Leaving a Legacy: Raice Szott and her passion for helping others

Raice Szott entered Merrimack hockey head coach Erin Hamlen’s office with a PowerPoint presentation. The eight slides detailed how and why Merrimack’s women’s hockey team should create a committee to find ways to organize and participate in community service events. Szott organized the slides with a rundown of what the committee would be, why its creation would be important, and how it would help those around them and the team alike.

Hamlen loved the idea and wanted Szott to go all out with the idea. That eventually became the basis for the Merrimack College Women's Hockey Community Service Committee, a committee that focuses on finding events for the hockey team to organize and participate in around their community.

“It's important to have that because… I want to keep this going in the program even when I'm gone,” Szott told The Ice Garden. “I'm hoping that the community committee is just something that can keep that value in our program and keep our program involved in all of these things that we're doing.”

The graduate defender was named a finalist for the Hockey Humanitarian Award for the second year in a row. The award is presented to a student-athlete in college hockey who makes significant contributions to their team and their community through leadership in volunteerism. It is the third season the Merrimack captain has been nominated for the award, and though she’s been recognized once again for her hard work, she continues to find ways to expand her outreach to help her community and leave a legacy even after her time at Merrimack ends.

Szott realized early on that she was lucky as a student athlete to be able to play the sport she loved. She also realized that there was more to being a student-athlete than playing the game. “I wanted to find more opportunities to make a positive impact while being a student athlete because we're so privileged in that people look up to us and we're put in this position where we can help out,” she said of her desire to begin volunteering.

She aimed to make a noticeable influence on the Merrimack community around her and started small, first gathering teammates to volunteer at a “Walk to End Alzheimer’s” event that the team continues to take part in year after year. She then added on-campus events including Relay for Life and Special Olympics Massachusetts. Then they expanded to support local nonprofits including the Ellie Fund, an organization that provides essential services for breast cancer patients to allow their focus to be on family and recovery. They’ve also helped local first responders with delivering coffee and donuts to them and held a Teddy Bear Toss during the holidays during a women’s hockey game. 

People began to take notice of the team’s approach to volunteering and started sending the team events they were aware of in hopes they could participate. That led to the creation of the Community Committee and developed the network that the team relies on to find events in and around their area. Though Szott’s efforts are far-reaching, she emphasized she doesn’t want to spread her team thin when it comes to outreach. She believes in the relationships she’s built with organizations so far and finds it meaningful to maintain those connections because they can then become yearly events for the Merrimack team. 

“A lot of times it's not only about how much you can do, I was kind of wary this year of trying to do so much more because it's also about making a positive impact and as meaningful of an impact as you can with what you go to already,” Szott said.

She also wanted to find a way to get her teammates involved too. With 26 members on the team, there was a bigger chance for outreach and it was also important for Szott to find a way to make an impact with her teammates and help find ways for them to grow and learn too. She said she wanted the team to use their voice and influence in a positive manner and it was something she wanted to draw out of herself as well as her teammates.

Her hard work and dedication is something that continues to impress head coach Hamlen, years after Szott went to her with her powerpoint presentation. "Raice's selfless and giving nature has been an inspiration for many," said Hamlen, in the school's press release on Szott's nomination. "She has humbly given back to our community and her team while excelling in athletics and academics. I am so proud of her for all of her accomplishments on and off the ice."

One of the most important events that came to be during Szott’s time at Merrimack is a hockey camp created in collaboration between Szott, a Merrimack professor, and other Warriors students from all different majors called Girls on Ice. The camp is held every spring where girls from grades six to eight are given ice time with Szott and her Merrimack teammates to learn the ins and outs of hockey.

After that, they get more time off the ice with other mentors, such as leadership and education majors. They discuss topics that are of importance to girls of their age including body image, self-confidence, and friendship groups. It’s something that Szott knows is crucial for girls in that age range: “They're at an age where, when I think back like I wish I had an opportunity like that to be able to learn from college players and learn some of these important topics for that time of life. Having those mentors and that guidance is important.” 

Girls on Ice is entering its third year and is expected to have more than 200 participants over the two-week event. This year, the camp will include Boston College co-captains Abby Newhook and Gaby Roy, as Girls on Ice looks to expand its program to other schools such as Boston College and even to other sports programs on the Merrimack campus. 

The camp will often have the same girls return to the event and Szott appreciates the opportunity it provides to create personal connections with them and to be someone they can turn to even after the camp is done. 

Szott remembers a player who reached out after camp and sought advice before a team tryout and a few weeks later gave Szott the good news that she had made the team and thanked her for her support: “You get a text like that and you're like, wow that makes it all worth it. You're really making an impact on people's lives and it's cool when you can directly see that impact,” Szott recalled.

She’s proud to represent the Merrimack community and her team again in becoming a finalist for the second straight year and appreciates receiving the nod as a finalist once again. 

“It made me want to thank the people that I'm working with that helped me do all these things,” Szott said of being named a finalist again. “Honestly, it's more for them because they're the ones that have been really helping and pushing me to be better,” she said. 

It would be a full-circle moment for Szott to end her Merrimack career with the award and it would represent everyone who has helped her along the way, from the Merrimack community, to her family and teachers back in her home province of Alberta, to the organizations she has worked with while in North Andover and beyond. For Szott, lending a hand to others is something that is a simple endeavor for her.

“We're so blessed and it's amazing that we're able to play this game. Why don't we use that passion, that love for it to do something good in the world? That's really what it comes down to.”

The 2025 Hockey Humanitarian Award is celebrating its 30th season this year. For the first time in its history, four of the five finalists are women. This year’s recipient will be announced on Friday, Apr. 11, during the NCAA Men's Frozen Four weekend. This story is part of a series highlighting those four finalists. To learn more about Raice Szott and Girls on Ice you can check out their website here, girlsoniceusa.com