From Seven Fields to Milan, Ava McNaugthon is headed to the Olympics as a goalie for Women’s USA Hockey.
Channel 11’s Jenna Harner talked to Ava about her journey and a dream fufilled.
“I was watching those Olympics and said I want to do that,” McNaughton said.
So, her parents signed her up for a camp at RUM, where a goalie from that 2010 team just happened to be a coach.
“She’s sitting there, and I looked at her stick, and she’s got the Olympic rings written on her stick, and I kind of smiled at her, and she goes, ‘I want to go to the Olympics too,’” Brianne McLaughlin said. “I said, ‘go for it, girlfriend let’s do it.’”
As McNaughton grew in her hockey career from that 5-year-old with blonde hair flying out of her helmet, to a member of Pens Elite, she created a vision board.
“It kind of became a ladder and there were different USA events that I wanted to attend and teams I wanted to be on,” she said. “And then it kind of progressed through U-18s and college hockey, and then at the top was the Olympic rings, and it said 2026, I think, and dream on it, and I think that was always the pinnacle of it all.”
Now, the 21-year-old is accomplishing that dream from when she was 13, feeling a mix of excitement, pride, and shock as she heads to Milan.
“Representing the family I came from and all the people who are able to support me through all of this and be able to make it happen and all the teams I’ve played for, the cities I’ve been, obviously, Pittsburgh, born and raised,” she said.
Goosebumps are already forming as she pictures skating onto the ice for the first game.
“When you’re wearing the red, white, and blue and the national anthem is playing, it’s kind of just everything all at once, and it gives you chills every time, and every time I put on the jersey I kind of take a deep breath and just think about the magnitude of it,” she said.
And even with the Olympics just days away, it hasn’t yet sunk in that she’s fulfilling her dream. ,
“It doesn’t even feel real and it still doesn’t and I don’t think it really will until I’m settled in there,” she said. “You know, little 13-year-old Ava would just be in shock that this is what my reality is now.”
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