Addy McLay has always been a good hockey player, but she has really seen a tremendous rise in her stock as one of the top young defensive prospects in the country over the past two years. She’s been on the varsity roster at Hill-Murray since eighth grade but recently won back-to-back state titles, committed to play college hockey at Ohio State, and competed with Team USA at the U18 Women’s World Championships all in the past 18 months.

The 17-year-old skater was born and raised in the Twin Cities suburb of Hastings, which is located just across the river from the Wisconsin border. She played with Hastings youth teams a little bit before eventually deciding to compete with Minnesota Made and OS hockey programs, which is where she would meet one of her current varsity teammates and good friend Emily Pohl. With Emily’s parents, Johnny and Krissy, becoming the eventual head coaches at Hill-Murray once the girls got older, it made perfect sense for Addy to go and play high school hockey for the Pioneers alongside one of her best friends.

McLay enrolled at Hill-Murray in eighth grade and made the varsity roster that season in 2022-23. The team was a talented one and posted a 23-4-1 overall record that year but they fell to eventual state champion Gentry Academy in the Section 4AA title game that spring. Addy posted an honorable 12 points through 28 games played that season as just a 14-year-old.

“I had such good leaders on the team like Ellah Hause [who is now competing for Division I St. Thomas] and Shae Stinnett [who plays Division III at the College of Saint Benedict],” McLay said about her eighth-grade season. “Ella was a D, so she helped me out a lot and honestly I thought it was so cool to be able to play with and against all of the older kids and I really just wanted to have fun and try to play my best hockey against them.”

The Pioneers became one of the top teams in the state as McLay moved into her freshman season of high school hockey in 2023-24. The Pioneers had only three losses in the regular season as they then defeated Stillwater in the Section 4AA championship match, 5-2, and earned a berth to the Class AA state tournament.

“It was an unbelievable experience, it was the first time [in a few years] that we were able to win our section and go to the ‘X’ [recently renamed ‘Grand Casino Arena’]. I had a lot of playing time and it was really fun, and a lot of pressure, but I feel like I play better with a lot of pressure on my back, so it was a lot of fun,” said McLay, who posted 16 points through 31 games played that year.

Hill-Murray went to state that winter and defeated Roseau, 8-2, in the quarterfinal round and then beat Andover, 3-1, in their semifinal match-up but would unfortunately fall in a tight game to Edina, 2-0, in the Class AA championship.

“It was all of our first times being there [since no one on the Hill-Murray roster was on the team the last time that the Pioneers had made it] and Edina has been there for, I mean, a lot of years, and they have really good coaching and they’re always hard to play against,” said McLay. The Pioneers obviously wish that they would’ve won the game against the Hornets that year but it wound up being a great learning experience and losing that match made them even hungrier to get back to state for the next season.

“I think it really helped set us up for the next year. I feel like Johnny [Pohl] really took our practice a different way by training us harder and battling us every day at practice even harder just to be ready for state and he set up our schedule really hard to help prepare us - which I think it did,” added McLay.

During her sophomore season, Addy and her Hill-Murray squad were ranked again as one of the top teams in Class AA but they had some bumpy, up-and-down results during winter break. In that time period, the team ended up having a meeting and had a bit of a heart-to-heart chat together and they all ended up pulling themselves out of their funk and began to make a big push towards the state tournament.

The Pioneers wound up beating Woodbury in the Section 4AA title game, 4-1, and earned a berth back to state, where they were determined to finish what they had started. They defeated Andover, 5-3, in the quarterfinal round, and then beat Rosemount, 5-2, in the semifinals. Who else would they have to then face again in the championship game? Edina - obviously.

“It was definitely a bit of a ‘get back’ moment [against Edina], like we really didn’t have anything to lose. They were the returning state champs and we didn’t want them to go back-to-back so we knew we had to beat them and there’s no way they’re winning again,” said McLay about the opportunity to earn a bit of revenge against the team that had beat them the year before.

The state final against the Hornets was a tight match-up. It was tied, 2-2, after the first period, then Edina held a one-goal lead after the second, and the two teams were deadlocked at 4-4 after the buzzer sounded in regulation - which only meant one thing: overtime.

“In the locker room we all had like ice bags on our heads and but we were all like ‘keep pushing, keep going’,” said McLay about the team mentality after the first three periods of play. “ I think honestly that most of our team, we weren’t even tired because our adrenaline was so high that we just kept going, but coach really just emphasized getting pucks to the net and playing a simple game like we usually have been doing.”

The title match ended up going to double-overtime before Hill-Murray scored the eventual game-winning goal. McLay earned the primary assist on the game-winner, which was scored by senior Ella Hornung.

