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Erin Whitten Hamlen is a former American hockey goaltender who was among the first women to play professional hockey. On Oct. 30, 1993, she was the first woman to earn a victory in a professional hockey game as a goaltender, in the Toledo Storm's 6-5 over the Dayton Bombers in the East Coast Hockey League.[1] She also played on the U.S. national team and competed in four IIHF World Championships. She was USA Hockey Women’s Player of the Year in 1994.[2]

Erin Whitten Hamlen
Born	(1971-10-26) October 26, 1971 (age 51) Glens Falls, New York, U.S.
Height	5 ft 5 in (165 cm)
Position	Goaltender
Caught	Left
Played for	Toledo Storm
National team	United States
Playing career	1989–1999
Medal record Representing  United States Women's ice hockey IIHF World Women's Championships 1992 Finland Tournament 1994 United States Tournament 1997 Canada Tournament 1999 Finland Tournament

In her coaching career, Hamlen spent 10 years as an assistant and associate coach for the University of New Hampshire. She is currently head coach at Merrimack College, where she began the women’s Division I hockey program in 2013.[3]

Playing career

Whitten is from Glens Falls, New York, where she grew up playing hockey with the neighborhood boys, starting at age 5.[1] She moved to goaltending at age 12.

Whitten played in the Adirondack Youth Hockey Association. In high school, she was the first female player for the Glens Falls Indians.[2] She was a backup goaltender in her junior year and started in net as a senior.[1]

In high school, she accumulated a 21–9 record with a 2.0 GAA. She was selected as a Central District High School Hockey League All-Star Honorable Mention. In 1989, she was the first female player to compete in the NYSPHSAA Division 2 High School Hockey Championships.[2]

Whitten was recruited to play for women’s teams at Northeastern University and the University of New Hampshire.[1]

University of New Hampshire

Whitten played all four years she attended the University of New Hampshire, before graduating with a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1993. Over four seasons she compiled a record of 54—14—4, with a .910 save percentage.[2]

Whitten shut out Dartmouth College in her collegiate debut and helped lead the Wildcats to two ECAC titles (1990,1991). As a college player, she was selected as First-Team All-Star four times. She won the ECAC Goaltender of the Year award in 1992.[4][5]

At the time of her graduation, Whitten held the UNH records for saves in a game (46), saves in a season (511) and career saves (1,556). She had 51 career victories -- second most in school history at the time.[5]

Professional career

After her graduation from college, Whitten was working at an Adirondack Red Wings summer camp when two players introduced her to agent Steve Bartlett, who also represented Manon Rheaume. He landed her an opportunity to tryout with the Red Wings, though she eventually signed with the Toledo Storm (ECHL) and coach Chris McSorley.[1] “I’ve dressed everywhere from the women’s bathroom to the closet,” she said in November 1993, of being the team's only female player. “If I could fit all the gear in a phone booth, I'm sure I'd have used one of those by now.”[1]

As a goaltender with Toledo, she was the first woman to earn a victory in a professional hockey game, during a 6-5 win against the Dayton Bombers on Oct. 30, 1993. Whitten had come into a tied game for the injured Alain Harvey in the second period. The Storm clearly played with more intensity with Whitten in net, according to the Toledo Blade. Barry Potomski, typically a Storm enforcer, tallied a hat-trick. Whitten stopped 15 of 19 shots and was credited with the win.[6]

At the time Whitten was under the misimpression that Rheaume, who had been the first woman to play in a pro hockey game during the prior season, had already recorded a win. “I'm not quite sure how to react because I just heard it myself,” Whitten told the Toledo Blade after the game. She said it was “nice to be in the record books” but it had been “just another win. Hopefully there will be a few more.”[6]

She told the Blade: “I’m doing what I love to do. Whether that makes history or not, it doesn’t really matter to me. I just want to play hockey.”[6]

Whitten was 22 years old at the time, 5 feet, 5 inches tall, and weighed 155 pounds. She later told the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy, “I'm glad I'm in the record books. Nobody can take that away. I'd like to play as much as I can and see how far I can take it.”[1]

Whitten also played professionally with the Dallas Freeze (Central Hockey League) in the 1993-1994 season.[5]

She played for the Utica Blizzard (Colonial Hockey League) in the 1994-95 season; and the Flint Generals (United Hockey League) in the 1995-96 season. She was the first woman to participate in a game in all four leagues.[2][5]

Whitten has also played roller hockey with the Pittsburgh Phantoms and the Oakland Skates.

U.S. women's national team

Whitten was starting goaltender for the U.S. women's national ice hockey team from 1992 to 1997.[5] She was USA Hockey Women's Player of the Year in 1994. Whitten started as goaltender for the U.S. team during the IIHF Women's World Championships in 1992, 1994 and 1997. She was named outstanding goaltender in the 1994 World Championships.[5]

Despite her age, Whitten was still considered one of the top women’s hockey players in the world in October 1997, four months prior to the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan. Ben Smith, coach of the U.S. national team, described her as “kind of the poster girl on the defensive side of things. Great athletic ability and has played some professional hockey with men. A real fine goalie and has taken up the challenge by the younger kids. Probably right now ranked one of the top in the world in women’s hockey.”[7] However, Whitten slumped in the lead-up to the Olympics, going 0—3 and allowing 14 goals in pre-Olympic games against the Canadians, who were defending World Champions. Smith cut her from the roster on Dec. 20 in favor of goaltenders Sarah Tueting and Sara DeCosta.[8] The U.S. national team went on to win its first Olympic gold medal in February 1998, during the first-ever Olympic women’s hockey tournament. Finnish coach Rauni Korpi was reportedly incredulous at Whitten’s absence from the Games, asking two American reporters, “Why is Erin Whitten not here?”[8]

Whitten worked her way back to the U.S. national team's roster in 1999, when she was starting goaltender for the IIHF Women's World Championships.[5] Then 27, she described her comeback to a reporter following a semifinal game against Finland, which the U.S. won, 3–1: “After being cut from the Olympics, I really didn’t know if I was going to get another shot right away. I took a lot of time away, and I think it did some good for me mentally. It took a lot for me to build up the confidence again.”[9] The U.S. team lost the next night to Canada, 3-1, which extended its streak of world championships to five. Whitten was credited for keeping the U.S. in the game, with 27 saves. Smith was quoted as saying: “This might be the best game against Canada I’ve seen her play.”[10] Teammate Cammi Granato told The Boston Globe that Whitten had “played her heart out. We just didn’t put the puck in the net. The chances we had, we didn’t bury.”[10]

Whitten played for the national team again in 2001[5] though she was not on the roster for that year's Women's World Championships.[11]

Coaching career

Hamlen began her coaching career on July 17, 2000 as an assistant with UNH. She was promoted to associate head coach on July 27, 2006. She spent a total of 10 seasons at UNH (2000-2010). During her time with the team, the Wildcats won six straight Hockey East regular season championships (2004-2009) and four straight Hockey East tournament championships (2006-2009). Hamlen was part of the coaching staff that led the Wildcats to the Frozen Four in 2006 and 2008. The 2007 team spent time ranked No. 1 in the country, ending the season at No. 4. The 2008 team recorded an undefeated season. As a coach at UNH, Hamlen helped goaltender Jen Huggon earn All-America honors. In each of the first six seasons of the Hockey East women's conference, a UNH goaltender won its goaltending champion award.[5]

Hamlen was an assistant coach for U.S. women's hockey team at the 2006 Four Nations Cup and at the 2007 IIHF World Championships.[5][12] She was an assistant for the U.S. women's hockey U18 team during the 2007-08 season.[5]

The Boston Blades hired Hamlen on September 17, 2010, as the team's first coach.[13] The Blades were the first U.S. team in the now-defunct Canadian Women's Hockey League.[14] Hamlen coached the team for one season.

She coached the University of New England women’s hockey team during its first season, in 2012-13.[3]

Merrimack College

On June 24, 2013, she was hired as head coach of the Merrimack Warriors in Hockey East.[15][3] She is the first coach of the Merrimack women's team and has compiled a record of 57—145—22 through seven seasons.

In starting the Merrimack women’s program, Hamlen resisted suggestions that she gradually build the program through club hockey or even a Division 3 schedule. “My personality doesn't allow me to ease into anything,” she told an interviewer. “Let’s go. Let’s just start this (in Hockey East). We will do what we need to do to get the right talent in place. I'm ready to tackle this now.”[16] Hamlen had support from Mark Dennehy, then the coach of the Merrimack men’s team, and said she tried to emulate his approach. Dennehy was a member of the search committee for a women’s hockey coach.

