Paige Harrington
Paige Harrington playing for the Boston Pride in 2017
Born (1993-07-25) 25 July 1993 (age 30)
Mansfield, MA, USA
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 143 lb (65 kg; 10 st 3 lb)
Position Defense
Shoots Left
NWHL team
Former teams		 Boston Pride
National team  United States
Playing career 2011–present
Medal record
Representing  United States
Women's ice hockey
Winter Universiade
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Italy Tournament
Women's ball hockey
World Championship
Silver medal – second place 2017 Czech Republic Tournament

Paige Harrington (born July 25, 1993) is an American former professional ice hockey player. She last played for the Boston Pride of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) in 2017–18, following two seasons with the NWHL's Buffalo Beauts.

Playing career

High school

Harrington attended Mansfield High School in Mansfield, Massachusetts. She played boys hockey for three years at MHS and girls hockey for one (after the school entered a girls hockey co-op arrangement with Oliver Ames High School) before graduating in 2011.[1]

College

Following a freshman season at Penn State, Harrington played for the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) for three years. Harrington's time at UMass was characterized by unprecedented success for the Minutemen, as the team won the Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League regular season and playoff championships in both 2012–13 and 2014–15 (the first two times UMass had ever won dual league championships, and the first two times the Minutemen won the playoff crown). Additionally, UMass advanced to the ACHA semifinals in both 2012–13 and 2013–14 (the latter ending up as a program-best second-place finish), doubling the number of final four appearances in team history to that point.

In 2012–13, Harrington was sidelined with a broken leg during UMass' late-season playoff push,[1] but still managed to post 16 points in 21 games prior to her injury, while helping the Minutemen to a top-five ranking for the first time in four years. Her teammates went on to defeat defending ACHA national champion Northeastern in the ECWHL championship game[2] and put together an impressive ACHA National Tournament run that ended with a semifinal defeat to eventual champion Minnesota.[3]

Although UMass archrival Rhode Island re-captured both ECWHL titles in 2013–14,[4] the season was still a historic one for the Minutemen. With Harrington now an alternate captain, and with her 17 points leading the way among the squad's blueliners, UMass was ranked in the ACHA's top five for the entirety of the season, winding up in second to equal its best placement ever. At that year's ACHA National Tournament in Newark, Delaware, the Minutemen quickly secured advancement to the semifinals with pool round wins over Liberty and Adrian, followed by Harrington scoring twice in a post-clinch defeat to Robert Morris (IL).[5] The RMU contest was notable as a meeting of future NWHL teammates Harrington and Hayley Williams (who grabbed an assist). In the semifinals, Massachusetts got revenge on URI for the ECWHL playoffs with a 2–1 victory,[6] although Miami University stopped UMass one win shy of a national title with a 3–1 result in the final.[7]

As a senior in 2014–15, Harrington was a co-captain of the team as they took back both ECWHL championships from Rhode Island and once again qualified for the ACHA National Tournament. She enjoyed, arguably, her best season individually as well. Included among her career-best 26 points were a four-point outing against Northeastern on October 24, 2014, as well as the game-winning goal against Penn State two weeks prior to that, her first game against PSU since departing that program in 2012.[8] Harrington was picked as the ACHA's Harrow Defenseman of the Month in November 2014[9] and was named a First Team All-American at the end of the season.[10]

Harrington graduated from UMass in 2015 with a degree in communications.[11] Despite only spending three seasons in Amherst, her 59 career points rank 15th in program history, as of the end of the 2016–17 season.

International

Winter Universiade

Harrington was selected as a member of the United States National University Team which competes at the Winter Universiade twice, in 2013 and 2015, and was selected as an alternate captain each time.[12] The 2013 edition of the tournament, played in Trentino, Italy resulted in a bronze medal for Harrington after a third-place game win over Japan - the first-ever podium finish for an American women's team at the event and the first for the Team USA men or women in USA Hockey's modern era of participation (since 2001).[13] In 2015, Harrington helped Team USA to a fifth-place finish in Granada, Spain.

