Lauren Slebodnick
Induction Year: 2021
Birthday: 01/23/1997
City/Town: Manchester, NH
A Manchester native, Lauren Slebodnick staked her claim as one of the best goalies in Cornell women’s hockey history, as well as one of the best netminders to come out of New Hampshire.
Slebodnick grew up in Manchester and played youth hockey for the Manchester Youth Hockey Association, the NH Junior Bruins, the NH Wildcats and NH Top Gun, before graduating to the East Coast Wizards and Cushing Academy.
At Cushing, which she attended from 2006 until 2010, she collected a number of awards and was recruited by Cornell, one of the top programs in Division 1 women’s hockey.
In her first two years at Cornell she shared the goalie duties, playing 16 and 17 games, respectively, and posting save percentages of .942 and .924. Both seasons the Big Red reached the Frozen Four, losing in the national semifinals in those years to Boston College and Minnesota, respectively.
As a junior, she set the program’s single-season record for wins (24) and helped the Big Red reach the eight-team NCAA tournament, something the team achieved all four years she was there. In both her junior and senior seasons Cornell dropped one-goal contests to Mercyhurst in the tournament quarterfinals.
She received a number of individual honors. As a junior, she was named to the All-ECAC Hockey third team and the All-Ivy League second team. As a senior, she earned Ivy League honorable mention honors. She was also a two-time selection to the ECAC All-Academic team.
Slebodnick also represented her country in international play, playing on the U-18 Women’s National Team in 2009 and the U-22 Women’s National Team in 2013. She was an alternate for the U.S. Women’s Team that competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
From 2008-13 she was invited to attend the Warren Strelow National Goaltending Camp overseen by USA Hockey.
After Cornell, she played two seasons professionally with the Boston Pride of the National Women’s Hockey League, including the league’s inaugural season in 2015-16. She helped the Pride win the Isobel Cup during that first season.
She serves as the head goaltending coach for the new Division 3 women’s program at Western New England University, and served as the assistant director of women’s development for Puckstoppers Goaltending in Exeter.
She has also served as the head goaltending coach for the East Coast Wizards and Boston Shamrocks.