Jillian Dempsey, who spent nearly her entire 12-year professional hockey career playing in her hometown of Boston, announced her retirement on Tuesday.
“It is bittersweet to retire from playing the game I love,” Dempsey said in a social media announcement. “I feel overwhelming gratitude for the incredible journey. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and been in my corner. You know who you are.”
The comment section of her post on Instagram is flooded with well wishes from former teammates and fellow Boston athletes, including former Bruins center Charlie Coyle, former Fleet forward Lexie Adzija, Los Angeles Kings scout and Boston College graduate Blake Bolden, and former Fleet defender Emma Greco.
After spending the PWHL’s inaugural season with Montreal, Dempsey joined the Boston Fleet on a reserve contract ahead of the 2024-25 season, appearing in nine games and tallying two assists.
This past season was a homecoming for Dempsey, who grew up in Winthrop and played at the Rivers School and Harvard.
She began her professional career with the today-defunct CWHL’s Boston Blades and was named Rookie of the Year in 2014, after leading all American-born players in scoring.
She later joined and was named captain of the NWHL/PHF’s Boston Pride, setting league records for games, goals, assists, and points, and became one of only two players to have won the Isobel Cup three times.
While at Rivers, Dempsey was named a 2009 Globe All-Scholastic, and the Globe recently named her to the all-time All-Scholastic team.
Throughout her professional career, Dempsey juggled practices and games with her other passion: teaching elementary school in her hometown. She took a leave of absence from teaching in 2024, to devote her time to the PWHL.
“I had to decide to keep playing or teach at school,” Dempsey told the Globe in 2023. “Obviously I wanted to continue playing as long as I can, so that was a tough decision to make.”
Emma Healy can be reached at emma.healy@globe.com or on X @ByEmmaHealy.
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