ISBHF World Championship

In 2017, Harrington was named to the United States Women's National Ball Hockey Team's roster for the International Street and Ball Hockey Federation's Ball Hockey World Championship tournament.[14] As with the national university team, Harrington helped the U.S. ball hockey program reach new heights by winning the silver medal, following fourth-place finishes each of the previous five times it had entered the biennial tournament. A late semifinal win over a Canada team defending gold medals in 2013 and 2015 and featuring professional women's ice hockey stars Jamie Lee Rattray and Devon Skeats clinched Team USA's best finish ever and highlighted the run.[15]

NWHL

Ahead of the inaugural NWHL season in 2015–16, Harrington signed a professional contract with the Buffalo Beauts.[16][17] The signing made her the first former ACHA player to sign in the league (along with Hayley Williams, whose signing was announced at the same time) and just the third documented ACHA alumna to sign in any North American women's professional league. Harrington went on to play in all 18 regular season and all five playoff games during the 2015–16 Buffalo Beauts season, which saw a third-place finish in the standings and an appearance in the first-ever Isobel Cup Final.[18]

In April 2016, Harrington became the first player to re-sign a contract with the Buffalo Beauts for the 2016–17 NWHL season, earning a second $10,000 one-year deal,[19] although league-wide financial difficulties early in the year led to all contracts being halved and eventually supplemented with a revenue-sharing program.[20][21] Harrington, once again, appeared in every regular season contest as the Beauts repeated their third-place finish with a 6–10–1 mark. However, that season's playoffs, which took place entirely over the March 17–19, 2017 weekend, more than erased that losing mark. Buffalo pulled off a pair of upset victories, over the New York Riveters in the semifinals by a 4–2 count, then 3–2 over the Boston Pride (the defending champions, who had gone 35–4–1 over the two NWHL regular and playoff seasons entering the contest) to capture the Isobel Cup.[22][23]

On July 12, 2017, Harrington signed with the Pride, the team she faced in the Isobel Cup Final in both 2016 and 2017 as a member of the Beauts,[24] citing the ability to play close to home while transitioning to her off-ice career as reasons for changing teams.[25] She played 14 regular season games for the Pride in 2017–18 and collected three assists.[26] Boston uncharacteristically struggled throughout the season though, managing only a 4–8–4 record and a third-place finish before being eliminated in the league semifinals in overtime by Harrington's former Beauts squad.

Career statistics

College and professional

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2011–12[27] Penn State ACHA 22 1 2 3 8 — — — — —
2012–13[28] UMass Amherst ACHA 21 5 11 16 24 — — — — —
2013–14 UMass Amherst ACHA 25 5 10 15 16 5 2 0 2 4
2014–15[29] UMass Amherst ACHA 25 10 15 25 35 3 0 1 1 0
2015–16 Buffalo Beauts NWHL 18 0 3 3 12 5 0 0 0 2
2016–17 Buffalo Beauts NWHL 17 0 0 0 14 2 0 0 0 0
2017–18 Boston Pride NWHL 14 0 3 3 15 1 0 0 0 0
ACHA totals 93 21 38 59 83 8 2 1 3 4
NWHL totals 49 0 6 6 41 8 0 0 0 2

International

Year Team Event Result   GP G A Pts PIM
2013 United States WU 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7 0 1 1 2
2015 United States WU 5th 5 0 3 3 4
2017 United States BHWC 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 7 0 0 0 8
Totals 19 0 4 4 14

Awards and honors

ACHA

NWHL

References

  1. ^ a b Gobis, Peter (December 10, 2013). "Mansfield's Ms. USA". The Sun Chronicle. Archived from the original on October 28, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  2. ^ Boyer, Kaitlin (March 6, 2013). "Women's club hockey headed to national championship". The Massachusetts Daily Collegian. Archived from the original on January 1, 2018. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  3. ^ "Division 1 Semifinals LIVE Blog". Twisted Thoughts. March 9, 2013. Archived from the original on December 14, 2019. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  4. ^ Divver, Mark (February 24, 2014). "URI women's hockey team wins ECWHL title". Providence Journal. Archived from the original on February 24, 2018. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  5. ^ "(W1) Robert Morris University (IL) 4 @ (W1) Massachusetts, University of 6". Goalline. March 14, 2014. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  6. ^ "(W1) Rhode Island, University of (IL) 1 @ (W1) Massachusetts, University of 2". Goalline. March 15, 2014. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  7. ^ "(W1) Massachusetts, University of 1 @ (W1) Miami University 3". Goalline. March 16, 2014. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  8. ^ "Imperfect Day Ends Perfect Record as UMass Shuts Out Lady Ice Lions". Penn State Women's Ice Hockey Club. October 10, 2014. Archived from the original on August 19, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  9. ^ "November ACHA Awards Corner presented by Harrow". American Collegiate Hockey Association. December 11, 2014. Archived from the original on September 21, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  10. ^ "Past Awards". American Collegiate Hockey Association. Archived from the original on June 17, 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  11. ^ Vautour, Matt (13 January 2017). "UMass graduate Paige Harrington achieves dream of playing professional women's hockey". Daily Hampshire Gazette. Archived from the original on 26 February 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  12. ^ Gobis, Peter (April 2, 2017). "Mansfield's Harrington mulls hockey career after helping Beauts to NWHL title". The Sun Chronicle. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  13. ^ Capiello, Peter (January 22, 2014). "Harrington, four teammates pacing UMass after USA bronze medal". The Massachusetts Daily Collegian. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  14. ^ "Isobel Cup Champion Paige Harrington Added to US Women's National Team". The Massachusetts Daily Collegian. April 21, 2017. Archived from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  15. ^ Ayala, Erica L. (April 21, 2017). "Team USA defeats Canada, advances to gold medal match". The Ice Garden. Archived from the original on September 25, 2021. Retrieved June 9, 2017.
  16. ^ NWHL (2015). "Llanes, Williams, and Harrington Sign NWHL Contracts". NWHL.Co. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  17. ^ Nelson, Dustin (12 August 2015). "Rachel Llanes, Hayley Williams & Paige Harrington Sign in NWHL". The Hockey Writers. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  18. ^ NWHL (2016). "Harrington First Player to Re-Sign With Buffalo". NWHL.Co. Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  19. ^ Cimini, Kaitlin (11 April 2016). "Paige Harrington first to re-sign with Buffalo Beauts". Slapshot. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  20. ^ "NWHL HIT WITH BAD NEWS". The Fourth Period. November 18, 2016. Archived from the original on November 19, 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  21. ^ "NWHL players to receive attendance bonuses". Excelle Sports. 2016-12-23. Archived from the original on 2016-12-28. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  22. ^ Vaughan, Nathan (March 20, 2017). "Isobel Cup Final Notebook: An upset for the ages". The Ice Garden. Archived from the original on July 9, 2017. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  23. ^ "ACHA GRAD HELPS BUFFALO BEAUTS WIN NATIONAL WOMEN'S HOCKEY LEAGUE 2017 ISOBEL CUP". American Collegiate Hockey Association. March 22, 2017. Archived from the original on May 2, 2017. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  24. ^ "Paige Harrington Signs with the Boston Pride". National Women's Hockey League. Archived from the original on August 2, 2017. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  25. ^ Forrester, Nick (July 12, 2017). "Boston Pride sign Paige Harrington". Excelle Sports. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  26. ^ "Paige Harrington". National Women's Hockey League. Archived from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  27. ^ "2011-12 Statistics". Penn State Women's Ice Hockey Club. Archived from the original on January 19, 2018. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  28. ^ "(W1) MASSACHUSETTS, UNIVERSITY OF - TEAM ID 13180". Goalline. Archived from the original on October 15, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  29. ^ "# 2 Paige Harrington". Pointstreak. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2017.

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