For third-year netminder Grace Harrison, hockey is a numbers game.

The sport has taken her nearly 9,000 miles from her hometown of Auckland, New Zealand, to Appleton Arena and St. Lawrence University, where she defends a 72-by-48-inch steel frame while working towards a statistics degree.

The New Zealander's journey to college hockey is nothing short of remarkable.

"I did this exchange with (Toronto) Leaside hockey and trained with them for like six weeks over our summer break," reflected the Saints' goaltender. "From there, my dad came over and we looked at some schools — I went home to New Zealand, finished my second-to-last year of high school there, then did my last year of high school in Canada."

It was there, at the Ontario Hockey Academy in Cornwall, Ontario, that she was noticed by Saints' associate coach Ted Wisner.

"I arrived pretty late on the scene," laughed Harrison. "They didn't know I was from New Zealand until I started talking to them."

Though the goaltender's homeland is more than a day's travel away, recruiting discussions took place over a significantly shorter distance.

"Unfortunately for Ted, he didn't get to go down to Auckland to recruit her," chuckled head coach Chris Wells '92. "He only had to drive 45 minutes over to Cornwall — I imagine there's some differences between Cornwall and Auckland, especially during our winter, but that's where she was playing."

Harrison began her career as the team's number three goaltender as a first-year, but didn't remain in the role for long.

"She chipped away, worked hard, and by mid-January she was our starting goalie and really carried the bulk of playing time," continued Wells.

The Kiwi netminder then dominated as a sophomore in 2016-17, ranking in the top-10 nationally with a school record nine shutouts and also finishing the year in the top-10  in winning percentage (.758) and goals-against average (1.62).

"Obviously being second-team all-league last year, she had a fantastic season," reflected Wells. "Both she and Sonjia Shelly have stepped up and been great for us (this year)."

Harrison is able to stay in touch with her family despite an 18-hour time difference, thanks to Skype.

"It's not too bad," laughed the 5-foot-9 Harrison. "My oldest brother is living and snowboarding in Japan right now, my other brother Shaun just moved home — he was at UCLA playing for their club team — and my youngest brother James is a pretty good goalie."

The future beyond hockey is bright for the popular Kiwi netminder.

"The end goal is kind of unknown; I'm pretty interested in a wide variety of things," said Harrison. "Right now I'm in the process of applying for a couple internships, so we'll see what happens."

There are still, of course, hundreds of saves, dozens of victories and perhaps even a banner or two in between Harrison and her next chapter.

Harrison and the women's hockey team will face fourth-ranked Clarkson in a home-and-home series this week, traveling to Cheel Arena in Potsdam for a 7 p.m. faceoff on Thursday before returning home on Saturday, December 3, for a 3 p.m. start at Appleton Arena.

Carlos Verde is a contributing writer for the Canadian Football League. He is pursuing his B.A. in journalism at Carleton University in Ottawa and is serving as a volunteer intern for the St. Lawrence University women's hockey team this year.