A young South Florida hockey player is receiving national attention for her play on the ice.
Kalyssa Bayne, 14, has already locked in her long-term goals as she does her job on the ice, preventing goals from being scored on her.
Bayne may be the first female hockey player from South Florida who’s received so much attention at such a young age.
Her teammates call her “The Wall.”
She enjoys denying anyone trying to score on her.
“They take a shot and I’m like, ‘Ha! Nice try. Try again, next time,'” Bayne said.
That’s her approach to playing on the boy’s traveling team.
She said it’s even more intense playing on her Girls Florida Alliance U-14 team.
“It’s a lot faster and I have so much more fun,” she said. “I’m so close with my entire team. It’s the triple A, tier-one team. You play against the best girls in the entire country, and we’re actually ranked 16th in the country right now.”
Bayne’s stats have a rank among the top goalies nationally on the girls’ tier one level.
She’s only a freshman in high school, but some major Division One colleges are recruiting her.
Bayne’s coach, Josh Beatty, encouraged her to play against the boys.
“It adds some different components in there as far as the speed, the strength, the shots at her level,” he said. “The boys, on the other hand, you know, they’re starting to develop more muscle mass and so the shots are getting a little more stronger, plays are happening a little bit quicker, so she gets to play with that speed.”
“It’s fun to, like, upset people when they think they have a chance and they’re like underestimating you, and you prove them wrong,” Bayne said.
Bayne grew up watching hockey. She learned how to skate when she was six years old.
“When we first took her ice skating, lesson one, we were like, ‘Alright, what do you wanna do? Do you wanna figure skate?'” said her father Hugh Bayne. “She was like, ‘No, I wanna be a goalie.’ Day one, she’s always wanted to be a goalie. She’s passionate about the sport. She doesn’t let things get to her. She doesn’t get rattled.”
As calm as she is on the ice making saves, there’s another side to her.
“There was a kid in my crease and I didn’t want him there, I wanted him to move, so I lifted up my stick and chopped him in the back of the leg and he fell down, and I got a penalty.”
Bayne has mapped out a plan — play Division One college hockey, play in the Olympics for the Women’s U.S. National Team and to play professionally in the National Women’s Hockey League.
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