Unrelenting Quest for Excellence

Seems that some guys in her first grade class at Hindley Elementary in Darien, CT, played the sport at recess, and Eve wanted to join the fun.

 

“We said no,” Dave Clemans recalled one day recently with a laugh. “She weighed slightly less than the puck.”

 

Eve persisted, though — her exact words, her dad said, were, “Pleeeeeease let me play hockey” — and before long she was down at the local pond with a street stick, lacrosse helmet, and a variety of hand-me-down gear playing pickup with whoever showed up.

 

“I was five years old,” said Eve, now a 16-year-old Collegiate School junior. “I thought it was cool. I was just having fun with my friends.”

 

Hockey is big time in the Northeast, and there was a six-month wait even to get on the tryout list. Trina and Dave, still skeptical, figured Eve’s interest would wane and she’d move on to some other sport where her diminutive size wouldn’t be a hindrance.

 

“My mom didn’t want me to play,” Eve said. “My dad was, ‘Give her a year. She’ll be out there with the guys. They’re big. She’ll get knocked around. She won’t want to play next year.’ That’s not how it worked out.”

 

Eve made the first team for which she auditioned, and, despite the crack-of-dawn practice times, played house hockey for two years, then moved to boys travel teams because she was developing her skills rapidly and had an uncommon passion for the action that she didn’t find in the girls game.

 

“The boys game tends to be faster and more competitive,” she said. “I like the speed and competitiveness.”

 

When Eve was nine, she moved to Richmond with her family, which was now all in, and signed on with the Richmond Generals boys travel squad where she was coached for two seasons by Matt Jones, who played on the 2005 NCAA Frozen Four championship team at North Dakota, then professionally for several years including a two-season stint with the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League.

 

His mentoring has been a godsend.

 

“Eve would definitely fall into the category of exceptional,” said Jones, who now works for the Norfolk Fire Department. “The first year I coached her (2018-2019), I noticed right away that she was extremely driven.

        

“She has an intense desire not just to be better than the opponents but better than she was the last time she stepped on the ice. Her attitude towards the game is extraordinary.”

 

Along the way, Eve also played baseball (pitcher, catcher, shortstop) in the Tuckahoe Little League and football (quarterback) for the Western Wildcats. In Middle School, she played Cub football and wrestled in addition to fulfilling her hockey commitments, a massive juggling act, to be sure.

 

Hockey remained her first love, and she continued to improve. After competing on boys teams in Richmond, she played a year for the Carolina Junior Hurricanes U14 girls squad based in Raleigh but after a year returned to the Generals boys program.

        

In an effort to enhance her prodigious skills and draw the interest of college scouts, Eve has participated in myriad high-level tournaments and elite camps, most notably the by-invitation USA Hockey National Player Development Camp at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota in 2021.

 

She now plays for the Florida Alliance U16 Tier 1 squad. This commitment for Eve and her family requires a trip to one of several training venues in Florida once or twice a month and as many as 10 tournaments throughout the country which draw the crème de la crème of age-group talent.

 

Eve and her teammates recently won their second consecutive USA Hockey Southeastern District Championship and this past weekend competed heart and soul in the Chipotle-USA Hockey Girls Tier I National Championship in Dallas although they were eliminated in the preliminary round.

 

Eve’s passion for and dedication to her craft goes much further than games and tournaments. Her off-ice regimen includes intentional strength and conditioning training, mostly at the Tuckahoe YMCA, several times a week and technique work on a layout of synthetic ice in her family’s garage.

 

For some, it might seem like drudgery, but for Eve, it’s just part of her day. To say that she finds joy in the “grind” is an understatement. Eve, you see, wants to be the best hockey player and teammate she can be. She’s a student of the game. She’s determined, undaunted by obstacles that arise in her path, and unrelenting in her quest for excellence. She’s coachable. She attends to details. She studies video, watches hockey on television, and is a rapt audience as she observes other skilled players in action at high-level events.

 

“I’m generally a competitive person,” she said. “I like challenges. My favorite games are when we’re down 2-1 and have to climb back. There’s just that adrenaline that’s going through you.

        

“I also think it comes back to the people. My teammates are some of my best friends. I love being with them. The coaches as well. They’re just great people.”

 

Eve is a forward who usually plays on the right wing. Her instincts are keen. She thrives on her role as a playmaker.

 

“I’m definitely a pass-first player,” she said. “The most important thing is hockey sense. That would compare to vision in other sports. My best skill is my vision and playmaking.”

 

The physicality of athletic competition has never been an issue, not when she played on the guys teams, not when she played football and wrestled, and certainly not when she competes at the highest level of girls hockey. Eve can definitely take a hit.

 

“Yeah,” she said. “I don’t mind it. That’s never turned me away from anything.”

 

College is a little over a year away, and Eve has received plenty of looks from recruiters.

 

“Obviously for girls, there’re fewer opportunities after college, so college hockey is probably my biggest goal,” she said. “I want to be on a team where I can do well and the team can do well. Hopefully, I’ll have as much fun as I’ve had playing hockey growing up.”

~Weldon Bradshaw