Get the latest Boston sports news
Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.
‘She’s a culture driver’: How Kelly Babstock made herself indispensable to the Boston Fleet — even when not on the ice
Enthusiasm has been her calling card at every stop.
More in sports
Kelly Babstock often leaves her Connecticut home before the sun rises to make the two-plus-hour drive to the Boston Fleet’s practice facility in Wellesley.
She blasts music the whole way, arriving at the Boston Sports Institute in high spirits and with her booming voice at full volume. She bounds into the building yelling, “Let’s go!” — her signature refrain — to no one in particular.
One morning, she pitched an idea to the Fleet’s creative team: Set up a camera at the door of the facility to capture the players’ excitement for the day ahead.
“Babs,” a staff member told her, “no one else is bringing your level of energy at 7 a.m.”
Advertisement:
Babstock’s relentless enthusiasm has made her an essential part of the Fleet despite minimal contributions on the stat sheet.
It’s why the Tsongas Center crowd erupted when the PA announcer read out her name at this season’s home opener, and why some teammates call her the heart of the locker room despite her playing on a reserve contract and seeing game action just three times this season.
Babstock’s voice is raspy and prone to cracks after decades of cheering for her teammates. As she talks about hockey, she appears to wind up like a jack-in-the-box until she can’t contain her excitement and explodes, hollering out “Let’s go!” at random intervals even if no one else is in the room.
Advertisement:
“Every time I get to the rink is the best time,” the 32-year-old forward said. “I forget about everything else but being in the arena, and it makes me really happy.”
Each of the six PWHL teams is allowed to carry three players on reserve contracts in addition to the 23 on standard player agreements. Reserves practice but do not travel with the team and cannot play games until they are signed to a 10-day contract or a standard contract as a result of another player going on long-term injured reserve. Reserve players can at any time be signed by any other team in the league, and they’re often informed they’ve been signed to 10-day contracts with just hours’ notice before a game.
That was the case for Babstock, who received a message from general manager Danielle Marmer on New Year’s Day that she would be signed to a 10-day contract and would play in the game at Minnesota the following day.
“I was like, ‘Let’s go,’ ” she said.
Babstock played in three games during that contract, averaging fewer than eight minutes of ice time and recording no points.
But even those brief appearances were encouraging for Babstock, who at this point last season had been cut from PWHL New York’s training camp and headed to Switzerland, where she played eight games in the SWHL.
Advertisement:
She joined Boston as a reserve in March and signed her first 10-day contract on April 20. Babstock went on to sign a standard player agreement ahead of the PWHL playoffs and appeared in all eight of Boston’s playoff games, earning one assist, and returned as a reserve this season.
“It was my favorite year, last year,” she said. “This year is my new favorite. Every year is my favorite, but last year was huge for me because it was just like, ‘Wow, look what happens when you stay resilient, you stay positive, you work hard and stay in your lane.’ ”
Since graduating from Quinnipiac in 2014 as the Bobcats’ all-time leading scorer (95 goals, 108 assists in 148 games), Babstock has played on six teams across five leagues (PWHL, NWHL, PWHPA, SWHL, and PHF). Enthusiasm has been her calling card at every stop.
“She’s a culture driver,” said Quinnipiac coach Cassandra Turner, who as an assistant recruited Babstock in the late 2000s. “When you have people like that, that you can rely on every day, they’re just going to lift everyone up around them.”
Turner recalled a game during the 2013-14 season when Olivia Brackett, then a senior, scored the first goal of her career. Babstock, Turner recalled, celebrated more for her teammate than she had for any of her own goals.
Advertisement:
“Knowing her now, and seeing her role with Boston, she’s taken that and has an even greater understanding of her value and what she can bring to other people around her,” Turner said.
As much as an outward show of enthusiasm is important to her teammates, Babstock insisted it’s equally important for her own development as a player.
Being mentally and physically ready without knowing when the next opportunity will arise would be a challenge for many athletes, but for Babstock, constantly reminding herself of how excited she is to play makes it easier to live in limbo.
“It is a difficult job to do, but it’s not impossible. Nothing’s impossible,” Babstock said. “So as long as you just practice with intent and want to stay ready, you’re going to be ready.”
She paused.
“And I’m ready! Let’s go!”
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com