If there’s one word that Kiara Zanon says best describes her style of play it would be Creative.
From the time she was a little girl, Zanon would sit in her Rochester living room watching NHL games while stickhandling with a mini hockey stick trying to imitate what she saw on the TV.
“I think a lot of [my creativity] came from there. Even some of my hockey sense, I credit to that,” she admits. “Just seeing different players play and how they work through different situations I think helped me a lot. I picked up on little things, and thought ‘oh, I should try that.’ I think that’s how I gained that creative side of me.”
While some of the things she would attempt in practice would never make it into a game, that mindset helped propel her up the hockey ranks, first in college and most recently as a member of the U.S. Women’s Collegiate Select Team.
Zanon played a key role in helping the U.S. to a three-game sweep in Lake Placid, notching three goals and an assist. That experience, she said, has given her an added shot of confidence heading into her first season with the nationally ranked Ohio State Buckeyes after three years at Penn State.
“Any time you’re playing against competition like that, it helps your progression as a player,” said Zanon, who was the 2023 CHA Player of the Year after leading the Nittany Lions to the regular season title.
“Everyone was just so proud to be a part of it because it was a really cool opportunity. And then being successful in that opportunity was even better.”
Zanon was not the only New Yorker to represent the U.S. Sydney Bard of New Hartford and Katy Knoll of Buffalo were also key contributors to the team’s winning formula.
Part of that success can be traced back to the hard work these women put in at U.S. Women’s National Team camps, where they face off against some of the best players in the world. Along the way they get to see how stars like Hilary Knight and Kendall Coyne Schofield go about their business, which always rubs off on other players aspiring to reach the pinnacle of their profession.
“You’re around all sorts of great players,” said Zanon, who twice represented the U.S. at the IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship.
“Everyone that’s there has proven themselves in some way, shape or form and they’re there for a reason. Being around them and seeing how everyone carries themselves and then competing with and against them, that’s so beneficial as a player and as a person because you’re pushing yourself on the ice, off the ice and in the weight room.”
Looking to make a good first impression on both her new Buckeyes teammates and the U.S. coaching staff, Zanon spent much of her summer working hard to add another layer to her game. One of her biggest changes was learning to become a little more selfish when the puck is on her stick.
“I was always a pass-first kind of girl and I always focused on passing. I would try to be that player in the most creative way possible and kind of like make passes that you wouldn’t expect me to make,” said Zanon, who notched 69 assists along with 49 goals while with the Nittany Lions.
“I’ve tried to get away from always thinking pass first and I think that aided the creativity of it because now I have the pass or shoot option, and I could do either. That helps with the creativity because your opponents never know what you’re going to do next.”
Like most great players, Zanon is her own harshest critic. While the stat sheet may say otherwise, she didn’t feel like she consistently brought her A game against Canada’s collegiate team. After a strong first game, she felt she let off the gas in the middle contest before finishing strong with a pair of goals in a 4-3 victory.
“There were pros and cons in every game, but it started out pretty strong. Second game was a little weaker, and then third game I picked it back up again,” she said.
Her head coach Chelsea Walkland, a native of Henrietta, saw things a little differently. Being from the Rochester area, Walkland remembers seeing Zanon as a young player competing in local programs, starting with the Rochester Grizzlies and Monarchs before joining the Selects Academy team that was the runner up at the 2018 USA Hockey Girls Tier I 16 & Under National Championship.
“Kiara is a great player. She loves the game and she’s had a good, long career, even though she’s still young,” said Walkland, whose full-time job is as an assistant coach at Colgate University.
“I wasn’t shocked when the opportunity was there for her. I felt that as the camp and the series went on, she was a player that kept settling in and kept getting better and better with each game. At the end of the day, she’s a gamer. She’s one of those players that in big moments she’s going to dig in. She scored some pretty big goals for us. She’s an exciting one to watch for sure.”
With a lot of collegiate hockey to be played this year and next, Zanon doesn’t want to look too far into the future. With that said, these opportunities to wear the red, white and blue have her thirsty for more.
“I want to have a very successful year with Ohio State and then hopefully my fifth year as well. I have a lot of high, high hopes and I know the team has standards for what we want to do this year and next year. Being a part of that’s going to be such a great opportunity for me,” she said.
“When you’re growing up you dream about playing professionally and that opportunity is growing as we speak and becoming more of a reality. Obviously, the Olympics would be the ultimate goal and the dream that I had as a little girl and continue to have. So that’s something that I’m continuing to work for along the way.”