Freshman Friday is a Q-and-A feature with new members of the women's ice hockey team. This is the second installment of the year, featuring defender Kaitlyn Isaac.
 
Q: How do you like Cornell and the area so far?
A: I love Cornell so far. The campus is really pretty and just walking to class and stuff it's really enjoyable to see the scenery and just going around Ithaca to the different gorges. And I couldn't ask for a better place to be in.
 
Q: What about the school? Like what about your classes?
A: School's not what I expected, I thought it would be a lot more difficult, managing everything with classes and hockey. But it's been good so far. I like all the classes I've taken first semester.
 
Q: On your beginning of the year questionnaire, you said that you are a communication major,  but are unsure what you want your career objective to be. Is that something you've been able to think about more? Maybe your first semester classes helped you?
A: Yeah, I've taken a lot of broad variety of like classes right now they're not all in like just communication, but I'm still figuring that out. But the comn classes that I did take were pretty interesting and like I think I might want to stay in that.
 
Q: Communication is a very broad major, is there anything specific that you know or just right now are you focusing on liking the communication classes?
A: Kinda just figuring it out and just getting the intro classes out of the way to see what it's really about…
 
Q: So we started the new semester yesterday, how are you liking your second half so far?
A: I've switched around my schedule quite a bit so far, like the classes that I planned to take… I switched out of them and am taking different ones and kinda just attending a bunch of classes to see what I like and what I want to study this semester.
 
Q: Before you came to Cornell and played here, how much time did you spend on campus?
A: I came for a couple visits… kinda like a year apart from each other and I got to stay in the townhouses with the freshmen on the team and just like ask them a couple questions like how they like it so far in their first year and why they chose Cornell and the program. And I just got to look around the campus and go to a couple classes with them and I liked it.
 
Q: What year in high school were these visits?
A: I think in grade 9 and grade 11 maybe.
 
Q: So you visited with the team twice and both times you stayed with them. These were in grade 9 and grade 11, when did you commit?
A: I committed in grade 10.
 
Q: So your commitment was before the second one but after the first one, that's interesting. What stood out about Cornell that made you want to commit here?
A: I really liked the campus and m just the idea of the school like how academically good it is. I got to see the program a little bit. I got to watch a game and how they run. I talked to the coaches quite a bit; I really liked Doug and  the coaching staff really stood out to me, which was what I was looking for.
 
Q: What do you think so far about Division 1?
A: I guess like every player here is skilled and all the teams are good; anyone can win any game any weekend, And it's a really competitive league that Cornell is in, the ECAC (Hockey league). You have to bring your game every time and compete. The game compared to juniors is faster and the girls are a lot bigger.
 
Q: You had a first collegiate point and an assist against RPI about a week ago… What was it like being able to set up that play and that goal?
A: It was fun, just playing with teammates and passing it to freshman Izzy Daniel. We're pretty close so just being on the ice with them, playing in a game and being rewarded like that is a lot of fun… I don't know I just like the feeling.
 
Q: How would you describe yourself as a player? Is there anyone you would model yourself after, be it professional or someone you've played with before?
A: I think, even though I'm smaller, my skating is a strength of mine and my hockey IQ. And I think that I'm pretty fast I guess. I like to model my game around Cornell alum and Canadian national team player, Laura Fortino. I really enjoy watching her play and I think she's a really good defenseman and the fact that she like went to Cornell and stuff, she's pretty much like a role model to me.
 
Q: Did that have any influence on whether you came here or was it kind of a coincidence that you liked Cornell and she was a Cornell alum?
A: I always watched Team Canada when I was younger and she was a player that stood out to me and that I liked to watch. Then like looking more into her I found out she went to Cornell and I thought that was pretty cool.
 
Q: Speaking of Cornell alum and Cornell teammates, have you been able to play with any of your teammates before coming here?
A: I played with Sydney Breza on a Selects hockey team (Selects Academy) like four or five years ago in a couple of tournaments, that's when I first met her. But when we first played together like we didn't know either of us were going to Cornell.
 
Q: Is there anyone that you played against?
A: Paige Kenyon. We played junior against each other and we would always go to a couple camps for like Team Ontario and we'd be on the same team. We kind of knew each other and became friends. At that time we knew we were going to Cornell so we just tried getting to know each other a bit more before coming here.
 
Q: Speaking of those camps and club, you played club hockey with Etobicoke and won silver with your U18 national team, Team Ontario. What was it like playing on that national level?
A: It was a lot of fun, that tournament. My team, we kinda came in as the underdogs and we went undefeated through regulation and round-robin play and we made it to the finals. But we um… I think we lost in overtime, which is like, kind of sucks to lose in that but it was a good experience for me and it builds a lot of confidence as a player to be in those tournaments and with those teams.
 
