Living in Lake Placid isn’t really a new experience for Brooke White, who attended Northwood School as a teenager. White returns to the village as a first-year member of the U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team.

White, a 21-year-old, started playing hockey a little later than most of her teammates, but out on the ice, she proves that doesn’t make a difference.

“I first started when I was 9 and my brothers started when they were 13, so we were all late bloomers,” White said. “My dad was our coach, and he wouldn’t let me start until a year after my brothers did, to make sure it was the right thing I wanted to do.”

Although her parents let her play hockey, they also put her into acting classes. But White wouldn’t let anything deter her from playing the sport she loves.

After graduating from Northwood School, White moved on to Northeastern University, where she completed her sophomore year. She appeared in all 34 games of the 1999-2000 season and finished seventh in scoring with 12 goals and nine assists. She will return to college next year.

“Once I got the invite to come here, I took a year off, which worked out well because it’s a five-year program and we have a co-op. So basically I’m treating this as a co-op,” White said.

White doesn’t mind taking a year off when it means that she’ll be playing hockey and working with some of the best players in the world.

“It all started in the summer, and I was looking forward to coming in and doing well,” she said. “I worked my butt off in Calgary and did really well, so I think that is what led me to this point. I’m excited because I’ve been working my whole life for it.”

Although this is her first appearance on the Senior U.S. Women’s National Team, White was a member of the 1999 and 2000 U.S. Women’s Under-22 Select Team that played a three-game series against Canada in August 1999 and 2000.

Being young and still going to college, White is looking forward to a long career in ice hockey and can’t wait for the Olympic season to roll around again.

“Obviously, I shoot for the 2002 Olympics and continue on to 2006. This is my dream, and I love it. If I could do it every day — work out and play hockey — it would be great.”

(Editor’s note: Brook White-Lancette will return to Lake Placid this winter as a member of the Minnesota Whitecaps playing in the Olympic Center as part of the National Women’s Hockey League season that will be held in a bubble in January and February. At 41 years of age, this will be her 17th season with the Whitecaps. She graduated from Northwood School in 1998 and played in the 2001 World Championships and pre-Olympic Tour leading up to the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt lake City but didn’t make the 2002 or 2006 Olympic teams.)

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Salt Lake torch relay

The torch relay will pass through Lake Placid as the Olympic flame makes its way around the country to Salt Lake City, Utah, home of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. The relay will travel through the country for 65 days, beginning Dec. 4, 2001.