BURLINGTON, Vt. — Katherine Pate decided in middle school which way she would go when faced with a fork in the road. She wanted to heavily pursue hockey, but without a girls hockey program at Thornton Academy, the Saco native would have to go elsewhere to get her fill of the sport at a high level.

Pate decided to follow her heart and take the path that led to a grueling hockey schedule.

The path that she chose has now brought her to the University of Vermont, where Pate’s collegiate career will begin tonight, when the Catamounts host McGill University in their season opener.

“I’ve been working hard for basically this dream for a while now,” said Pate, a freshman at UVM, “so it’s basically a dream come true.”

Pate said she started making sacrifices to accomplish her dream of playing Division I hockey when she was in middle school, when she joined the Assabet Valley girls hockey program, based out of Concord, Massachusetts. Practices and games meant a one hour and 40 minute drive ”“ one way ”“ for both Pate and her parents.

Assabet Valley paved the way for the Westminster School in Simsbury, Connecticut, where Pate played at the prep school level.

Moving away meant moving closer to her dream, as prep school games drew coaches from the Division I level.

“I always had that end result in mind, hopefully playing Division I hockey,” Pate said of sacrificing the typical high school experience in the name of completing a goal.

But while Pate dreamed of playing Division I hockey, she wasn’t sure it was going to happen at first ”“ “that’s why it was a dream” said Pate ”“ but she realized it was a reality when Division I coaches started to talk to her.

Pate said that when those conversations began, “I realized the dream was going to come true.”

At that point, Pate’s only worry was where, not if, she would play at the highest collegiate level. At Vermont, she said, everything clicked.

“I love the campus, I love the coaching staff, and I knew a bunch of the girls going into it,” said Pate, “and I just knew it was a great fit for me, academically and athletically.”

Pate said she had played with or against many of her UVM teammates at Assabet Valley and Westminster. That familiarity is already paying off for the Catamounts, Pate said; even just after a couple weeks’ worth of captains’ practices and the first week of regular practice this week, the team is already starting to come together.

The Catamounts were picked to finish fourth in the eight-team Hockey East in the preseason coaches poll. Vermont is coming off a season in which it lost in the Hockey East Tournament semifinals to top-seeded Boston College after beating the University of Maine in the quarterfinals.

Pate said she’s not sure if she’ll suit up for tonight’s opener ”“ she skated at practice this week but her availabilty to play will be a game-time decision ”“ but she is nonetheless excited for her college career to begin.

Pate said she is especially excited for some of her away games ”“ notably at New Hampshire and the Boston schools ”“ as she will get to play close to home.

“I haven’t really played that close to home since almost middle school,” said Pate.

Pate will join select company when she does put on the green-and-yellow Vermont uniform for the first time, as less than 1,000 women get to play Division I hockey each season. But that doesn’t faze Pate, who played some high-stakes games while winning championships at both Assabet Valley and Westminster, beating some of the best prep school-age players in the country.

“I’m not too nervous, because the way I see it, it’s just a new jersey,” said Pate.

— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or sports@journaltribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.