Q: And you were invited to the U18 national team selection camp. What kind of experience was that, participating in that camp?
A: It was kind of like a dream come true pretty much... And even though I didn't make the team it was just … the experience was very professional and really elite. It was something I still appreciate to this day. Certainly the ultimate goal would've been making the team but still just being in that atmosphere and spending a week there is really fun. You got to meet a lot of really great people.
 
Q: Any of those girls that you played with, either on Team Ontario or at the national team selection camp, any of them that are currently playing in ECAC hockey?
A: Um, in ECAC I think there's like a lot, a lot of friends that we keep in touch still. 
 
Q: So you've done a lot with ice hockey, how much time in general did you spend on the ice during the season and off-season before coming to Cornell?
A: Usually in season we would spend like... I would have 2 practices a week and like 2 games on the weekend, plus off-ice training like twice a week. Then for out of season training, in the summertime, I'd be on the ice like four times a week, and in the gym like every day, maybe five to six times a week. It was a lot of training but my gym back home, I really enjoy it there and it's probably like one of my favorite places to be.
 
Q: So you also played soccer and volleyball in secondary school, did you have any other hobbies or interests or was it just sports?
A: Um, pretty much just sports, I really enjoyed soccer. I played at a pretty high level in Ontario and I was getting recruited for some (Division III) teams and (Division I) teams, I kind of had to make a choice early on if I wanted to go with soccer or hockey when I was in high school and I took soccer pretty seriously, it was like really fun. It might even be like my favorite sport but with hockey, more opportunities came to me for that, with Team Ontario and others so I just took that path.
 
Q: What kind of choice was that, like you said you had to decide early on, how early was it? Tell me about the process in your decision.  
A: Um, maybe around grade 10 or so... I always thought about hockey… I don't know I think it was like summer of grade 10 and in the season I started getting emails about the recruitment process for soccer but for hockey they started in like grade 8, grade 9. I didn't know that I could have the possibility of playing post-secondary soccer. But I don't know... I spent a good amount of time with each sport too, like it wasn't one was really my number one. But I guess hockey was just like… I don't know how to describe it really.
 
Q: There was something pulling you towards hockey.
A: Yeah.
 
Q: What about in your youth, was it all hockey and soccer or was there anything else in the picture?
A: When I was younger my mom would always put me in like… Well I started off skating from figure skating and my mom would always put me in like figure skating and gymnastics and those kind of sports. And my dad, he put me in hockey and like soccer, lacrosse, track, a lot of things… I don't know if it was just to see if like to choose one or just to keep me busy, there was just a wide range of sports.
 
Q: So that's how you got your start in hockey, how early on was that?
A: Maybe like 5 years old, which is kind of later compared to everyone else. But it was because I spent a lot of time figure skating. But yeah my dad started me in hockey, and I guess I just stayed in it.
 
Q: Was it every really a decision for you between figure skating and hockey? Was it another choice you had to make?
A: No, figure skating was just kinda learn-to-skate and...it was just something to do. It doesn't require as much skill as hockey, it's just kind of just the first step. I wasn't serious, I was like three or four (years old), maybe.
 
Q: So you never really got to the point where you had to make a decision, it was pre-hockey.
A: Yeah
 
Q: So you mentioned earlier that your mom and dad helped you get into sports. Tell me more about your family. How did their interest in sports come about? You have a brother and a sister, where do they stand?
A: Um, my mom, she played baseball, but that's about it for her. But my dad, he played hockey, and he didn't really make it to a high level, he just made it to juniors, but he coached me when I was really young, like first starting out. And my siblings, I think my sister played soccer but that's about it, like she quit after a while. And my brother, I think my dad tried to do the same thing, just put him in hockey but he did not like that either...So I'm the only one in my family that plays any sports.
 
Q: Since they're not so much interested in sports, what kind of things do you guys do as a family?
A: My mom and my sister are in a bowling league, so they really enjoy that. When I came home for Christmas break, we went like bowling as a family because that's something they like to do. And usually we'd have like movie nights or something.
 
Q: Last but not least, is there anything interesting about you, or your teammates, that I should know?
A: Um, maybe like my background I guess. All of my family is Native American, like 100%, so I don't know what's really cool about that. Maybe that I used to… well, we're not really like traditional about it but me and my siblings used to do Pow Wows. It's like, I don't even know how to describe it, like a traditional ceremony. There's like drums and you dance and stuff, so I used to do that, actually, in my free time for a little bit. My mom would make our regalia, is what our costumes are called, and I actually really enjoyed that as a kid. As I got more into sports, I didn't have time for it anymore. I used to do competitive dancing for it. You can win money and stuff too for it. I kind of forgot about it but it was something I enjoyed doing.
 

Freshman Friday

Jan. 24: Elana Zingas
Jan. 31: Kaitlyn Isaac