We wish to take the opportunity to congratulate three of our fellow residents, Jillian Dempsey, Jenna Letterie, and McKenna Brand, who recently were members of championship women’s hockey teams.
Dempsey and Brand played key roles in helping the Boston Pride professional women’s hockey team to capture the Premier Hockey Federation (formerly the National Women’s Hockey League) championship and bring home the Isobel Cup (which is named after Lord Stanley’s daughter).
Dempsey, who was a captain and star at Harvard, is the daughter of Boston Fire Commissioner Jack Dempsey. Jillian teaches fifth grade at the Cummings School.
McKenna Brand, who also lives in Winthrop, is a native of Minnesota and played collegiately at Northeastern University. She has been among the top scorers in the PHF since her rookie season.
There also is another Winthrop connection to the Pride in goalie Katie Burt. Katie, a native of Lynn, played for two seasons with the Winthrop High girls hockey team, which at that time was a co-op team with Lynn English. Katie was still in middle school when she played under WHS girls head coach Anthony “Butch†Martucci. She went on to play high school hockey at Buckingham Browne and Nichols and played collegiately at Boston College.
Katie is recognized as one of the top women goalies in the world.
Jenna Letterie is the daughter of Winthrop Town Council President Jim Letterie and Winthrop school teacher Dawn Letterie. Jenna recently led Middlebury College to an undefeated (27-0-0) Division 3 national championship and was named to the First-Team All-NESCAC and NCAA All-Tournament teams.
All four women epitomize the ethics of hard work and determination in achieving the pinnacle of success. We are both pleased to acknowledge their accomplishments and proud to have them as members of our community, where they will serve as inspirations for future generations of women athletes.