Sarah Vaillancourt ’04

Originally from Canada and determined to attend a top American university, Vaillancourt attended Pomfret to develop her abilities as both an English speaker and an ice hockey forward. During her first year, the Griffins won the 2003 United States National Championship and Vaillancourt was named a New England U.S. Prep School All-Star. The following year she captained the team.

Vaillancourt spent four years playing for the Harvard Crimson. In her first year, she was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference’s Rookie of the Year and joined Team Canada, winning the first major gold medal of her career at the 2004 Four Nation’s Cup. She would later follow this up with three more consecutive gold medals at this tournament as well gold (2007) and three silvers (2005, 2008, 2009) at the ice hockey World Championships. In 2006, she took the year off Harvard to compete at that year’s Olympic Games and won a gold medal with the Canadian team at the ice hockey tournament — playing in five games and scoring two goals. In 2008, while playing with Harvard, she won the Patty Kazmaier Award, given annually to the best female ice hockey played at the collegiate level in the United States. In 2009, she completed her psychology degree at the university and won a second Olympic title the following year.