better, and in the process turned herself into a national and Olympic level player.

She was a key factor in in the Wildcats winning four straight Hockey East Championships.

"We were on the cusp of being a good team and she turned the program from good to great," said Stephanie Jones, a former Wildcat standout and now the team's associate head coach who was in her first year as an assistant during Bellamy's sophomore year. "She and Sam Faber, Kelly Paton and Jen Hitchcock and those kids. Kacey was the leader. She had lots of personality but was calm and quiet on the ice. That's how she leads, by example and hard work. She gets such respect from her teammates and she's a coach's dream. She's such a driven individual."

Getting Better and Better

Bellamy went to National team camps and played on National teams and soaked up what she was taught and kept working at her game and got better and better each year, Jones said.

"It was a remarkable four years at UNH for me," Bellamy said. "We had SO much talent, starting with my freshman year. We had unbelievable talent my sophomore year and we lost in the quarterfinals in an NCAA game at UNH. We made it to the Frozen Four twice when I was there, which was an amazing accomplishment."

Senior year, especially, with a roster shortened because of graduations and transfers, was her time.

"I think we really only had maybe 17 players," Bellamy said. "It was amazing to see because some of those girls that maybe didn't play their first year or second year were playing so much. That last year, it was just incredible how tight we were as a group. We all worked hard. Everyone played. There was no drama and I swear that is why we went as far as we did and were able to get those four championships in row."

Bellamy earned All American honors and was named a Hockey East All-Star and was the MVP of the league tournament, the last defenseman to earn that honor.

"We had a short bench and in the playoffs she just carried the whole team," Jones said. "We were tired and beat up and she looked at the team and said 'I've got this,' and put the team on her back. The players figured, 'If Kacey says we can do this, we can.' They had confidence in her and themselves and we won."

Bellamy finished her career with 27 goals and 80 assists for 107 points, third on UNH's all-time scoring list for defensemen, one point behind Cindy MacKay (1980-83) and Kristen Thomas (2001-04).

Just under 12 months after winning her final Hockey East title, Bellamy realized her dream when she played for Team USA in the Olympics in Vancouver. She and her teammates took a 2-0 loss to Canada in the gold medal game. Four years later, they fell again to Canada, 3-2 in overtime, in Sochi.

That 2014 loss in particular was the one that made the 2018 win feel all the better.

"At that time, it was heartbreak I've never experienced," Bellamy said when listing her memorable moments. "It helped spark another gear I didn't know I had, physically or mentally."

Bellamy's gears, her competitiveness and determination helped set her apart throughout her long career.

Impressive on All Counts

"There are so many impressive things about Kacey," said UNH coach Hilary Witt, who was an assistant coach on the 2014 Olympic team and also coached Bellamy in the world championships and at various camps. "She was so committed and so competitive. If you listen to a lot of the comments her teammates made since she retired, she was an inspiration to them. She earned her opportunities. She's one of the most coachable kids there is. Very respectful. She always wants to learn and get better."

She always had the respect of her teammates.

"It's hard to be so supportive of each other when everybody is fighting for a spot," Witt said. "She never let that get in the way of being a great leader. I think that's why she was an assistant captain the last time around. She's an all-around really great person. She worked hard for everything she achieved."

Bellamy broke down three reasons why she thinks she's been able to have the success she's had over a decade and a half with the national team.

Her support systems top the list.

"It's a mixture of a lot of things," she said. "I would have to say the support I've had all my life is probably No. 1. With that support comes my parents, who brought me up and obviously taught me all about the values and morals of how to be a good person, work hard, have a great attitude. I always tried to do those things every day. I've tried to bring that to the rink and into the locker room every single day."

Being a competitor is way up there, too.

"I have a problem when I don't win," Bellamy said. "I hated losing more than I enjoyed winning. It's just because of the competitive nature in me. There'd be a switch or a flip of 'OK, how can I get better? How can I motivate my teammates to get better?' That was just something innate in me ever since I was little."

And she gave a shout out to coaching.

"Everyone helps you throughout hockey," Bellamy said. "Brian McCloskey, my UNH head coach, he taught me how to play D-zone. I had no idea how to play D-zone, the technical part of the game. It's the little things that you learn throughout your journey. I was still learning things a month ago when I was skating with my national team D-coach and hearing the things he was trying to instill in me. I was still learning."

What's Next

Bellamy isn't exactly sure what comes next. But she's looking forward to whatever it might be.

"I'm so excited for the next chapter, weighing all my options, just really trying to find my niche and what I want to do," she said. "I definitely want to stay involved in the sport and continue to help grow the game and inspire young girls as much as I can."

She did a little coaching while training for the National team, for a year as a volunteer assistant at UNH after the 2010 Olympics and later for a couple of seasons with Merrimack College, and maybe she'll get back to that.

She knows she wants to keep getting the hockey and fitness message out to young people, including through TorchPro, an organization co-founded by Matt Fornataro, another UNH hockey alum, and NHL star Joe Pavelski, among others.

It's a sports media company that looks to connect athletes with the public by relaying stories about their lives off the ice or court and tell a bit about what got them to where they are.

"It's a company I stand behind 100 percent," Bellamy said. "I hope I still stay involved with them on the business side, too. I know I'll stay with them on the players side and keep continuing to put out stories, put out blogs, put out videos. I still know what I did training for the highest level and girls are going to be able to see that, or little boys. On the business side, I think that they're trying to get behind women's hockey as much as they can and fight this new hockey fight that everyone is trying to get behind."

On the personal side, Bellamy has lived in Calgary for the past three years and played pro hockey there at the start.

And yes, she does find it ironic that she's living in the land of her greatest on-ice rival.

"My fiancée and I live here and now we're just basically planning our wedding in April, 2022," Bellamy said. "It's a beautiful city up here. It's so funny. You have a rivalry all your life against Canada and then then you fall in love with the country. It's just been a great experience for me here."

Arriving in the country with a gold medal - the first at the Olympics for the United States since former UNH players Karyn Bye, Tricia Dunn, Sue Merz and Colleen Coyne helped nailed down the inaugural women's hockey gold medal in 1998 – may have helped Bellamy feel a little more comfortable with the transition to Canada.

"That was the big one after Vancouver," Bellamy said. "It was kind of like nonstop until you get to that point. And then it's just a such a relief kind of feeling because of all the work you put in as a program and as an individual. I left that game and it was just euphoria throughout my body."

Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu

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