A fledgling Division I college sports program can rarely accept a student-athlete’s commitment that comes with complications, but Hannah Squires is a rare student-athlete so her request to take two weeks off from the Stonehill University women’s hockey team was considered by coach Lee-J Mirasolo as an opportunity for Squires and the Easton-based school.
“She explained the reason to us. We were like, ‘yeah, absolutely, you’re going to save someone’s life,’” said Mirasolo, who was thrown by the sophomore’s explanation that she was going to function as a bone-marrow donor for a complete stranger.
The news made the first-year, head coach who had spent years assisting in established programs think about her father and what kind of person it takes to make such a decision. Mirasolo called Squires’ action “selfless.” For the adventurous Squires, it was an opportunity to participate in a growing field she considers vital to the future of medicine.
“It is very important, like a new field, that’s why,” said the Mattapoisett resident, who missed two weeks of hockey practice in October to donate stem cells via the Be the Match program. “I was shocked and thrilled to be paired. … It’s really rare. … It’s a life-saving treatment for this guy.”
In January, Squires was named one of 18 nominees for the 2024 Hockey Humanitarian Award by The Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation, a recognition of general community service.
Many will recall the relentless pursuit of the late Travis Roy, the former Tabor Academy hockey star whose life was forever changed by a catastrophic, spinal-cord injury in his first shift skating for Boston University. For the rest of his life, Roy dedicated his efforts toward stem-cell awareness and fundraising for research. Transparent in his grief of independence lost, Roy channeled his concern toward the many young people returning from the Middle East with combat injuries.
Squires, a healthy student-athlete with ambitions in medicine, points to advanced methods of transferal.
“Instead of going directly into bone marrow, they gave me these shots to get my stem cell,” she said, acknowledging debilitating pain and, for a short time, barely being able to walk. “For a few days after, you … feel like body soreness.” Squires also explained that the procedure results in an enlarged spleen. When she rejoined the team, it took three practices before she felt like herself on the ice.
Small for a college defenseman at 5-foot-4, Squires started in youth hockey in Norfolk as a forward. It wasn’t until she was playing in the U12 or 13 division that she was put on defense. She took to it because, as she recalled while skating as a forward in club hockey at high school, “I would never shoot the puck.”
After her family moved to Mattapoisett in 2019 and Squires spent middle-school and freshman years at Mount St. Charles (Woonsocket, Rhode Island), Tabor Academy seemed like a natural. But two years in neighboring, Marion proved not to be an ideal fit. Squires’ parents had agreed to let her board for her final two years of high school, which she did at Lawrence Academy in Groton, while also skating with the Bay State Breakers U19 team.
Squires thrived northwest of Boston and was ranked Lawrence’s top math student. She was part of Lawrence’s Cum Laude Society and winner of the Top Rated Student-Athlete Award. Squires was a two-sport captain at Lawrence (ice hockey and field hockey), was a Defensive MVP in ice hockey and an honorable mention by the Independent School League Council. She was selected to participate in USA Hockey’s National Player Development Camp.
With a builder’s mindset, Squires was excited to take part in Stonehill’s ascent to Division I sports competition, so it was only fitting that when her second-year team went through an unusual challenge this past winter, Squires stepped up to help in an unusual capacity. The Skyhawks needed a goaltender. One was injured and the other ill.
“I volunteered,” said Squires, who needed to go to the friend of a friend to find goalie gear that would fit her 5-4 frame.
Stonehill won both games against Saint Michael’s.
“There was no better person to do it because she is a beloved person on this team,” said Mirasolo. “She works her tail off every single day, and she’s bought into to what we’re trying to teach. … She’s someone who helps push the vision forward because she does those little things day in and day out.”
Squires gave up one goal in her first game, a screen shot from the point that deflected off three skaters. The second game went to overtime, and Stonehill won it, 6-5, on a short-handed goal.
Majoring in Biology, Squires says she is thinking about medical school and leaning towards working in trauma, perhaps becoming a surgeon.
In a new hockey program with its second coach in two years, Squires knows the future is uncertain, especially for a small defenseman in a program bound to attract bigger recruits. But Mirasolo says only Squires’ own ambition could come between her and women’s hockey at Stonehill.
“The thing is … I try to remind her that she has already contributed so much to this program. The four points in net (gave Stonehill a) greater seed for playoffs,” noted Mirasolo, who insists Squires’ outside-the-box leadership is foundational to the program’s ability to gain traction and become a success. “Being the legacy … we have a chance here to make our traditions. We get to determine the path that this group is going to be on and for others to follow.”
By Mick Colageo