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It was time for a heart-to-heart meeting. Jackson Kinsler needed it. The Boston University freshman had played in just 17 of BU’s 38 games, and with an influx of Canadian players arriving, Kinsler was uncertain about her future and considered entering the transfer portal.

She sat down with her father, Toby Kinsler, and BU head coach Tara Watchorn. Kinsler didn’t receive the playing time she’d hoped for as a freshman, so she wanted to know whether her role would increase as a sophomore.

“Does she have a future here?” Toby asked Watchorn, referring to his daughter.

Watchorn was brutally honest. No matter what Kinsler did, the answer was, frankly, no.

“She had to fight every day to just have an opportunity to wear a jersey and sit on the bench,” Toby said. “It teaches you: ‘Nothing’s free and nothing’s certain. You have to earn everything, no matter what.’”

That interaction was the tipping point in Kinsler’s rocky year at BU, where she scored just once across 17 games before transferring ahead of the 2024-25 season. After Syracuse’s coaching staff reached out, Kinsler found her footing with the Orange, scoring in her first game, and she hasn’t looked back since. The junior forward ranks second on SU in both goals (seven) and assists (nine) while consistently delivering in the clutch.

“She adjusted really well,” former Syracuse forward Bryn Saarela said. “She fit right in with the culture of the team and how Syracuse hockey plays.”

Kinsler began receiving Division I offers as early as eighth grade, but Toby said it felt too early to think about college. A few years later, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the college process picked up again.

Due to pandemic restrictions, many of Kinsler’s college tours were virtual. She considered Dartmouth, Harvard, Union, Holy Cross, Vermont and BU before making a final decision.

Ultimately, Kinsler fell in love with the allure of playing in a major city — Boston — and the legacy of then-Terriers’ head coach Brian Durocher, and she chose Boston University.

Her admiration for BU began years prior, though. In her high school English class at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, Kinsler was tasked with writing a biography on someone who inspired her. Kinsler wrote about former BU star Marie-Philip Poulin, now a three-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time world champion with Team Canada.

Since transferring from Boston University last offseason, Jackson Kinsler has scored 15 goals and tallied 26 assists for the Orange. Griffin Uribe Brown | Digital Managing Editor

The stars continued to align for Kinsler. Clara Yuhn, a close friend of hers, already attended BU. Kinsler spent a gap year in Minnesota, playing at Shattuck-St. Mary’s to further refine her game and prepare her for college.

Then everything fell apart.

Durocher retired just before Kinsler was set to arrive in Boston, and associate head coach Kerstin Matthews departed for a head coaching position at St. Mark’s School in Massachusetts. It was a gut punch for Kinsler, who Durocher and Matthews recruited in high school. Kinsler’s sense of familiarity vanished.

“To see (Derocher and Matthews) go was obviously really hard,” Kinsler said. “But I was very excited that Tara Watchorn received the job.”

Her mother, Jennell Kinsler, told her daughter to fall in love with the school, not the coach. But Kinsler wasn’t just starting fresh under a first-year head coach. She was simultaneously adjusting to the other aspects of college.

Although she lived in a suite with a group of other freshmen, Kinsler struggled to connect with her peers. Deerfield and Shattuck brought people together through community events, Jennell said, but BU didn’t do the same, especially since it didn’t have a football team. And over time, Kinsler also realized she wasn’t a fan of the city she’d dreamed of.

“Their hockey team did a couple of outreach things,” Jennell said. ”But she just felt that she wanted to be more part of a community.”

Toby said that since Kinsler had always been the best player on her teams back home, riding the bench at BU was a humbling and frustrating experience. It was the first time in Kinsler’s life she truly needed to earn minutes.

Girls were more physical. The pace was faster. Kinsler didn’t have Watchorn’s validation, which left her feeling out of place and in need of change.

“When she committed to BU, the concept was: She’s committing to BU and she’s going to be there forever,” Toby said. “It was a very, very difficult, emotional process for her and our family to say, ‘Maybe I have to get divorced here.’”

After many long conversations with Toby, Kinsler took a gamble and entered the transfer portal.

A cloud of uncertainty blanketed the Kinslers. With over 100 girls entering the portal, they worried her desired teams wouldn’t have room for her. Teams started reaching out, primarily schools she’d previously turned down and Western Collegiate Hockey Association squads near her Wisconsin home.

And then there was Syracuse. Though SU wasn’t initially on her family’s radar, Kinsler immediately got in contact with Syracuse head coach Britni Smith and associate head coach Heather Farrell. The coaches set up multiple Zoom calls with Kinsler and her parents, during which they gave presentations on what it meant to be a student-athlete at SU.

“It felt very much like being in a living room with somebody who wasn’t trying to sell you a new car, but was really just trying to have a conversation about what’s in the best interest of everybody,” Toby said.

After those calls, Kinsler booked a tour of Syracuse in the spring of 2024. She took an early morning flight from Boston and, upon landing, toured the Tennity Ice Pavilion and checked out the locker room.

Kinsler also got coffee at Cafe Kubal with then-sophomores Heidi Knoll and Maya D’Arcy, and their quick connection became a key factor in her commitment to SU.

“It’s one thing to meet the coaches and walk around the campus,” Kinsler said, “but another to actually connect with girls on the team.”

Midway through her visit, when Smith and Farrell asked Kinsler if she was ready to commit to SU, she signed the papers on the spot.

“It was an instant connection with the coaching staff and vibe of the place,” Toby said.

Jennell said that Syracuse’s coaching staff ensured a smooth transition with team calls and Zoom workouts over the summer, despite a nerve-wracking new dynamic and style of play.

It helped Kinsler make an immediate impact on the ice. In Syracuse’s season opener against Stonehill, Kinsler scored her first goal with SU — and the team’s first of the year — just 68 seconds after the opening faceoff en route to a 4-0 win.

“After being through a whole year of just wanting to be out there so bad and to make a difference in the game, to make that difference within the first minute of the season with my new team was the happiest I’ve been in so long,” Kinsler said.

Despite the Orange’s inconsistencies last season, Kinsler was a threat all year. She led the team with 17 assists, and her eight goals ranked third. That production has carried over to this season, where her 16 points rank second on SU, and her recent game-tying goal against then-No. 13 Mercyhurst propelled Syracuse to an upset shootout win.

“Jackson could take over the game on any given day,” Farrell said. “She’s that talented, and she’s one of the fastest players on the ice.”

Beyond increased playing time, Kinsler just feels at home in Syracuse. She finally feels the community BU lacked, going to football games at the JMA Wireless Dome and bonding with her roommates Stella Costabile and Celia Wiegand.

In early January, Syracuse practiced outdoors at a farm rink. The team bonded off the ice, too, petting baby goats and horses. As Kinsler skated around the rink, wind hitting her face, she was surrounded by all of her teammates. It almost felt as if she were a kid again, just playing outdoor hockey with her friends somewhere out in Wisconsin.

And she felt pure, unadulterated joy. The kind she could never find in Boston.

Published on February 19, 2026 at 12:30 am
Contact Spencer: sabrod@syr.edu | @spencerbrod20