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Kaz Watch: Clarkson’s Rattray is “a power forward who can do it all.”

01/21/2014, 2:00pm MST
By Doug Williams - Special to USAHockey.com

Jamie Lee Rattray can score, play defense, help kill penalties and, as a senior, provide leadership to her Clarkson University teammates.

She strives to be “a power forward who can do it all.”

But perhaps the biggest thing she brings to every practice and game is her energy.

For four seasons, Rattray — who ranks among the NCAA Division l leaders this season in points and goals — has held nothing back.

“[Rattray] just brings energy every shift,” Clarkson co-coach Matt Desrosiers told a reporter in November, after Rattray had two goals in a victory over Quinnipiac University. “She’s a workhorse out there. We call her a wild stallion. She’s all over the place, and that’s when she’s playing her best. When she’s playing like that, she’s a force to be reckoned with.”

To Rattray, it’s the only way she knows how to play. The 21-year-old from Kanata, Ontario, says it’s a reflection of her passion for the game.

“To me, I’m excited to be there, excited to be with my teammates and I’m excited to play the game,” she said. “That’s why I’ve been playing it so long. That’s the whole thing: You’ve got to be excited and you’ve got to be energized and you’ve got to be energized if you want to win.”

Because hockey is a momentum game, she says, that energy can create a play to swing the pendulum in Clarkson’s favor. And that’s her goal. She’s been that way playing youth hockey, with the Under-18 and Under-22 Canadian women’s national teams and at Clarkson. Really, ever since she first saw her dad on the ice in an amateur game.

“I was 3 or 4 and I saw him play and I turned to my mom and said, ‘Hey, I want to play hockey just like my dad,’ ” she recalled.

Rattray was a big part of Clarkson’s success last season when the Golden Knights were 28-10 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Boston University 5-3 in the final eight. During that junior season, she set a school record with 52 points — including 22 goals — and led the nation with nine game-winning scores.

This year, she’s tied for the national lead in goals with 19 and is fourth overall in points with 36 in 24 games while helping Clarkson (17-4-3) to a No. 6 national ranking.

Plus, with four points this past weekend in a 3-3 tie with Yale University and a 4-1 victory over Brown University, Rattray became Clarkson’s all-time leading scorer, passing Britney Selina, who graduated in 2010. Rattray’s goal against Brown also tied her with Melissa Waldie for the school’s career record of 67.

All those numbers are heady stuff for Rattray, who came to Clarkson as a freshman just hoping to fit in, learn and find her place on the team.

“It’s crazy to think about,” Rattray said. “You look at Waldie and Selina, those two girls. I had a chance to play with Waldie, and those are two amazing athletes and hockey players. To be even in the same breath with those guys is crazy.”

She’s quick to say, though, that any records she’s set are the result of team play and great line mates. One linemate in particular is senior forward Brittany Styner. The two have been on the same line and penalty-killing and power-play units since they were freshmen.

“It’s crazy the chemistry you can develop with someone over four years,” Rattray said. “I owe a lot definitely to her. She can find me anywhere on the ice and I can find her, and it’s just something you develop.”

Rattray has been a standout at Clarkson since she and Styner arrived.

As a freshman, Rattray led the team in scoring with 25 points and a team-leading 18 assists. As a sophomore she led Clarkson in goals (19) and was No. 2 in points (38).

After both her sophomore and junior seasons Rattray was selected as the team’s Ron Frazer Award winner, which is given to the player who has most elevated her game in key situations and made significant contributions to the team’s success.

Of all the good things that have come her way as a hockey player, however, Rattray said the best was being part of the team last year that played in the NCAA Tournament. The game against Boston University gave her a feeling she’s never had before and would love to replicate this year with another march into the NCAAs.

“Even though we lost, we put a lot of heart and soul into that game,” said Rattray. “Definitely it was very fun to be part of a team effort like that. Even though you lost, it’s something you definitely remember from your college career.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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