From an early age, the sport of ice hockey was ingrained in the veins of Jordyn Pimm’s blood.
Pimm was born in Kamloops, British Columbia and grew up in a household where her father was a Western Hockey League (WHL) and British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) coach.
“I spent most of my childhood being a rink rat. One day, I think I was five or six, my parents just asked me if I wanted to play, and I said yes unquestionably, and since then I haven’t really stopped,” Pimm said.
Throughout her time of living in BC, Pimm played boys hockey up until major peewee, on a team called the Vipers.
At the age of 13, Pimm’s family made the move to Ottawa, Ontario, and settled down in Kanata. There, Pimm began playing for the Ottawa Lady Senators, where she met Leah Scott, current captain of the Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team. The same team that Pimm would later start playing for eight years later.
“I think, my most memorable year with the Lady Sens, was probably my second year of bantam, so 2013-2014. We had a really, really great group of girls, who most of us went on to play college hockey,” Pimm recalled.
“And we just had a really good run. We were ranked nationally in bantam that year, and unfortunately, we didn’t do as well as we wanted to in provincials, but we went on a really great winning stint, where we won three or four tournaments and placed second in others, so it was a really great environment to be a young hockey player,” she added.
Following her time with the Ottawa Lady Senators, Pimm made her way to Stanstead, Quebec, where she began playing for the women’s hockey program at Stanstead College. The same program her father coaches for currently.
“In my junior year, we lost in our league finals, and then my senior year, we had a really exceptional season, and ended up placing first in league and then winning in the championship tournament,” Pimm said.
“To be able to come back from a loss with predominantly the same group of teammates, I think it really showed a lot of character,” she added.
Following her graduation from Stanstead College, Pimm headed to St. Louis, Missouri, where she would spend the next three years playing NCAA hockey for the Lindenwood University Lady Lions.
“I hadn’t had any plans at that moment to go to college in the States yet, and it just seemed like a really good school to attend. it’s a small school in the Midwest, which was a place I’d never been to,” Pimm said about her decision to go to Lindenwood.
“There were also a lot of Canadians on the team, and in the league we were in, it looked like we could potentially make an impact, and on top of that, it is a fairly new division I program, so, I saw an opportunity to help build something,” she added.
Over the course of her Lindenwood career, Pimm played in 87 games, recording three goals and two assists for five points, while also making memories to last a lifetime.
“Last year, we took a really great trip out to Anaheim, California, with the St. Lawrence University, and while we were there, we billeted with local families who had daughters playing hockey in the community, we put on a couple clinics with the St. Lawrence players, for the girls of the community, and then played two games in the Anaheim Ducks rink,” Pimm said about her most memorable moment.
“We played in front of a lot of young girls who play hockey in California that don’t often get the opportunity to see older young women playing hockey, it was fun to go travel somewhere else, and it was also fun to reach out and give back to younger girls playing hockey as well,” she added.
At the conclusion of the 2018-19 season, Pimm made the decision to return to Canada for university and become a member of the Ravens.
“The position I was in academically at Lindenwood, I had finished my Bachelor’s degree in three years, and because I’d done so in three years, I had two years left of USports eligibility, so instead of playing four, I’d be playing five years,” Pimm said.
“I kind of already had a relationship with coach Pierre Alain, so, when I reached out to him, I expressed what I was thinking of coming back to Canada to play, he was really supportive and encouraging, and I feel like what the girls are doing at Carleton, is something that I want to be a part of,” she added.
While returning to Canada for university gives Pimm the opportunity to open a new door in her hockey career, the move also brings her back to the city she once called home as a teenager.
“It’s extremely special. I feel extremely grateful to coach Alain for giving me the opportunity, because there’s not a lot of players that get the opportunity to go abroad and then also to come home. And as much as I loved St. Louis, as much as I love my teammates there, I don’t think I recognized how badly I did miss home,” Pimm said.
“And I think, as female athletes, unfortunately we have to acknowledge the realization that we can’t play right now much farther past college, so to be able to gain a year and finish my career in my hometown, in front of friends and family, it’s really special to me and my family,” she added.
Condensed version of this article appears on The Charlatan
Kassia’s Sports Blog 