KENDALL’S STORY

Kendall Coyne Schofield’s route to becoming an Olympian began in an outdoor ice rink in the southwest suburb of Chicago, Orland Park. Today, that rink is indoors, and is known as the Championship Rink inside of the Arctic Ice Arena. Over 20 years ago when Kendall first donned a pair of hockey skates, the city of Chicago wasn’t crazy about hockey like they are today. Many of Kendall’s friends in school didn’t know what hockey was, or thought it was weird that she was a girl playing hockey. While she never let any of that bother her, Kendall was a multi-sport athlete as a kid. She played baseball, basketball, softball, track, and hockey. She was just as passionate about other sports as she was hockey.

From a young age, Kendall’s speed always stood out among her peers. She loved to do everything fast like skating, stealing bases, running around the neighborhood, playing at the park and riding her bike. Still today, she loves to go fast.

Throughout Kendall’s career, there weren’t many other girls playing hockey, so the majority of Kendall’s teams were just her and all boys. As her love for hockey continued to grow, Kendall asked her parents to try out for AA travel hockey. Kendall’s parents agreed because they saw how much she loved the game. Kendall did not make the team and returned to the house league. The following season Kendall was determined to make a travel hockey team. Not only did Kendall make a travel hockey team that year, she made a AAA boys team, playing against players a year older. By getting cut the year before, Kendall used that as motivation to become a stronger player.

Kendall’s youth hockey career continued to soar. She had to stop playing hockey games with the boys at bantam minors because the boys became a lot bigger than Kendall. However, she would practice with the boy’s teams and play girls’ hockey. She did this all the way until she went to college.

At 15 years old, Kendall got her first call from USA Hockey. She was asked to join Team USA’s U-18 team. As the youngest member of the team, she was ecstatic to wear the red, white, and blue for the first time. In 2009, at 18-years old, Kendall was invited to try out for the 2009-2010 U.S. Olympic Team. After being cut, Kendall returned to Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, Illinois for her senior year. In 2011, Kendall made her Senior National Team debut, playing in her first World Championship. Kendall also went on to play her college hockey at Northeastern University where she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, both summa cum laude, and was later inducted into their Athletic Hall of Fame, Class of 2023.

On January 25, 2019, Kendall scored a defining moment in her career when, as part of the NHL All-Star Weekend, she was named a last-minute replacement for the Fastest Skater component of the All-Star Skills Competition, becoming the first woman to compete in this event. Rising to this moment, Kendall had a time of 14.326 seconds, finishing less than a second behind the winner Connor McDavid’s time of 13.378 seconds, placing her seventh out of eight skaters and earning her the moniker, “the fastest woman in hockey.”

Since then, Kendall has become an Olympic Champion, World Champion and one of the leaders to help create the brand-new Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), the first major, sustainable pro league featuring the best women hockey players in the world. Kendall was selected as a free agent and named Captain of the PWHL Minnesota team.

Currently Kendall is the president and co-founder with husband Michael Schofield, of the Schofield Family Foundation and founder of the Kendall Coyne Hockey camp which has been in operation for over seven years.

For her many achievements, on and off the ice, Kendall has received the honor of being named to the prestigious 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 List. In January 2022, Kendall’s highly anticipated book, As Fast As Her, was published by HarperCollins. The true, inspirational story of how Kendall broke down barriers to achieve her dreams, As Fast As Her completed a hat trick and reached #1 on the Amazon best seller lists in three selected young adult categories.

Without love, passion, sacrifice, hard work, commitment, and the support from so many, including her family, Kendall would not be where she is today.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

OLYMPIC GAMES

2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China – Silver Medalist

• Served as team captain. Finished with six points in seven games (3g 3a)

2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea – Gold Medalist

• Led the tournament with 21 shots; Finished with three points in five games (2g 1a)

US Women’s National Team

IIHF Women’s World Championship 6-time World Champion

• 2022: Herning, Denmark: Silver Medalist. Served as Team Captain. Finished the tournament with eleven points (1g 10a). Became the All-time Assists leader in Team USA World Championship History (41a)
• 2021: Calgary, Alberta: Silver Medalist. Served as team captain. Finished the tournament five points (2g 3a) and a plus-5 rating
• 2020: Halifax, Nova Scotia – Named to her 8th Women’s World Championship team; tournament was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic *