LOWELL — Caroline Harvey’s past, present and future collided as she witnessed the Boston team of the Professional Women’s Hockey League advance to the league’s inaugural finals at the Tsongas Center on Tuesday.
And it made one thing clear. She wants the chance to play close to home when she has her shot at going professional in a few years.
Harvey, of Salem, New Hampshire, is one of the best defenders in women’s college hockey. She just wrapped up her sophomore year at the University of Wisconsin where her team made the NCAA Championship, falling to Ohio State for the title. At 22 years old, she already has an Olympic silver medal and World Championship accolades with the U.S. Women’s National team.
Harvey stood surrounded by her parents Martha and David Harvey and former University of Wisconsin teammate, and now one of PWHL Boston’s goaltenders, Cami Kronish, as she took in the sights and sounds of the PWHL team and the hometown crowd’s reaction to some of her teammates.
It was her first time experiencing the PWHL game live. But for Harvey, the game showed her a glimpse of her future where she could come back home.
“I would love to get an opportunity to play in this league in general, but would love a shot to play for Boston, at home,” Harvey said.
The current roster is filled with former New England college and university stars. But there are only two players who hail from New England.
On the PWHL Boston team, forward Taylor Wenczkowski is the closest, calling Rochester, New Hampshire, home.
Harvey lives in Salem with her family, but has called various towns within the Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire home, like Pelham and Groton, Massachusetts.
Before Tuesday, Harvey would watch PWHL games online or YouTube, keeping tabs on not only the league, but her U.S. National teammates like Boston’s Hilary Knight, Aerin Frankel and Megan Keller.
This was the first chance she had since returning home from college to see a game in person.
She last played with the three at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Championship in April. In the championship game, Harvey scored the tying goal in the third period to force overtime before Team USA ultimately fell to Canada.
Harvey also played on the 2022 Olympic team with Knight and Keller.
She said she texts her teammates throughout the year and stays up to date with them on social media.
“We try to stay connected even though we don’t get to see each other a lot during the year except at Worlds to keep those relationships going,” Harvey said. “But all my teammates are thriving just with the way they are performing at the highest level and tearing it up on and off the ice.”
On the ice, former Knight, Keller and Frankel battled it out against Montreal to rally in the third period and win their semifinal series in overtime.
While the last time Harvey played with the three women resulted in a championship lost, her teammates got the job done that night, and it’s something she looks forward to accomplishing and having the same shot one day.
“It’s a pretty cool experience seeing what this league has become and what it could be in the future,” Harvey said. “It’s unreal to see the developments that it’s already had.”
“It would just be awesome to even play in this league,” she added. “It’s so fast, so physical and exciting to watch.”
Throughout the game, Harvey analyzed the team’s play with her former teammate Kronish and joined in the excitement when they won.
“When you watch it live, you get to break it down in real time,” Harvey said.
Harvey had a chance to experience some of the excitement as well that the local fans have surrounding their team.
A few girls came up to the two hockey players and asked for their autographs and photos over the course of the game. Harvey stood to the side watching the fans’ reactions to her friend before joining in.
The next few years promise to be big for Harvey. The Winter Olympics are in 2026 and she still has the remaining years of her collegiate career before she is eligible for the PWHL draft in either 2026 or 2027.
Except for what it would mean to eventually go professional and a chance to do so for the Boston team, Harvey isn’t thinking two years in advance. Her mind remains on the present moment.
“I honestly don’t think that far ahead,” Harvey said. “I focus on summer’s training and then the upcoming season.”
“But it’s big picture stuff thinking ahead and fun to think about the year that 2026 could be.,” Harvey added. “It really could be quite the year and hopefully I’ll have some of those opportunities. I would love that.”