Author: Erin Wilson
Photo credit: Bjorn Franke and Brad Rempel
PharmD student Abby Boreen took her finals early this semester so that she could catch her flight to Canada for the first playoff game of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, where she’s a forward for Minnesota. She’s wrapping up her second year of pharmacy school with no plans to quit playing hockey anytime soon.
“It's a pretty demanding workload but it's nothing that I'm not used to. I played college hockey at the U, so I was always on the go with that… So I figured, why not just carry it over into my graduate program and continue playing hockey because I love that, too,” Abby said.
Balancing pharmacy school with a professional hockey career only works because of the support she receives from the faculty at the College of Pharmacy and coaching staff on the Minnesota team, Abby says. In addition to academic accommodation, faculty support her athletic career too; a professor on the Duluth campus who interviewed Abby prior to her acceptance to the college kept in touch and traveled down for one of her recent games, so they met for the first time in person.
“I'm so grateful for the support from the pharmacy school, I mean, I couldn't do it without them; all the professors and all of my counselors, everyone is so supportive,” she said. “They’re willing to work with me so I am able to live out my dream of playing hockey. I think it’s a really cool story that not a lot of people in a graduate program are able to do.”
The first-of-its-kind professional women’s hockey league held its first season this year, with six total teams across North America.
“It’s mind blowing the amount of fan support we get. On weekend games at Xcel we’re selling 10,000 seats. Our first game had almost 14,000 people in attendance,” Abby said. “It speaks volumes of how far we've come with hockey and women's sports in general, and I think it's only gonna keep getting better.”
Splitting her time between the rink and her studies, Abby also somehow finds time to work at Fairview, compounding suspensions, ointments, capsules, and the like for local hospitals.
“It's been really cool for me to do all that and kind of test my knowledge from what we're learning in labs, and to apply it to my job has been super beneficial for me,” she said.
Pharmacy intrigued her from early on in life. She was influenced by her aunt, Donna, and cousin, Nick, who are alumni of the college and the PharmD program.
“I shadowed them when I was younger and really grew to love pharmacy…I really like helping people and I knew I didn't want to be a doctor,” she said. “I was fascinated with how drugs work in the body and how so many people are able to live because of medications.”
As for the future, Abby plans to continue juggling both careers as long as possible.
“I'm gonna try to keep balancing both throughout my pharmacy career and just take it day by day,” she said. “I’m going to continue to play as long as I can, I still have love for the game… to be able to be a part of the first ever season of the PWHL is something that I won’t ever forget.”