Meg Simon on Being More Than Just a Hockey Player, Betting On Herself, and the Value of Community
Middlebury's Meg Simon learned the importance of being a force for good in the community, a perspective that has defined her career both on and off the ice.
For Meg Simon, hockey runs in the blood, and it seemed only inevitable that she would end up sharing the same passion for the sport as her father did throughout his playing career.
My full conversation with Meg Simon is available now on YouTube.
“I would say hockey found me. I was kind of born into the game,” Meg said. “I was fortunate to grow up around the game. We moved about 50 times for my dad’s career in professional hockey, so I was kind of born on skates.”
And, having been around locker rooms since the age of four, Meg learned the importance of team culture, work ethic, and a drive to win. All qualities she’s brought with her along the journey from East Grand Rapids, Michigan, to the campus at Middlebury College.
Meg’s junior career included playing for Fox Motors before working her way up through the Grand Rapids Amateur Hockey Association. She also played with the boys’ varsity hockey team in high school. Each stop allowed her to grow, develop, learn leadership skills, and lay the foundation to become the player and, more importantly, the person she is today.
“Each year was pretty huge in my development as a player and as a person,” Meg said. “I think I really started to understand the game beyond just playing. Especially when you’re approaching that sixth-grade age, you start to learn how to think the game and how to compete every shift, and how to stay consistent.”
Growing up, hockey wasn’t the only sport Meg played. That right there is a bit of foreshadowing for what’s to come in this next chapter of her journey.
Being a part of a team, as Meg said, was something that she couldn’t see her life without. “Starting to look at colleges, I had dreams to be a Notre Dame Golden Domer,” said Meg. “When I realized that the program didn’t have a women’s hockey team, I had to reluctantly look somewhere else because I couldn’t lose that part of myself that wanted to be on a team and contribute to something bigger than myself.”
For any athlete, there are many factors that go into deciding where to pursue higher education while also maintaining their athletic side, and Meg was no different. When looking at her options, she was looking for something that would challenge her, both on and off the ice.
“Middlebury was a place where I could play my sports and play at a quality academic institution. And those were two things that really did stand out to me. I felt like I was going to be pushed the most academically, athletically, and socially.”
Remember earlier, when I mentioned a bit of foreshadowing? This is where that moment pays off because Meg Simon didn’t actually originally attend Middlebury for the sport you had expected. But thanks to her broad interest in sports growing up, and an encouraging phone call from her mom, she found an alternative, and bet on herself.
“I was emailing with the coaching staff for the hockey team, and they emailed back and said we actually filled our recruiting year for your class,” Meg recalled. “I was pretty bummed out and thinking that maybe the door was closed with that road. My mom called me that day and said ‘You know, I think you might be able to play for their golf team.” Meg would go on to discover that the golf coach is also the hockey coach, which may be the most serendipitous story out there.
Throughout her journey, one aspect of Meg that is clear is just how important community and giving back are, which stands as a testament to the person she’s always been. And she gives credit to her family for laying that foundation and instilling those qualities in her.
“Watching my dad use his platform as a professional athlete showed me the impact that you can have as an athlete,” Meg said. “I never really saw my role as a hockey player to be solely a hockey player. I always saw it as being someone who is a force for good in the communities that we lived and learned.” And that perspective is what led to her being named the 2026 Hockey Humanitarian Award recipient in early April. While this conversation took place before she was named the winner, it was clear just how much this meant to Meg.
“It’s such a special honour,” she said. “Reading what those nominees have done in their communities and at their schools, it’s humbling. It’s amazing what these hockey players are doing with the platform that they’ve earned. I take great pride in the impact that we’ve had in our community, but also in representing Middlebury Athletics in the right way.”
From growing up in East Grand Rapids, Michigan, to betting on herself and heading to Middlebury College, to being named the 2026 Hockey Humanitarian Award recipient, Meg Simon remains the very definition of what many of us strive to be: a genuinely good human being. And no matter where the next chapter takes her, one can bet that she’ll never lose sight of that.
My full conversation with Meg Simon is available now on YouTube.
Visit Meg’s Etsy store here.