by By Dan Ninham
One of the highest achievements continues to be for our indigenous student-athletes to compete throughout college. To not only go to college, but also to be an integral and contributing member of the team, and to play to the end of their college career.
Chyne Kennedy, 22, is from the Oneida Nation of the Thames. She is a senior in college, and plays ice hockey for the Morrisville Mustangs at SUNY Morrisville in central New York. Her parents are Jesse and Michelle Kennedy.
“I’m from the Oneida Nation, and I am wolf clan,” said Chyne. “My Oneida name is Teyostalathe and means She Shines.”
“When I was 6, a friend of my parents asked me if I wanted to play in upcoming Little NHL tournament that year,” said Chyne. “My parents asked me if I wanted to play and I said yes. I really enjoyed it and I was decently good at it for a first timer and I’ve been playing ever since. Growing up I played hockey, softball, and lacrosse at a competitive level, but hockey is my main sport.”
In 2015, Chyne played in one tournament with the West Coast Selects and they traveled to Bolzano, Italy to play in the World Selects Interventional and won the gold medal.
In 2016, she played for the Chatham Outlaws, and won gold at the Lower Lakes Final Four tournament.
In 2017, she played for Team Ontario at NAHC, and the team won the silver medal.
In 2018, freshman year of college at SUNY Morrisville, the team won the Colonial Conference Championship and continued onto the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.
During the 2017-2018 season at SUNY Morrisville, Chyne earned a spot on the Second All-Conference Team as well as the All-Rookie Team.
During the 2018-2019 season at SUNY Morrisville, she earned a spot on the Second All-Conference Team for the second time.
“I feel that our people are rarely given the opportunity to excel in sports, whether it be financially, location, time, or whatever the reasoning may be,” said Chyne. “I am a proud Oneida Nation member and I try to educate my teammates and coaches to help them become aware of some of the issues we face as First Nations people. With the questions I have been given growing up and continue to get, I try to answer as best I can with the knowledge I have.”
“I feel that I can set a good example of what hard work, dedication, and support can do. I make the most of the opportunities that I am given, and I am proud of who I am and where I come from. Hopefully, I can be a role model to the youth of not only my community, but all communities that are coming up behind me,” added Chyne.
“My sister Jesse plays ice hockey as well, and she has always been my rock,” said Chyne. “We started playing at the same time together, and we’ve supported one another since day one. We played together growing up as much as we could. We are two years apart so we would often get separated due to age. We did all the hockey camps together, and pushed each other to be better, mostly because we wanted to be better than each other. We are both very competitive. Even though she is younger than me, I’ve always looked up to her, not only as a hockey player, but as a person as well.”
“Chyne and I played together a handful of times throughout our hockey careers,” said sister Jesse. “We mostly played together for the Little NHL annual tournament.”
“Chyne plays defense and has a great shot, whether it be a slap shot, snap shot or wrist shot,” said Jesse. “I believe it was her first year bantam, so it would’ve been my first year peewee, when we were playing in the LNHL and we were in an elimination game and going to a shoot out. The coach told Chyne she was the first shooter and that he wanted her to go down and when she got in front of the goalie to take a slap shot as hard as she could. She skated down, winded up and took the shot and scored top corner. The goalie didn’t make a move to stop it at all, whether she seen it or not we don’t know, but we win the game and move on to the finals.”
“During that game we played a team that had never been beaten,” said Jesse. “Chyne took a slap shot from the point and scored top corner again and we win the championship 1-0 and she gets MVP. There are not many girls that I have played with or against that can shoot like her.”
“I had the opportunity to play with Chyne for one full season in Chatham and it was the best year of hockey for both of us,” said Jesse. “She stepped up and was named an assistant captain. Our team played with heart and dedication and no one wanted to screen shots when Chyne was shooting from the point. We won the league championship and playoffs final four with a win over the number #1 nationally ranked team. We had an awesome year with a lot of friends and accomplishments made.”
“Chyne is my best friend, my role model and I think a role model to a lot of young athletes in our and surrounding First Nations communities,” said Jesse. “She’s an amazing athlete and strives to be the best she can and I greatly admire her for this.”
“My parents have also been my biggest supporters,” said Chyne. “They’ve helped me grow so much and sacrificed so much so that my siblings and I could accomplish our goals. They are the best parents in the whole world.”
Mom Michelle Kennedy talked about her daughter Chyne and her leadership: “Chyne was blessed with natural athleticism, and is the type of person who, if she’s going to do something she’s going to do it to the best of her ability. This is where I think she gets her competitiveness from and growing up she loved to compete in any sport that she could. She’s a self taught pitcher, decided she was going to be a pitcher after watching a movie about a young girl who was a pitcher, picked up a ball went outside and started throwing pitches against the garage wall, she was about six to seven years old.”
“Chyne also started hockey around this same age, picked it up very quickly and it became her passion. Chyne loves sports but hockey is her passion, and she works very hard to be the best she can be at it,” added Michelle.
“I knew Chyne was a special player when she went to play in Chatham during her second year midget,” said Michelle. “We went to tryouts, did not know anyone other than another parent who was the one that asked if she ever thought about trying out there, and we asked Chyne and she was up for it so we took her to the tryout.”
