Growing up around the sport in Wayland, Mass., Becca Gilmore knew she was going to be a hockey player.
Her mother played at Bowdoin, but the primary impetus was that her brother played, and soon enough, Gilmore wanted to get on the ice as well.
As it turns out, that was a wise choice.
With two goals in the Women’s Beanpot consolation game to lead Harvard to a third-place finish, the freshman forward is blossoming into an offensive star for the Crimson. Through Feb. 18, Gilmore paced the Crimson with 32 points on 14 goals and 18 assists, with a team-best plus-16 rating and three game-winning goals.
The Noble and Greenough School alum didn’t end up at Harvard by accident, either.
"Growing up, I went to the games and knew people on all four (Beanpot) teams," Gilmore said. "I’d go to games with my team and watch the Beanpot. It’s a pretty cool experience to be a part of it and play in my first game."
The Nobles program has produced tons of talent for the Crimson over the years, and that helped Gilmore gain a closeness with the team as she was making her college choice.
"They send a lot of people to the Harvard program," Gilmore said of Nobles. "In my six years, they knew where I needed to be. That was a really good platform. They had a lot of kids striving for D-1, and it was a competitive ground that prepared me really well."
Gilmore started with the Nobles program when she was in seventh grade after years playing with the East Coast Wizards. Before that, she skated with boys teams and played in Wellesley, since her hometown Wayland didn’t have any teams to latch on to.
With Nobles, Gilmore was named USA Today All-USA for her final three seasons with the program. She played for the U-22 USA squad in that time. A frequent All-Star in both the ISL and NEPSAC, Gilmore netted 234 career points in just 168 career games.
She played for Team USA at just 16 years old, when most of her teammates were 18 with the U-18 club.
Starting to skate when she was just 2 years old, Gilmore always was a step ahead. With Nobles, she established herself early and had the backing of her current, and future, teammates.
"Being that young with the ability to play with older players was a good experience," she said. "I played with Lexie Laing (Marblehead, Mass.) and Haley Mullins (East Greenwich, R.I.), who are with the Harvard program now, back when I was in seventh grade. It’s cool to play with kids that much older who already had their D-1 dreams in sight."
That early start has something to do with her mother, Deb, who helped get her on the ice, but mom wasn’t the influence that drove her to play hockey. When Gilmore was a kid, her older brother, Ben, was playing, and her interest piqued. The Gilmore were destined to be a hockey household.
"She was one of the players that started that team (Bowdoin)," Gilmore said. "She didn’t raise us playing hockey. My brother was 12 and his friend played hockey. Being the younger sister, I followed in his footsteps."
Deb follows Becca’s games and they’re able to talk about the sport on a level some parents might not be able to.
"Having a parent there, it’s pretty unique to have your mom as the one who played hockey," Gilmore said. "She’s fun to talk to after the games. She’s never on me about anything, but it’s nice to have someone who knows the game."
Now as an established player with the Crimson, Gilmore typically skates on the team’s second line, where she centers two other underclassmen on the young team.
Gilmore has her sights set on trying to make the 2022 Olympic team. She’s skated with Team USA programs multiple times and has had success.
Playing in college has its own different challenges. Especially in a competitive conference like ECAC Hockey, in what’s somewhat of a rebuilding season for Harvard, Gilmore’s taking it all in stride without her sights straying from her ultimate goal.
"I think once you get to the college level, you have to quickly transition," she said. "Age and experience matter, and we look up to the upperclassmen. You have to go with what you have, though, and push yourself. Coach demands a lot of us, and we work really well together."
Gilmore’s hockey journey hasn’t taken her too far from home. From Wayland to Wellesley to Nobles in Dedham, and now Cambridge for college, her entire hockey career has spanned a small geographic area in eastern Massachusetts.
Other than the obvious comforts of home, that’s also afforded Gilmore the chance to play in front of her mother, her brother and her entire family and friends.
As she prepares for the rest of this season, then three more with Harvard, that connection of being so close to home just makes the path brighter.
"My entire family gets to come out," she said, "and I experience the journey with them."
