Colgate’s Rookie Star Looks to Put Vermont on the Map

When Colgate women’s ice hockey traveled to Hanover, N.H. to face Dartmouth, it was the closest Taylor Senecal’s fans would be to one of her games all season.

They wouldn’t miss it for the world. 

When Senecal took the ice for pregame warmups, she saw a sign held up by them. Those friends - many of them high school sophomores - had made the 90 minute trip to support her, and wanted to make sure Senecal noticed them. 

“They made a poster for me,” she said. “The Dartmouth announcer gave a shoutout… he (said) ‘Taylor Senecal has a couple friends here! They made her a poster - they call her Beans.’”

That nickname - “Beans” - originated at a rink while Senecal was doing what she values most: giving back to her community in Vermont. 

When Senecal isn’t holding the blue line in Hamilton, odds are she’s at an arena in her home state. She skates with her high school team and helps coach the next generation of youth hockey players. That’s where “Beans” was born.

“My nickname from my family was always Biebs,” Senecal said. “As I was coaching the younger kids, they couldn’t say it. It turned into ‘Beans.’”

She’s been Beans for a long time now. The first time she started coaching younger kids, she was just 10 years old. Working with them formed a leadership quality that Senecal has never let go of. 

Those kids, along with Senecal’s younger high school teammates, can’t help but look up to her.

“They text me all the time and ask for advice about hockey stuff,” she said. “I love being a role model to them.”

Senecal is plenty qualified to act as a role model. In her senior year at Essex High School, she led the Hornets to a state title while earning Player of the Year and 2025 Vermont Miss Hockey honors. 

Without all that Vermont has given her, Senecal doesn’t think she would be the player she is today. She “grew up at the rink,” and says she developed all of her skill through the hard work she and her coaches put in. 

With each milestone, she wants to show everyone back home that they can do it too. 

“I think it would be really good to show all the girls from home, if you work hard enough you can do this,” she said. “I had to grind every ounce of skill I have, 4-9 p.m. at the rink every day… You can accomplish all this stuff.”

The name Taylor Senecal is well-known in the Vermont hockey circuit. People come up to her for chats, autographs and pictures. She enjoys being a sort of mini-celebrity, but what she really wants is to put Vermont hockey on the map. 

The state isn’t without its success stories. Senecal is joined by a number of other Vermont natives to play in the ECAC and across Division-I women’s hockey. Amanda Pelkey played two seasons in the PWHL with the Boston Fleet before retiring, and also won an Olympic gold with Team USA in 2018. 

But Senecal wants even more. It starts with herself, both as a player and as a mentor. She finished her first collegiate season with 15 assists, tying the Colgate program record for helpers by a first-year defender. She’ll wrap up the spring semester before going home. 

When she’s back in Vermont, she’ll continue developing her own game and the skills of those same girls who came to that Dartmouth game. The same ones who jumped up and down with excitement when Senecal greeted them after the contest. The same ones who excitedly text her each time she starts a match. 

“Getting back into (coaching) will be really exciting,” she said. “I miss all those kids.”

No matter where she is, Senecal always carries the weight of being Vermont’s Miss Hockey. She wears the mantle with pride, and has taken on the challenge of carrying a long-overlooked hockey scene into national relevance. 

If the state can accomplish that, Senecal will almost certainly play a major role.