Tara Watchorn retires from CWHL

Veteran defender Tara Watchorn has retired, the Boston Blades confirmed today. The Canadian played in the league for five seasons, winning one Clarkson Cup.

Watchorn played for the Blades for three seasons. She was part of the Clarkson Cup winning team in 2014-15, her first season with the team. That season she was named CWHL Defender of the Year and led all defenders in scoring with six goals.

She started her career in Calgary, where she stayed for two seasons (including one year when they were still the Alberta Honeybadgers). In addition to an Olympic gold and Clarkson Cup, she also has three World Championship silver medals.

Her ties to Boston date back to her collegiate career; she played at Boston University alongside fellow Canadians Jennifer Wakefield and Marie-Philip Poulin.

After the Blades lost all of their USWNT members to the NWHL, Watchorn and then-teammate Genevieve Lacasse were the backbone of a team going through a dramatic rebuild. Watchorn will be sorely missed, both on the Blade's blue line and in the locker room.

She will be back on the ice with the Blades for the team's first game of the season, where she'll be dropping the puck.