Feature: Glove Tip Directed Brown’s Stock into Starting Spot

The following feature article on Brown goaltender Nicole Stock appears on the USA Hockey Web site. It can be accessed by clicking here.

By Mike Scandura
Special to usahockey.com

File this one under "little things mean a lot."

When Brown University junior Nicole Stock (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) was invited to attend the 2003 National Goalie Development Camp in Colorado Springs, Colo., she came away with one tip that, in retrospect, has helped her earn the role as the Bears' No. 1 goalie heading into the 2007-08 season.

"We were doing drills and one stuck in my mind," recalled Stock, who in 2004 backstopped the Connecticut Polar Bears to a USA Hockey national championship. "It had to do with keeping my glove hand out and up more.

"I also remember a class they gave on diet for athletes and how it helps you train, and what's important in that sense. But for some reason what I learned about how to position my glove hand really stood out."

As a sophomore on a Brown team that got off to a slow start but closed with a rush, Stock posted a 9-9-2 record with a commendable 2.82 goals-against average, a .910 save percentage and three shutouts.

And before enrolling at Brown, she was a four-year letterwinner in hockey at Choate Rosemary Hall (in fact, she was 14-1-0 with a 0.67 GAA and a .956 save percentage as a senior).

Stock learned to skate when she was six and began playing organized hockey two years later. But, admittedly, her mother (Marilyn) wasn't involved in sports and her father (Steven) didn't start playing hockey until his 20s -- and then only in recreation leagues.

Stock, meanwhile, began playing volleyball and basketball in middle school "on the side."

"I couldn't play basketball any more because it was played the same time as hockey," she said. "But hockey always was my preferred sport."

How she wound up in goal is something for which Brown coach Digit Murphy, also a veteran USA Hockey coach, is eternally grateful.

"As I got older, the first team I played on they rotated the goalies in and out," Stock said. "For some reason, I wanted to play it. My parents said I always volunteered to play goal. I stuck with it after that and it was fine."

It also presented a challenge that, perhaps, tells you much about Stock's mindset.

"I was attracted to (goal) because of the do-or-die part of the position," she said. "I became more attracted to it as time went on because either you're going to play well or die in goal.

"Everybody knows who you are. When you don't play well, you really hear it."

Stock faces another challenge this season in that she's one of the few "veterans" on the team. According to Stock, there's a 16-to-7 ratio of freshmen and sophomores to juniors and seniors, and she realizes she has to be there for the younger Bears.

"I think that comes with the territory as you get to be a junior and senior," she said. "My junior and senior classmates were very helpful to me. As you get older, you do take on that responsibility to talk with kids when things aren't going right.

At the risk of stating the obvious, Stock realizes the best way she can help out Brown's underclassmen is to lead by example.

"I work hard day in and day out," she said. "For the younger kids, that's a huge thing for them to see. As long as our upperclassmen are dedicated to showing them what's needed to have a winning program, they'll be fine."

If Stock has a "fine" season, she readily agrees it'll be because of her mental approach.

"My confidence is the biggest thing that's changed from my freshman year until now," she said, while offering that her "dream" always has been to play on the U.S. Olympic team. "Being able to go out there and have the confidence to be out there has grown on me."

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial.