Freshman Friday is a Q-and-A feature with new members of the men's hockey team. This is the second of eight installments this year, featuring defenseman Joe Leahy.

Q: Welcome to Cornell! How's Ithaca treating you so far?
A: It's awesome. I love it here on campus. Everyone's super nice, especially my new teammates. They're great guys, and it's a lot of fun being around everyone.

Q: What are you studying?
A: I'm in the College of Arts and Sciences. I'm in economics as of now, but I'm trying to switch into a bit more of a hard science, like biology or something.

Q: That seems like a pretty big switch. When did you start to think about doing that?
A: Well, I wanted to do something general my first year, because I didn't know if I was going to do something in business or something in science. So Arts and Sciences is perfect for me, because I can take a little bit of both courses. Right now, I'm in both micro economics and chemistry. So that's what I think I'm going to do, but who knows?

Q: 'Any person, any study.' Was that one of the things that appealed to you about Cornell, that you would have that flexibility to be able to move around if you wanted?
A: Yeah, my sister did pretty much the same thing at Princeton. She took super general courses the first two years. No one really knows what they want to do until they get to a university and take some classes, so that's definitely something I took into my decision. Obviously, the academics here are great, and you have a lot of options to explore for your first two years.

Q: You mention your sister, Brianna, who played four years with the women's hockey team at Princeton. How much did you draw from her experience not only playing college hockey, but at an Ivy League school?
A: Honestly, it's probably the biggest reason I'm at Cornell right now. She opened the door to college sports. Where I'm from – Waterloo, Ontario – the (Ontario Hockey League's) Kitchener Rangers are right by us and everyone goes to the OHL. I'm probably the only kid in my age group in the tri-cities (Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge) who decided to go to the NCAA. Without her, I probably never would have experienced anything down here. 
And specific to Cornell, we'd always come to her games against Cornell, and sometimes the men's team would play afterward. That was my first experience, a Cornell-Harvard game. Joel Lowry ('16) scored in overtime and it was Senior Night. So that was really cool. I didn't realize at the time that Cornell and Harvard had such a big rivalry, but it definitely put Cornell at the top of my list even though I was pretty young. But working toward that goal was pretty cool.

Q: At that point, you're maybe 16 or 17 and just a year or two out of midgets. Are you looking at Brianna and thinking the college route for sure at that point, or were you still looking toward the OHL?
A: As soon as she got to school, I was pretty much decided on the NCAA. Just watching her games and seeing the campuses. I've probably already seen most of the ECAC Hockey campuses already to watch her. I was pretty sold. I don't know how you couldn't be, seeing some of the beautiful campuses.

Q: So next up is a couple years with Stratford in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. Some of the things I've read make it sound like that was really a jumping-off point for you. Is that how you view it?
A: For sure. Before that, I wasn't drafted to the OHL or anything. That kind of bugged me a bit, I guess. But I kind of took off from there. Stratford, I can't say enough about the organization. I really developed there. A really good group of guys, and we not only had individual success but team success. We went to the finals my first year, then we won our division the second year. Lots of fun times there.

Q: Then from there, you head west to B.C. It's a pretty big jump. Not only is the BCHL a great league, but you're also moving across the country. What was that experience like for you?
A: I'm pretty sure that's what the coaches here really liked. As soon as I got to Penticton, I committed to Cornell. I had talked to them a little bit in Stratford, but I think when they saw my commitment to go out there, they saw I was serious about hockey. That really helped me. It was an awesome experience. I had never been to B.C. before, and Penticton was a great place to play. Beautfiul part of B.C., and we also had a really good team. My first year, we won the BCHL. We came up short in the RBC, but it was still a great season.

Q: The RBC Cup is obviously a big thing. That had to be a crazy experience. What did you learn through that?
A: It was in Ontario, so that was nice. It was almost like a college atmosphere in terms of one game means everything and makes or breaks your season. We lost, 2-1, to Cobourg. We outshot them something like 50-20 in the semifinals. Just goes to show you that a hot goaltender and a bounce either way can really affect a game. Just extrapolating that and relating it to college, that's kind of what happens all the time.

Q: So there's a lot to talk about in regards to your family. Let's start with your dad, what does he do?
A: He's a musician. It's kind of a cool job. I don't know anyone else who has a musician for a parent. He did the bulk of his touring when I was super young. So he was away a lot then – like two weeks gone, then three weeks back; that kind of thing. But then he transitioned to more of an executive role where he built a music program at a couple private schools. It was great, because his job was to perform at a certain time – but when I was home, he could take us anywhere because he didn't do much during the day. That was a lot of fun. He used to take my brothers and I out of school during lunch and we'd go skating, or stuff like that. He loves hockey. He wanted to become an NHL player, but he wasn't good enough. So he had to settle for the violin.

Q: And it's not just him. Your dad has something like 10 cousins and was part of The Leahy Family band, which has won something like three Juno Awards, right?
A: Yeah, he played with them before going off on his own. He's classically trained, and he does more comedy, symphony, pop shows. It's like a variety show. He'd go to a city's symphony and be a soloist. They'd play his songs with him, then he'd talk about the story behind the songs. He fiddles, but he's also classically trained. The meshing of that, the two cultures, is kind of different.

Q: I hear you play the guitar. Are you a good?
A: No, I'm just average. I really like working at it and learning new things, but I'd say I'm a pretty garage-band type.

Q: I saw you had a little bit of a band back in B.C. Are you going to find some people to play with here?
A: Yeah, I already have. It's just a great social thing, meeting new people through that. And also it's just a release from a stressful day.

Q: And then there's your mom's side, which is also very interesting. Hockey is seriously in your blood. Your mom played Olympic field hockey. Did she stop playing before you were born?
A: Yeah, she played in the one Olympics and decided to start her life. She was mid-20s and wasn't married when that was going on.

Q: For fans who haven't seen you play yet, what kind of player would you say you are?
A: I'm probably a two-way defenseman who skates well; can contribute on both ends of the ice. I'll do whatever it takes to help us win.

Q: What do you think you'll be working on this year to try to crack the lineup?
A: I'm super excited for the challenge to compete with these guys in practice and show my strengths. We already have a stable 'D' corps, so I know it's going to be a challenge, but I'm ready to face it.
 

Freshman Friday Archives

Oct. 12 — Misha Song