Two athletes put New Hampshire on the national sports map this past week. Salem’s Caroline Harvey and Nashua’s Ebuka Okorie were both taken in the first round of their respective professional league drafts.
Harvey, a 23-year-old University of Wisconsin product, was taken first overall by the Vancouver Goldeneyes in the Professional Women’s Hockey League last week. She’s viewed as the new franchise player. She didn’t just drop into the No. 1 spot on accident; she’s widely regarded as the best player in the class.
The defender — who moved from home at age 13 to attend Bishop Kearney High in Rochester, N.Y. — locked down opposition during the U.S. women’s team’s run to gold in the 2026 Winter Olympics. She was also a threat on offense with her smooth skating and puck-handling skills.
Her 2025-2026 season resume is nothing short of historically great. Olympic gold, NCAA tournament MVP, a third national championship with the Badgers, winner of the 2026 Patty Kazmaier Award as the nation’s best player in collegiate women’s hockey and International Ice Hockey Federation’s Female Player of the Year.
Harvey scored 137 points in 114 games played at Wisconsin. Representing Team USA, she is already the third-highest-scoring defender in IIHF women’s world championship history. During the Milan-Cortina Olympics, she set a new scoring record for an American defender with nine points in seven games.
Meanwhile, the 19-year-old Okorie was always in the Detroit Pistons’ sights, so much so that after being selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night at No. 17, he was traded to Memphis before Detroit scooped him up during an eventful draft night skirmish.
The 6-foot-2 guard attended Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro and flipped his commitment from Harvard to Stanford after being named New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year.
As a true freshman with the Cardinal, he led the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring with 23.2 points per game and averaged 3.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game.
Okorie was a first team All-ACC player and an honorable mention All-American. His 6-foot-8 wingspan allows him to get downhill and score with speed in the paint while operating as a shifty ball handler.
He became the highest drafted New Hampshire player ever.