“Chyne had the worst tryout I have ever seen her have since she started competitive hockey,” said Michelle. “She just was not herself, and did not have a good tryout and her thoughts were the same. Our thoughts were ‘well these guys are not going to pick her for this team, and that was ok with her and us.’ She comes out of the dressing room and tells us the coaches would like to speak with us, so we go in to meet them and they offer her a spot on the team, they said they knew she didn’t skate well, but they knew who she was and have seen and watched her play and would love to have her on their team. That was when I came to realize that she really is a standout player and other coaches and teams do know who she is and what her talents are. She played in Chatham for two years, and gave her the opportunity to play with her sister for a year, which was awesome for us as we love to watch them play the game they love.”
“From that point on she became more confident, and I think that made her a better player all around. Once she got to college she flourished and has been a top player since her freshman year,” added Michelle.
“We are very proud of everything she has accomplished not only in hockey but in her schooling as well,” said Michelle. “She’s had the opportunity to experience something not many of our talented young First Nations youth are able to experience. Our hope is that the youth can see her as a role model and know that these opportunities and experiences are something they can achieve, and receive a great education at the same time.”
“Denis Lalonde was my coach during my third year in midget of minor hockey when I played for the Chatham Outlaws,” said Chyne. “He was everything I liked and needed in a coach. He was a hard on me but in a good way. He gave a lot of constructive criticism that helped me get better and grow not only as a player, but as a person as well. He believed in me when not a lot of people did. The player I was before being coached by him versus after, were two completely different players. I grew so much during my time being coached by him and I am so thankful for everything he has helped me with and all the things he has taught me. He will forever be my favorite coach.”
“Chyne joined the Chatham Outlaws team for the 2014-15 season and played with us through the 2015-16 season,” said former coach Denis Lalonde. “It took us a little while to get to know Chyne as she is not a boisterous person, but her competition level is. Not afraid to play physical or skilled, it never mattered to her, it was your choice and she could play it anyway you want to. Her work ethic, commitment and character showed early on and never wavered during her tenure with our organization.”
“In her second season in Chatham, she was rewarded for her efforts both on and off the ice and was named an assistant captain of the team. The Chatham team finished the season ranked 11th nationally and won the Ontario Provincial League Championship knocking off the number #1 ranked team in the country, the Sudbury Wolves, in a thrilling overtime final. Chyne was instrumental in the victory scoring the first goal of the game, a blast from the point, a power play goal and assisting on the overtime winner. She was an integral part of our team in all facets, as a leader, as a high-performance athlete, as a teammate and most importantly as a friend,” added Denis.
“Chyne was a big part of our success,” said Denis. “We continue to monitor her progress and successes from afar and wish her nothing but the best in her future endeavors.”
“When returning to school last fall and with the hope of still having a season this year, I’ve been very cautious during this time,” said Chyne. “In the beginning of the pandemic, it really took a toll on my mental health, but throughout the months I learned to overcome it. I did what I could to stay in shape as well as stay motivated and it was working. I was doing very well for being in a worldwide pandemic.”
“I returned to school in August, ready to work hard and to make the best of what we had left. Unfortunately, in October of 2020 we found out the 2020-2021 hockey season was cancelled. It was very devastating, and it put me back into my funk of being unmotivated and hopeless. But within the past month or so, I’ve been really working on myself as well as my academics to try to stay motivated, again, like in the beginning. I was like I had to start all over, and it’s been stressful no doubt. But working on myself, staying focused on self-care and getting better for myself has really helped. I also had the support of my teammates, family, and friends and that also helped so much and I’m very grateful for every one of them,” added Chyne.
Chyne reflected on one of her meaningful moments: “It would be the time my team and I won the Lower Lakes Final Four. It’s not about me personally but it was a big part of my accomplishments and my career. That year, in the beginning, I feel like a lot of people didn’t think we’d make it as far as we did. Our team had our strengths, but we also had our weaknesses. At the beginning, our weaknesses outweighed our strengths. The biggest and most important thing of all was that we had the heart and the dedication. We worked our butts off all year, and it paid off. This team was like no other I’ve played for. I’ve never been apart such an amazing group. Everyone was supportive of one another. We all got along so well and I think it was rare on any team. We made it to the Final Four Tournament and that was great, but I was very nervous because we were playing against the top teams in the province.”
“Going into this tournament, everyone looked at us as the underdogs. The team thought we would be an easy win but everyone was wrong. We worked so hard and we were determined to make it to that championship game. Our work paid off, and we made it to the finals, playing against the number one team in Canada who up until that game went undefeated. The team we played thought they had the win in the bag, but we gave them a good go,” added Chyne.
“We scored early in the game to take the lead 1-0,” said Chyne. “With four minutes left in the game, the opposing team scored to tie it up at 1-1, sending the same into sudden death, a 5-minute overtime, 3 on 3. Halfway through overtime, we scored taking the victory, 2-1, over the top ranked team in the country.”
“This was the best feeling I’ve ever experienced and a moment I’ll never forget,” said Chyne.
Photo Credit: Steve Samoyedny/Four Seasons Photography
Wonderful hockey player who helped elevate the sport to a very high level. As a young lady and Morrisville student, one of the best. I was luck y to see her play. Best wishes and a great article.