Gray McLaughlin continues family tradition in UK Hockey
November 22, 2013
By Char Grimm
It was destiny that junior defenseman Gray McLaughlin would attend UK.
“My dad went here and then my brothers Sean and Matt. I just followed the train,” McLaughlin said.
Sean McLaughlin played for UK hockey for five years before graduating in the spring of 2013. Matt McLaughlin is a senior forward on the current UK team. In addition to his two brothers who have attended UK, Gray McLaughlin has another younger brother and two younger sisters.
“My brothers and I are already really close. This just gives us one more thing to connect about,” Gray McLaughlin said of being able to play with his brothers.
Gray McLaughlin took two years off from hockey after his freshman year in order to focus on academics.
“I missed the guys the most when I wasn’t playing. They’re my closest friends and I wasn’t around them as much when I took time off,” said McLaughlin.
Having played hockey since he was a small child, it was strange for Gray McLaughlin to not play.
“I remember my dad taking me and my brothers to a really old hockey shop and getting us all equipment. I fell in love with the sport from there,” Gray McLaughlin said of his introduction to the sport.
Citing road trips as one of his favorite parts of the UK hockey experience, Gray McLaughlin says that he loves having twenty-something of his friends squeezed into one bus.
A mechanical engineering junior from McLean, Virginia, McLaughlin enjoys camping, rock climbing, hiking and generally being outdoors when he isn’t on the ice.
On campus, he enjoys going to other athletic events but says that hockey doesn’t leave a lot of room for off ice activities.
UK hockey (4-12-1) faces off against Cincinnati (7-8-1) at home on Friday night before travelling to Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon. Friday, the puck drops at 11:55 p.m. at the Lexington Ice Center. Sunday’s game is at 2 p.m. in Cincinnati at the Cincinnati Gardens.
