Missy Segall dreamed of playing professional hockey as a Wellesley kid, but says “it wasn’t until this spring that I ever believed in it happening.”
The recent Hamilton College grad, who honed her skills early on through Wellesley Youth Hockey, was selected #15 in the recent National Women’s Hockey League draft by the Buffalo Beauts.
Segall was one of just 30 players drafted, and is the first from Wellesley to join the 6-year-old NWHL, according to the league, which includes a team in Boston called the Pride.
“Growing up there wasn’t a professional women’s league that I could have even dreamed of playing in, so it’s really cool to have that opportunity now, and to inspire kids that were just like me,” says Segall, who moves to Buffalo at the end of September to get ready for the season.
An experienced time manager as a student-athlete at The Rivers School and then at Hamilton, the math major will be balancing hockey and a day job in Buffalo.
She took skating lessons at Babson College as a kid, and hockey wasn’t far behind.
“I couldn’t wait for my first pair of hockey skates,” Segall says. “I watched my older brothers play hockey, and I couldn’t wait to play, too. I went through the Wellesley Youth Hockey in-house mites program and played in the boys program until peewees.”
Segall gives lots of credit to Julie Perry for creating the girls program in Wellesley, allowing Segall to play on Wellesley’s first U12 girls team. “I was so thankful that Coach Perry created such an amazing program. I have such great memories from games and tournaments. I can still remember running around the hotel at the Waterville Valley tournament and just having an absolute blast,” she says.
Segall has become a strong two-way player, developing skills as a center for the first time in college.
She’s had a chance to return to Wellesley this summer, and has been skating at Babson again to get ready for the upcoming professional season.
“It feels pretty cool to return to the place where it all started…” Segall says.
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Love this and will share with my 5 year old daughter who just starting playing too! What a great role model for her. Thanks for this article.
Such a wonderful story and I wish her much success; she’s a role model for other young girls who never thought this could happen!
Played with Missy this week at Babson. Great kid with great hockey skills. Wish her all the best.