Hamlen spent more than two years at Merrimack recruiting a team before ever playing a game. In the second year, four players were enrolled. Hamlen later recalled, “Even though there weren't any games, we worked them hard.”[16] Hamlen has described early recruiting for Merrimack as difficult, as she competed for players against the likes of Boston College and Boston University. She and her assistants initially focused on prospective Division 1 athletes who were “missing a piece” of their game, she said. But the school gradually started “getting attention and respect,” gaining commitments from players who were also being recruited by top schools in the country.[16] Hamlen said she felt her own success, in her college career at UNH and as a member of the U.S. national team, gave her clout as she tried to attract players to Merrimack.[17]

In the team's first season, Hamlen led a squad of 16 freshman, four redshirt freshman and two juniors. The inaugural team won five games, with its first victory coming against Hamlen's alma mater, UNH.[3] In the program’s second season, the Warriors doubled their goals scored by 50 percent and their points by 60 percent, with more than double the wins, en route to an 11–22—3 finish. The team earned its first-ever berth in the Hockey East tournament.[18]

In September 2017, Hamlen’s team started the season with back-to-back upsets on the road over Boston University, 2–1, and No. 3 ranked Minnesota, 4–3. Merrimack beat Minnesota even as the Warriors were outshot, 57—19. Hamlen credited goaltending — by junior Samantha Ridgewell and sophomore Lea Kristine Demers — in both victories.[19] The team finished the season 11—20–3.

Hamlen’s most successful season at Merrimack was in 2018-19 — the senior season for her inaugural class of freshman. The Warriors posted the team’s first-ever winning record, at 16–13—7, which included a 1–0 victory over No.9-ranked Boston College on Dec. 8. The team earned its second berth in the Hockey East tournament, where it lost to Providence in the opening round.[20]

In seven seasons, Hamlen’s teams at Merrimack have produced five professional players: Dominique Kremer, Samatha Ridgewell, Paige Voight, Mikyla Grant-Mentis and Courtney Maud.[21] Two players — Dominika Laskova and Katerina Bukolska — have competed in the Olympics, both for the Czech national team.[22]

Personal life

Hamlen grew up in Glens Falls, New York, the second of three daughters of Peter and Joan Whitten.[1]

She was inducted into the Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017. The induction was held February 25, 2017, prior to an ECHL game between the Adirondack Thunder and the Brampton Beast. She was the first woman inducted into the regional hall of fame, which was created in 2010.[23]

Hamlen has also competed in marathons and triathlons.[16]

She and her husband, Tim, live in Hampton, New Hampshire, with their two children.[3]

Career statistics

Men's professional leagues[24]

Season	Team	League	GP	Mins	W	L	T	GA	SO	GAA	Save%
1993-94	Toledo Storm	ECHL	4	149	2	0	0	20	0	8.01	0.737
1993-94	Dallas Freeze	CHL	4	111	1	1	0	9	0	4.85	0.847
1994-95	Utica Blizzard	CoHL	1	19	0	1	0	2	0	6.32	0.667
1995-96	Muskegon Fury	CoHL	4	120	0	1	0	9	0	4.49	0.862
1995-96	Flint Generals	CoHL	4	119	2	0	0	12	0	6.05	0.727

USA Hockey[25]

Event	GPI	Mins	GA	SOG	SV%	GAA
1992 IIHF Women's World Championship	4				0.851	3.68
1994 IIHF Women's World Championship	3	180	7	52	0.864	2.33
1997 IIHF Women's World Championship	5				0.908	1.41
1999 IIHF Women's World Championship	3	179:03	4	72	0.944	1.34

Head coaching record[26]

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
University of New England (NEHC) (2012–2013)
2012–13	U New England	1-10-0	1–4–0	9th
Merrimack College (Hockey East) (2015–present)
2015–16	Merrimack	5-26-3	3–18–3	9th
2016-17	Merrimack	11-22-3	7–17–0	8th	HEA Quarterfinals
2017-18	Merrimack	11-20-3	6-16-2	9th
2018–19	Merrimack	16-13-7	12-10-5	5th	HEA Quarterfinals
2019–20	Merrimack	5-24-5	2-20-5	10th
2020–21	Merrimack	1-15-0	1-15-0	10th
2021–22	Merrimack	8-25-1	6-20-1	9th	HEA Quarterfinals
Merrimack:		57-145-22	37-116-16
Total:		58-155-22
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

Awards and honors

• USA Hockey Women's Player of the Year (1994)
• University of New Hampshire's Department of Women's Athletics Athlete of the Year (1993)
• ECAC Goaltender of the Year (1992)
• ECAC All-Star Selection (equivalent to first-team status) 1990, 1991
• ECAC First-Team All-Star (1992, 1993)
• Directorate Award, Best Goaltender, 1994 IIHF women's world hockey championships[27]
• UNH Athletics Hall of Fame, Class of 1998[28]
• Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame, 2017

References

See also

• Merrimack Warriors women's ice hockey

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