Hockey fuels dreams for Ohio NHL/Thurgood Marshall scholarship winner
Cassidy Guthrie is all about turning obstacles into opportunities and she's gotten really good at using hockey to accomplish just that.
The Miami sophomore has grown from an 8-year-old trying out skating for the first time, to an ACHA national champion, a burgeoning teacher and one of the most recent winners of an NHL/Thurgood Marshall College Fund academic scholarship.
It all started when Guthrie saw information about a skating class in an activities packet at her elementary school. During that class Guthrie spotted a hockey team practicing. She immediately went home and asked her parents for hockey gear.
"My dad did not think I was going to stick with it," Guthrie said. "But I just I never stopped, I never looked back -- there was just something about being on the ice."
Trying to find an outlet for her new passion, her parents signed Guthrie up for the Columbus Ice Hockey Club (CIHC), led by program director John Haferman. The program focuses on providing on-ice and off-ice opportunities for central Ohio youth and it quickly became the outlet for Guthrie's hockey obsession as well as her second family.
"Cassidy became one of the hardest working, most passionate players we had," Haferman said. "By the time she was 11 she was playing on a boys' team, and by the time she was 12 or 13, she was on a travel team. She played with us for four years and then she was too good."
But as Guthrie got better, she faced new challenges. Committed to the CIHC and other hockey travel programs, she was unable to play for her high school team, which prohibited double rostering.
She also was driving two hours each way to play for a Cleveland-based women's team on the weekends but the team wasn't very good. The pursuit of the game she loved had stopped being fun, and Guthrie questioned if she should stick with it.
"She called and said she was quitting hockey," Haferman said. "I told her hang in there. This is your passion, you may not be having a fun year but there's really good things for you if you stick this out."
Guthrie stuck it out, and soon, Miami University came calling.
The summer before going to Miami, Guthrie turned her passion for CIHC into a summer job. She had been volunteering with the program for years but decided to officially join the group in a coaching capacity.
"CIHC was already a program I care about immensely," Guthrie said. "If (coaching) meant working with one individual kid and helping them learn the in's and out's of skating then that's what it meant, or if it meant helping run drills then I'd do that."
Once at Miami, Guthrie joined the women's hockey team and perseverance again paid off as the team earned not just a winning record, but also a national championship.
Guthrie scored a goal in the first period of the championship game.
"It was the culminating moment when you realize all your hard work has paid off," Guthrie said. "I felt like my legs were Jell-o, and I went out there and I scored a goal. I went into the net and everything.
"It wasn't some beautiful bar down shot. I took out the goalie and went flying in there, but the puck went in. The moment was priceless."
But there were still other issues to address. Knowing Guthrie was looking to help pay for the remainder of her college education, Haferman suggested she apply for the Thurgood Marshall scholarship.
As Guthrie began the application process, she realized it was intended for high school students about to begin their college career, and Guthrie was already two years into her time at Miami.
"I called John and said 'I can't apply for this -- I know I need the money but I'm not going to do the scholarship thing,'" Guthrie said. "John said to just apply for it anyway.
"In my essay I wrote a blip at the end 'I'm really sorry -- I realize I don't meet the requirements but please, here are these reasons why I hope you'll consider me.' I didn't expect anything to come from it."
A while later, under the guise of pestering Guthrie for some information on the previous summer's hockey camps, Haferman revealed she'd won the scholarship.
The funds will go towards Guthrie's remaining two years of education and help her conquer one more challenge: becoming an English teacher.
"For me, English is the one subject that can most change lives," Guthrie said. "When you look at what really carries over between (education and hockey) it's that -- it's that desire to change lives.
"If I can go into a classroom and even improve one kid's life then I've done something. If I can work with one kid on the ice who learns something that carries over to the real world then I feel like I've accomplished something."
Transferring the life lessons from hockey to off the ice is what Guthrie considers important, and it exemplifies what Haferman says CIHC is all about.
"CIHC is about creating an opportunity," Haferman said. "You don't know who is going to jump on it and do great things. It's really cool to see what kids can do with opportunities."
