Sarah McKnight Devens was an ice hockey player for the Dartmouth Big Green women’s ice hockey program. The Sarah Devens Award

Sarah Devens Award

The Sarah Devens Award is given as a joint award between the ECAC Hockey and Hockey East conferences to a women’s ice hockey player. The criteria for the Devens Award is for a player who demonstrates leadership and commitment both on and off the ice. Both conferences submitted a league nominee for...

 is named in her honor. The criteria for the Devens Award is for a player who demonstrates leadership and commitment both on and off the ice.

Dartmouth

At Dartmouth, Devens participated on three varsity teams: field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse. She was named a captain of all three teams. She was considered by many teammates to be the best female athlete Dartmouth ever had. She was nicknamed “The Devil”, for her ability to outlast other athletes in exercise routines. In her sophomore year, she was the co-winner of the Class of '76 Award at Dartmouth. As of the 2009-10 Dartmouth Big Green women's ice hockey season, Devens ranked 23rd in all time scoring among Big Green women’s ice hockey players.

Fatigue

In January 1995, Devens tried out for the United States National Women’s Hockey team in Lake Placid, New York

Lake Placid, New York

Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638....

 but she did not make the team. In early July 1995, she returned from a field hockey camp in Maryland. Her goal was to qualify for the 1996 US Olympic Field Hockey team. Devens had made the U.S. "B" team and the result was that she was disappointed and depressed.

Devens expressed to teammates that she was exhausted and she wanted to take a break. In an interview with The Dartmouth school paper in the summer of 1994, Devens stated that she sometimes felt she was missing out on things by participating in three Division I sports. Lacrosse was her least favorite sport, but she felt obligated to continue. During the 1994-95 season, she was an All-America in Lacrosse.

Death

On July 10, 1995, Devens invited her friend Maura Schneider to go mountain biking. When Devens did not show, the friend went to the Devens family home in Essex, Massachusetts

Essex, Massachusetts

Essex is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, north of Boston. The population was 3,504 at the 2010 census.Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Essex.- History :...

 Devens took a .22-caliber rifle and killed herself with a shot to the chest. Devens was 21 years of age and scheduled to start her senior year in college.

Personal

In junior high, Devens was the captain of the boys' hockey team. At her boarding school, St. Paul's School

St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire)

St. Paul's School is a highly selective college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire affiliated with the Episcopal Church. The school is one of only six remaining 100% residential boarding schools in the U.S. The New Hampshire campus currently serves 533 students,...

, in Concord, New Hampshire

Concord, New Hampshire

The city of Concord is the capital of the state of New Hampshire in the United States. It is also the county seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2010 census, its population was 42,695....

, she was twice named the outstanding female athlete. She captained the field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse teams.

Devens grew up in Essex, 45 minutes north of Boston. One of her ancestors is Charles Devens

Charles Devens

Charles Devens was an American lawyer, jurist and statesman. He also served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Early life and career:...

, a major general in the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 during the United States Civil War. He would later become a United States Attorney General

United States Attorney General

The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...

. A statue of General Devens stands at the Esplanade near the Charles River

Charles River

The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...

 in Boston. Her paternal grandfather, Charlie Devens

Charlie Devens

Charles Devens , was a Major League Baseball player who played pitcher from -. After pitching for Harvard he was signed in 1932 to the New York Yankees...

, pitched for the New York Yankees in the early 1930s. Her mother, Sally Willard, coached Sarah in both field hockey and lacrosse in elementary school.

Awards and honors

• Dartmouth Class of '76 Award (presented annually to the best female athlete at Dartmouth)
• All-America selection, Lacrosse
• First-team All-Ivy League in field hockey (1993)
• First-team All-Ivy League in field hockey (1994)
• Second team All-Ivy League in ice hockey