By Warren Kozireski —
Rory Guilday helped Cornell women’s hockey to the NCAA tournament where they fell in the regional finals and the junior defenseman now turns her attention to Team USA at the IIHF Women’s World Championships being held in Utica.
In her second trip with Team USA, she won a gold medal with the team last year and hopes for a repeat performance as one of the six regular blueliners paired most games with New York native Haley Winn.
“Personally, I feel more confident going in there and know what to expect,” Guilday said after a round-robin game. “You always get something new in every single one of these tournaments, but I definitely feel more confident.”
“We like to keep it (shifts) quick…it’s a big part of what we do and who we are,” “We trust everyone and just try to make sure I can get off and pass it on to the next one.”
Guilday had a solid freshman season with the Big Red, but then battled through an ankle injury as a sophomore. She was still able to make last year’s World Championship.
“I feel like I came back stronger, and it make me that much more excited to play.”
As for how the native Minnesotan ended up in central New York?
“I was looking for a change of scenery, I think. I love Minnesota, but I think I wanted to branch out and try something new. Cornel I was immediately drawn to with the scenery and obviously the school and the hockey program itself. And the type of people around there were just incredible and it’s something that I wanted to be a part of.”
First things first as Team USA headed into the medal round as the top seed after defeating Team Canada in the round-robin 1-0 in overtime.
Then?
“Senior year at Cornell and I’m looking forward to every minute of it. Then the PWHL is doing incredible, so I hope to be a part of that when I graduate.”
(Photo provided by USA Hockey/Women’s IIHF Team)
