Kahlen Lamarche has the most goals in the NCAA. She credits her competitiveness, her new defensive skills and hard work for the leap that has her amongst the best in the nation.
Kahlen Lamarche, the Quinnipiac junior forward who leads the NCAA in goals, began her time on the ice in figure skates.
She was around five-years-old when she skated over to her mom on the bench mid-routine, having lost her scrunchie, “I looked at her and I gave her like a fit almost,” Lamarche said.
Her coach suggested that she be put into hockey.
She still finished the routine. “I did good in it,” she said.
Lamarche gets fired up easily, something she credits partially to growing up with two older brothers who also played hockey, and playing on all-boys teams. Her drive to win, to be the hero, is what inspires those around her and gives her the energy for big moments.
“It’s a powerful thing to have because you can make so many other people better by just being competitive in practice, like in games, literally anything,” she said.
When it comes down to game time she just wants to win “so bad.”
“It just comes out in so many different aspects, the way I play my game, how physical I am.”
This season, Lamarche has prioritized defense. While she grew up as a defender, her defensive skills weren't on par with what she thought she needed to have a "more complete game." This year, she spent her first season contributing on the penalty kill, and a former blind spot has become one of her biggest strengths.
“I know that if I'm taking care and doing my little details in my D-zone that I'll get more chances and more opportunities and create more things for my team in the O-zone,” Lamarche said.
Her secret to that development? Staying in Hamden, Connecticut in the summers. She chose Quinnipiac for its player development and its paid off.
“The difference from me freshman year to me junior year is like insane to see,” she said.
Lamarche took home 34 points and 11 goals in her rookie season and 33 points and 14 goals for her second. Now, she is first in the nation with a total of 42 goals and third in points at 60.
She has had plenty of big moments this season, including a seven goal weekend against Northeastern and setting Quinnipiac’s single season goal record Februrary 7 after a netting two goals against Dartmouth College. In the opening round of the ECAC playoffs, she scored a hat trick in Quinnipiac's third and deciding game against Brown.
“I like being that big time, that big moment player. I kind of embrace it in a way,” she said.
Her favorite moment from the season, however, might just be her overtime game winning goal against No. 9 Yale University to end a 4-3 game on February 14. After racing down the ice on the breakaway, Lamarche found an empty side of the net, shooting and scoring before sliding to her knee for a heartbreaker celly.
What went through her mind: “Oh my god, I always wanted to hit the heartbreaker." It being Valentine's Day didn’t cross her mind, but “it makes me even cooler,” she said.
“It's literally a moment I'll probably like never forget for a very long time.”
With her third NCAA playoff underway, Lamarche thinks scoring throughout every line will be the necessary key to an ECAC championship. Specifically, she said, graduate student Laurence Frenette and rookie Peyton Cormier, who scored her fourth goal in the opening game against Brown University, could come up big for the Bobcats.
Lamarche still has a year left in the NCAA, something she plans to take advantage of, but will later on enter the PWHL draft. She dreams of a long hockey career.
“I'm only 20 so maybe [I’ll play] till I’m 30, that would be pretty cool. That's kind of the future I see for myself,” she said.