Women's hockey's Kilbourne returns to Baker Rink from Winter Olympics

After three successful seasons for the Tigers, senior center Andrea Kilbourne took a one-year break from the rigors of Princeton — where hockey had to be secondary to her academics — to make hockey her entire life.

In her fourth year of women's hockey at Princeton, Kilbourne currently has 142 career points, 55 more than anyone else on the team. So far this season, she has 11 points and is on the way to leading the Tigers (7-2-2) in points for the fourth time.

"Leaving school was like taking on the professional athlete's lifestyle," Kilbourne said. "It came from getting up early in the morning for practice and then a packed schedule for the rest of the day. It went to getting up early in the morning to skate, then lift, and then having the afternoon pretty much free.

"Coming back, I missed the little things. I used to take a nice bath once a week, but here I don't have 20 minutes to sit in the tub."

In the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, Kilbourne posted a goal and an assist in five games and came home with a silver medal.

"It was surreal," Kilbourne said. "All the athletes eat together and you see all the different athletes from all different countries. You hear how they got there, but at the time you don't realize you're talking to the No. 1 ski-jumper in the world."

Just as the USA men's hockey team did, the women fell to Canada in the championship game and gave up the gold to our neighbors to the north.

"We expected to be there, so it wasn't a shock so much," Kilbourne said, "but it made me realize how lucky we were. [Losing the game] was a sudden disappointment because it is a much higher-stakes level. The whole team was disappointed, but it's a game. Our coach came in and told us, 'I know you're the better team, and you know you're the better team.' It's a game, and that's what games are all about."

As a center at Princeton, Kilbourne was expected to put the puck in the net, but when she switched positions to wing on Team USA, her role on the ice changed as well. She was not looked to for scoring, but to provide a physical presence on the ice and to spread the puck. "It was a lot rougher against teams like Canada and Finland," Kilbourne said. "It's a lot faster in general. The speed of play makes it so that there isn't as much time to make decisions, and you have to get rid of the puck quickly."

The changed level of play surprisingly transferred back to Princeton as well. When she returned to school, Kilbourne found that play had become much more physical and that penalties were more infrequent.

"When I left, the refs would call a lot more — what I thought was too much," Kilbourne said. "I'm doing things now that I never thought I would have gotten away with in the ECAC."

The adjustment to ECAC hockey from the international style has taken some time, but both Kilbourne and head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 agree that the transition is complete. In Sunday's game against Northeastern, Kilbourne recorded an assist on two of the three scores by Gretchen Anderson, the reigning ECAC Player of the Week. Though her assists gave Kilbourne a total of 11 points on the year, only three of them have been goals.

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"In her first three years, her production was high," Kampersal said. "This year she has not had so many goals, because she is getting used to center again. This weekend, helping out Gretchen was an indication of her hard work."

Despite a fast start for the Tigers this year, Kilbourne is not satisfied with the way the team is playing.

"As long as I'm playing well, and our team is winning, I'm happy," Kilbourne said, "but it's frustrating when we're not winning, and I'm not scoring. When we lost on Team USA, it wasn't because we were outworked, or outplayed, or out-skilled. Sometimes when we lose here, it's for reasons that are harder to take. We lose a lot of games because we are not doing what we are supposed to, not because the puck doesn't bounce our way."

As one of only four seniors on the team, she has found herself thrust into a leadership role as an assistant captain under senior forward Nikola Holmes. Kilbourne now acts as a vocal leader to fill that void on the team.

"Nikola isn't so much of a 'rah-rah' leader. She doesn't address the whole team together. She addresses players individually. After the first couple of weeks, I realized that I needed to step in. I'd like to lead by example and have that be enough for our team and our goals. I try to lead with my work ethic and show that hard work pays off, but [the younger players] know what they're doing — I don't have to baby them," Kilbourne said.

Kilbourne was surprised to find out that, after reaching this pinnacle, she gained perspective, and hockey became a less important force in her life.

"After the Olympics, I realized that I've competed at the highest level in women's hockey," Kilbourne said. "It made me realize that there were so many more important things other than hockey in life. I thought I would be more gung ho. You know those t-shirts that say 'Hockey is Life,' I don't believe those anymore."