Checking Out Hockey Life

Imagine the thrill Johanna Neilson got when, on a third grade field trip, she went to see Bobby Clarke, Ross Lonsberry and Rick MacLeish of the Philadelphia Flyers on a local Philadelphia morning television program.

Imagine the thrill the Devon, Pa. native got when she asked a question of her hockey heroes: "If a woman checked you would you check back?"

Well, kids do say the darnedest things. And as a two-year co-captain of the Harvard women's ice hockey team, this Cabot House resident has thrilled the Bright Center crowds playing the darnedest kind of hockey--where checking is illegal, of course.

Centering the first unit last year and the second unit this season, the 5-ft. 3-in. Neilson has exemplified heart, soul, and above all, guts.

Her greatest personal hockey thrill was netting a third-period goal on the end of a shorthanded breakaway in what would be Harvard's final win of this past season. It was in the finals of the Ivy League tournament against Princeton in February. "That was the greatest feeling of all time," Neilson says. "We were missing Lydia [Smith] and Burnsy [Christine Burns], and I just played out of my head."

But through four years of ice hockey and all that comes with it, she has managed to come through it all with grace.

"I probably thought [Harvard] was going to be something like [boarding school]. It's a lot different than I thought it would be," says the psychology major. "I've grown up from being dropped in the midst here and finding out which way you want to go."

What will she miss most of all about Harvard? You don't have to ask her twice. "Ice hockey was the nucleus of my existence here. I just loved it," Neilson says. "I hope I'll be able to play [after college]."

But now, Neilson is looking for a teaching job. "I've been in camp counseling for five summers and I love kids," Neilson says.

Her charges will probably say the darndest things as well.