“Sophie Olson [one of McLay’s teammates] had the puck coming up and she like ticked it to the middle and I was like ‘oh crap, their wing might take it out of the zone and I can’t have that happen, please no,’ so I like just sprinted to the puck and then tried to shoot it really quickly and tried to get it on net, like anything to get it on net, and then Ella Hornung got the tip and it was the best moment ever,” she said about the experience of winning the Class AA state title in 2OT.

The success for the Pioneers didn’t stop there either - McLay and her squad wound up winning the state title again in 2025-26 after posting a 26-3-1 overall record and having a dominant season out on the ice, making them back-to-back champions in Class AA. McLay posted 20 points in 25 games as a junior and the team had an incredible postseason run where they never trailed through all of their section and state tournament match-ups.

“We really wanted to do it again [win the state tournament in back-to-back seasons]. Gwynn Skoogman [one of the top defenders] was hurt [for a chunk of the season in December and January] and she had just gotten back in the lineup and I think that really helped us to win,” said McLay. “We’re a really close-knit team, we have a really young team so we’ve all been together for a while now and I’ll just say in practice, I mean obviously we’re practicing against each other and helping each other be better, and like for example, Emily Pohl is like the best forward and me going against her everyday in practice really makes me a better player and the same with all the other kids.”

The Pioneers officially won back-to-back Class AA state titles after defeating Lakeville North, 6-1, Edina, 3-2, and Centennial/Spring Lake Park, 4-3, at the state tournament in St. Paul. One of McLay’s favorite memories was scoring the first goal for Hill-Murray at the event in 2026 off of a pass from teammate Olivia Braunshausen.

“A really fun moment for me was scoring that first goal in the tournament, I mean, Liv [Braunshausen] passing me that puck was, I mean, her having the patience to pass through that and then scoring that, we really needed that goal going into the second period, so that was definitely one of my favorite moments,” she said. “And then obviously just spending time with my teammates at the hotel and walking to Starbucks and stuff, it’s always a lot of fun.”

After showing her talents out on the ice over her four years on varsity so far, McLay has become one of the top defensive prospects in the country. She ended up posting her verbal commitment to play college hockey at Ohio State in September of 2025.

“To the little girl who always dreamed of this moment. I am humbled and honored to announce my commitment to play Division I hockey and further my education at The Ohio State University. I’d like to thank my family, friends, coaches, and most importantly God for believing in me and helping me get to this point. #rollbuckeyes Psalm 46:10,” McLay posted to her social media pages.

The Hastings native had talked to a lot of different college hockey teams in the summer of 2025 and attended many college camps to try and get a feel for various teams but she had a feeling that the Buckeyes would be the best fit for her.

“I really like how Muzzy [Head Coach Nadine Muzerall] pushes her players every single day at practice, I think that’s one really big thing for me. I feel like I’m a really hard worker and I feel like their culture is just like that and fits me perfectly and just their winning culture, I just feel like that’s where I want to be at,” the Minnesota native said about her decision. “Stepping on campus, I felt like I was at home and meeting the girls and the team, just how they hold themselves, that’s how I want to be when I’m there.”

Another big accolade for McLay came around the same time as her college commitment as she was selected to be a part of the Team USA squad that would compete at the U18 Women’s World Champions. The 17-year-old defender was chosen to travel to Canada this past winter and would eventual win a gold medal with the U.S. and posted two assists through six games played for the talented team.

“It was amazing, I can’t even really describe it, I mean, It’s all I’ve ever dreamed of honestly since I was a little kid, so it was really cool playing against the best players in the world and taking them on 1v1, it’s crazy but it was awesome,” she said about the experience of getting to represent her country and the opportunity to compete against the top girls hockey players in the world.

McLay, who has now shown that she’s one of the best players in the country, is excited about what’s to come next in hockey career as she is set to play her senior season at Hill-Murray in 2026-27 and then will head out to play college hockey at Ohio State the year after. She’ll even have a few familiar faces on the team once she joins her collegiate squad in the future as her teammate and roommate from the U18 worlds tournament, Jane Daley, is also committed to the Buckeyes. The Minnesota native has been getting excited about eventually joining the ranks of college hockey and even recently got to watch her future squad win the 2026 Final Faceoff against Wisconsin, which was played at the University of St. Thomas rink in the Twin Cities metro area.

For now, McLay and Pioneers team is excited about what the 2026-27 season will bring and their sights are absolutely set on completing a three-peat in Class AA. The 17-year-old knows that she’ll have to be a leader for the team this next year as a senior and as one of the top members of the defensive core but she’s 100% ready to accept that challenge.

Once she does get out to Ohio State, McLay is considering studying something business-related, but is not quite set on anything yet. In her free time, you can typically find her staying active and playing tennis with friends or weightlifting with her teammates in the offseason.

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