Former SHU captain Bishop hits ice with CT Whale
Maddie Bishop distinctly remembers her first game with the Sacred Heart University women’s ice hockey team.
It was a “big pond, little fish” moment.
“I was not playing and I started on the fourth line and I was devastated,” Bishop, who had been a captain of the ETB co-op in high school, said. “My dad still talks about that day now, because I called him and I was so upset. He told me Maddie, you’re a freshman, you just joined the team, it’s the first game - keep pushing hard, working hard, and grow’.”
Four years later, Bishop, who became a captain for SHU, is still growing as she kicks off her professional career with the Connecticut Whale in the National Women’s Hockey League.
It’s an opportunity Bishop didn’t see coming.
“I thought my career was going to end after college and then I got that call to play for the NWHL,” Bishop said. “It was an unimaginable feeling. I can continue to play hockey, and continue to grow in the sport. At this level, I’m still growing as a player.”
A forward from Wethersfield and a graduate of East Catholic High School, Bishop was selected by the Whale in the fifth round of the 2020 NWHL Draft after racking up 33 goals and 58 assists in 126 games during her four years at SHU.
The NWHL is playing its season in a bubble at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, the site of the 1980 Olympic Games. Games began this weekend without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the
Whale will have three more games during the next week. The Whale
“We’ve been practicing since October, which has been tough in the sense that everyone is very competitive and wants to play a game,” Bishop said. “When we heard the news that we were going to do a bubble, we were superexcited. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Bishop credits coaches Frank Usseglio at ETB, and Thomas O’Malley at SHU as key factors in her progression.
The ETB program, a co-op with players from East Catholic, Glastonbury and South Windsor, has had 21 players go on to play at the college level in the past seven years, including current SHU players Cassie Nevers, a sophomore, and Caitlyn Caldon and Samantha Ostrowski, freshmen.
ETB shared a state co-championship with Simsbury during Bishop’s senior year.
“Coach Frank was awesome, I loved playing for him, and I continued to learn,” Bishop said. “You were never done. You were never at practice just to practice. Everyone was always there to get better every day and that was huge in my development as a player.”
Usseglio also coached Bishop with the Connecticut Northern Lights program and recalled a summer at the Shamrocks Tournament in Vermont, when Bishop was playing for the 12U team and the 19U was short a few players.
“I asked her mom, Lisa, if Maddie could stay and play in the 19(U) game,” Usseglio said. “So she played in that game and she was ferocious. She was a tiny girl with the heart of a lion.”
At SHU, Bishop became a team captain by her senior year. During her sophomore season, the Pioneers were 27-6-2 and won the New England Women’s Hockey Alliance championship. Overall, SHU was 88-34-8 during her four years.
“Coach O’Malley always talked about wanting you to grow and push yourself beyond your limits,” Bishop said of her time at SHU. “I could’ve quit that day (freshman year) and been like ‘this isn’t for me.’ But coach O’Malley said ‘you’re good, you just have some growing to do.’ He pushed me to be that player and by my senior year, I was a captain and a go-to player. He made my game 10 times better than it could’ve been.”
After her success with ETB and SHU, Bishop said she is ready to make that next jump with the Connecticut Whale.
“Just like with high school and college, this is just another step up,” Bishop said. “You’re playing with the best of the best and the girls are wicked nice. It’s a great opportunity in my career that I didn’t even know was possible until now.”