Richland’s Katherine Beaumier headed to New York to play hockey

Who knew that the chuck-a-puck event at Tri-City Americans games would ignite a passion for hockey in a 7-year-old girl.

It did for Richland native Katherine Beaumier, who almost a dozen years later is taking her game to the college level.

“I was about 7 years old when my dad (Glenn) starting taking me to the Americans games,” Beaumier said. “They had the chuck-a-puck, and all of these little skaters were coming out to pick up the pucks. I wanted to do that. My dad told me only hockey players got to do that. I told him to sign me up.”

Beaumier, 18, started with skating lessons. Her first team was the Mighty Ducks, and she was the only girl with 15 boys for teammates. She grew up in the Tri-Cities Amateur Hockey Association, but when the boys started to get bigger and stronger, she started playing on girls teams.

She played for the Washington Wild of Bellingham when she was 14.

“That was my first look at girls hockey,” she said. “I loved it. It was such a different game from the boys. At the time, the Wild was a AA team, and scouts only came to watch AAA. At a Pacific District tryout, a scout from California saw me and offered me a tryout with their team.”

And the rest is hockey history.

Beaumier, a 5-foot-5, 140-pound forward, will take her talents to Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., this fall. The Golden Knights won the women’s NCAA title in 2014 and advanced to the Frozen Four last season.

“I would kill for that opportunity,” Beaumier said of playing in the Frozen Four. “It’s cool to make it that far.”

According to ScholarshipStats.com, there are 29 Division I colleges in the United States that offer women’s hockey. There are several more at lower levels for a total of 92, with approximately 2,150 women competing.

Beaumier said she toured several schools before finding the right one that offered the academics and hockey that she was looking for.

“When I was looking at schools my junior year, some would have the academics or the hockey, but not both,” said Beaumier, who plans to major in chemical engineering. “Clarkson has both, and I didn’t have to give up anything really liked. I didn’t get an athletic scholarship, but I have the brains, and the school gave me money.”

After her freshman year at Richland High School, Beaumier went to California, where she played the past three years for the Mighty Ducks (Anaheim) and the California Wave (Artesia). And just like Tri-City Americans players, she billeted with a family and went to school while she worked on her game.

“It was kind of like being an early college student,” Beaumier said. “I went home for Christmas and the summer. Doing your own laundry was something I had to learn. That and dishes. I had to take care of myself. My mom (Cyndi) was a little wide-eyed, but for me I don’t think it kicked in for a month. I was arrogant. I had parental units there, but my parents weren’t there. I wasn’t too homesick — there wasn’t much time to think about it. I had the best billet family I could ask for.”

Beaumier lived with Brian Farole and his daughter Kendra, who was her teammate all three years she played in California.

Kendra Farole is headed to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. She and Beaumier will compete against each other in the same league.

“I am excited for her,” Beaumier said. “That’s how we push each other to get better.”

Brian Farole is a L.A. Kings season-ticket holder and took Beaumier to several games. She also was a teammate of Todd Marchant’s daughter, Lillian. Marchant played 17 years in the NHL and won a Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007.

“Clayton Stoner got traded to the Ducks after he (Marchant) retired, and I told him I remembered Clayton from when he played in the WHL,” Beaumier said.

Beaumier said she doesn’t get to many Americans games these days, but she fondly remembers the players.

“Carey Price, Taylor Procyshen, Colton Yellow Horn, Mitch McColm, Aaron Boogaard, Shawn Belle — they were playing at the time I was going to games,” she said. “Tyler Schmidt came out and practiced with us a couple of times. He told my mom that I was tough. I was 8. When I was in California, I saw Jason Beeman at the rink. I told him I remembered watching him play. He said he remembered me from coming to our practices. I was watching them when I was a little kid, and now I’m their age (when they played).”

She also remembers the guys she grew up playing with in the Tri-Cities Amateur Hockey Association — Will Connors, Jacob Loman, Sean Mallone, Brendan Winslow, Will Mix and Wiley Jennings.

“It gives me such a rush to go back,” Beaumier said. “I walk in the Toyota Arena, and guys I played with are going to juniors and I’m going to college. I went to middle school with Jake (Loman), and I remember when he dyed his hair blue. I didn’t even recognize Wiley at drop-ins — I had to do a double take. I had an image in my head, and it’s not how I remember them. They are much bigger than me. I used to beat them up, and now they kill me.”

Loman remembers their squirt (9-10 years old) and pee wee (11-12) days.

“She was just as good as us,” said Loman, who will play on the Eastern Washington club team this coming season. “We just saw her as one of our teammates. She really excelled in California. She is pretty good. I have seen a lot of girls hockey players, and she’s one of the better ones. She never quit on what she wanted to do. She put her foot in the door for girls playing hockey in the Tri-Cities.”

Now that they are 10 years older, the guys may be bigger, but not necessarily better.

“She’s just a little bit better than me,” Loman admitted. “Sometimes she makes us look stupid. She is pretty shifty out there, that’s for sure.”

It’s all in a day’s work for Beaumier, who wants to stay in shape before she gets to college.

“I’m trying not to get rusty before I go to New York,” she said. “I don’t want them to say, ‘Why did we sign this girl?’ ”

This story was originally published July 12, 2016 at 9:03 PM with the headline "Richland’s Katherine Beaumier headed to New York to play hockey."