Tucker Shedd '22 Recruiting Profile

The importance of hard work has been taught to me for as long as I can remember, but especially in the last five years. During my squirt year, my mom was diagnosed with cancer and everything I thought I knew suddenly changed. While I was always a leader on my team, when she got sick, it became clear that being a leader wasn’t just about how much effort I gave on the ice, but it was also about all of the things that we do off the ice, too. Hockey became so much more than a sport.

As a teammate, my goals are to help the team as much as I can and in the best ways possible. In the last few years I’ve learned that things can get really difficult. People will tell you to have a positive attitude but sometimes that’s not enough. Instead, I’ve learned that hard work and digging deeper matters just as much. Being a role model and leading with actions, whether it is a simple tap with a stick on the pads of our goalie or a glove bump to another player to build them up can be more effective than encouraging words.

A true leader leads with actions as much as words. I see myself as an offensive defenseman and like to get plays going, directing traffic, and putting pucks in the net to get the points on the board for our team as well. I also believe that the off-ice leadership is key as well and want to be sure I can do my best to drive others to be greater as people by serving as a role model on the ice, in the weight room, and in the community representing our team. 

My mom is a college professor and worked the entire time she was sick while also making sure my sister and I got to all of our practices and games—she modeled hard work and determination no matter what. When your mom is a professor, college is also an expectation, not an option. Because of our family’s experience, my sister is planning to study nursing and wants to eventually work in pediatric oncology. I also am interested in oncology, either research or practicing medicine. Either way, I see hockey as a way to work within the community and give back as much as I can to a sport that helped me so much.

The rink was always the space where my mom said “everything is normal”, and I want to help other kids have that chance eventually too.