Dawn Sullivan making the most of her season with Black Bears

ORONO, ME: Dawn Sullivan doesn’t want the 2011-2012 NCAA Hockey East women’s hockey season to end.
The Enfield resident, who plays with the University of Maine Black Bears, was selected team captain by a player vote at the start of last season. She was the overwhelming choice of her peers to don the ‘C’ on her number 21 jersey.
“This team means everything to me,” said Sullivan, 22. “I’m just grateful to have been given this opportunity. I believe I was chosen because the team felt as though I could handle the added responsibility and still be myself.”
The five-foot-six, 150-pound Sullivan puts every bit of that frame into working hard on the ice during games and practices on and off the ice to get better. She is also becoming more vocal when required for the Orono, ME.-based Black Bears.
“Over the last year-and-a-half I have been working to become a vocal presence as well,” she said.
Sullivan said this season has had many twists and turns as it has ups and downs, with the Black Bears posting a 10-8-5 (won-loss-tied) overall record.
“We’ve had a roller-coaster type of start with huge wins over top 10 nationally ranked teams such as Quinnipiac and Boston College, and then unfortunate loses against non-ranked teams,” she said. “However, overall we have been able to finish over .500 for the first part of the season. We have a large chunk of Hockey East games remaining in the second half. We’re looking to make a solid run at playoffs and we feel as though we have learnt from our mistakes and are ready to capitalize in crunch time.”
She said the team is looking at hosting the first round of the playoffs, so that means a finish in the top four in the league. In 2010-2011, the Black Bears made the playoffs for the first time in Sullivan’s career, a huge accomplishment considering the opposition.
“We fell short in the quarterfinal game against Providence,” she recalled of the post-season appearance. “Being able to go to the hockey east championship would be amazing and would really show how far our program has come in the past few years.”
She said for that success to come the team needs to remain confident, disciplined, and just give 110 per cent every shift.
“We have a large senior class, and I know none of us are holding anything back,” she said.
Sullivan— who is taking a biochemistry major with minors in chemistry and microbiology— is hoping to drum up a potion to make what may be her final season of hockey a successful one.
“Unfortunately, this is probably my last season of competitive hockey,” she said. “I’m planning to focus on school and career options after this, however knowing me I will probably still have hockey in my life in one way or another.”
As the dark-haired, serious looking Sullivan watches the clock count down on her women’s university hockey career, she looks back with plenty of fond memories as a Black Bear.
“It was an awesome experience for me,” she said. “I got to play hockey against top Olympic players such as Marie Poulin, Kacey Bellamy, Kelli Stack, Meghan Agosta, and many more at a high level. The teams in our league were very competitive and it could go either way most days.
She said being able to eat, breathe, and play hockey while getting an education at the Division I level has made her an all around better person.
“I’ve enjoyed it every step of the way,” she said. “I think the highlight of my college career would have to be making playoffs last year. We finished the regular season with a top hockey east team Boston University (BU), and needed to win the last game against them to continue to playoffs. We took them into Overtime and won the game.
“We didn’t end up making it past the first round of playoffs; however BU went on to the Frozen Four championship game against Wisconsin.
She said playing with Maine has generated memories to last a lifetime.
“I have learned so much, have so many memories and have made lifetime friendships that I get to take with me,” she said. “To me that’s a successful college career. I had an immediate group of friends when I arrived with everyone on the team welcoming me so well.”
Hockey fans can follow the progress down the stretch drive of Sullivan and her Black Bear teammates by checking out the Maine team’s website, full of roster, stats, and game summaries at http://www.goblackbears.com/sports/w-hockey/index.
phealey@enfieldweeklypress.com