Wenczkowski Makes Memorable Return to Warrior Ice Arena for Bruins Dev Camp

BOSTON – Taylor Wenczkowski returned to Warrior Ice Arena last week, a memorable site from her professional hockey career. The Rochester, New Hampshire, native netted the game-winning goal in the third period of the 2021 NWHL Championship, helping the Boston Pride raise the Isobel Cup on home ice in Brighton.

This time around, however, Wenczkowski was in Brighton for a different purpose. The assistant coach of the Princeton women’s hockey team was invited to be a guest coach at Boston Bruins Development Camp last week some four years after raising the championship trophy on the same rink.

“I got goosebumps walking in [to Warrior Ice Arena],” said Wenczkowski. “All the memories started coming back. I didn’t think about it before I got here, but when I walked in the doors, it all came back. I won my first professional championship in this building.”

Being a guest coach at Development Camp was an exciting opportunity for Wenczkowski, who got to learn from the Boston Bruins development staff while on the ice with Bruins prospects throughout the week.

“It was an awesome week. I tried to be a sponge and give some input when I could,” Wenczkowski said following the final day of Development Camp at Warrior Ice Arena. “I really tried to soak in the opportunity and learn from everyone.”

Wenczkowski grew up watching legendary players like Kacey Bellamy and Sam Faber skating at the Whittemore Center for the University of New Hampshire. Playing close to home was an easy decision for the New Hampshire native, who spent five seasons in Durham and scored 42 career goals for the Wildcats.

After graduating from New Hampshire, Wenczkowski played four professional hockey seasons representing the city of Boston, and won two championships, including the one at Warrior Ice Arena in 2021. At the conclusion of the 2023-24 season, Wenczkowski decided to take on the coaching route, and accepted a job as an assistant coach for Princeton University.

“I played seven years of my hockey career in the city of Boston; three high school seasons with the Boston Shamrocks and four seasons professionally, three with the Pride and one with Boston PWHL,” said Wenczkowski. “I take a lot of pride wearing Boston across my chest. I couldn’t think of a better place to be at a Development Camp than here with the Bruins.”

Wenczkowski believes that there were some invaluable takeaways from Development Camp that she can take back to Princeton for her own squad.

“The team building activity was awesome this week, seeing how much the guys trusted each other and built communication,” said Wenczkowski. “On the ice, it was great to learn all of the little details, things that I can bring into my skills sessions.”

Using Development Camp as a chance to sharpen her skill set was important to Wenczkowski, who always knew that she would end up coaching.

“I look back at my career and there are a couple of coaches that stick out. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them,” said Wenczskowski. “I take a lot of pride in making other people better. I had coaches that made a huge impact on me growing up and to be able to do that for others is rewarding.”