Gabbie Hughes’ Jersey Raised to Rafters at Centennial Sports Arena

Former Centennial/Spring Lake Park standout Gab
bie Hughes was honored during a jersey-raising ceremony Saturday night at Centennial Sports Arena, celebrating her accomplishments on the ice and her impact within the community

by Robert Brent

The Centennial/Spring Lake Park High School hockey community came together Saturday night to celebrate one of its most successful alumni, Gabbie Hughes. Hughes had her jersey raised to the rafters of Centennial Sports Arena to honor a career that has grown from playing with Centennial/Spring Lake Park to playing professionally with the Ottawa Charge.

Hughes attended the game to sign autographs, meet with fans, watch the team’s game against Hill-Murray and take part in an on-ice ceremony.

Moments before the ceremony, the Lino Lakes, Minnesota native reflected on the honor as one of the top moments of her career.

“When you get an honor like this, your jersey gets to be in the rafters. It’s going to be there forever,” Hughes said. “Everybody can come in and see it. I guess I get to soak it all in.”

Hughes is the all-time leading scorer of the Centennial program, amassing 171 goals and 144 assists for 315 points in 136 games played. Her excellent senior season culminated in a Ms. Hockey nomination, as well as being named the 2018 East Metro Player of the Year and the 2018 Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year. 

Centennial/Spring Lake Park also experienced its greatest team success with Hughes during her senior season, where the team made the state tournament and played all the way to the championship game. While the Cougars came up short in a 2-1 loss to Edina, the run still cemented Hughes as one of the best players in the state.

Gabbie’s father, Terry Hughes, a coach and owner of the local hockey clinic, Skate to Excellence, spoke about how meaningful the jersey-hanging honor was to the Hughes family in a community where Gabbie accomplished so much.

“It’s a huge honor to come back here to come together with the community where she’s played hockey since she was able to skate at 3 years old,” Terry Hughes said. “She’s very honored, and we are as a family. It’s the first jersey to be hung in there, and she’s blazing a trail for all these young kids to understand that you can play hockey here and have a career in hockey.”

Hughes went on to play her college hockey at Minnesota Duluth, where she continued to make a significant impact for the Bulldogs over five seasons. 

In Hughes’ five years with the Bulldogs, she made the All-WCHA third team, the All-WCHA second team three times and the All-WCHA first team once. She was also a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award as the best player in college hockey at the conclusion of the 2022 season.

Hughes ended her career as the fifth all-time leading scorer at Duluth with 214 career points in 165 games. Her 133 assists rank third in Duluth women’s hockey history. 

Despite all her on-ice accomplishments at UMD, her most meaningful accolade may have been her Hockey Humanitarian Award win in 2023. Hughes is a notable advocate for mental health, as the co-founder of Sophie’s Squad, a local organization that promotes mental health awareness among athletes.

Terry Hughes pointed to the Hockey Humanitarian Award as the accomplishment he considers most important in his daughter’s career.

“I would put the Humanitarian award above anything. It’s a very big and prestigious honor that you have to be a good person and not just a good athlete to earn,” Hughes said. “This is about who she is as a person and what she does in her community.”

Gabbie Hughes has continued her involvement in Sophie’s Squad as the organization’s head ambassador during her professional career with the Ottawa Charge.

The Charge drafted Hughes 20th overall in the inaugural PWHL draft, and she’s played in Ottawa since. The forward has scored 37 points in 67 regular season games and appeared in the Walter Cup Finals with the Charge during the 2024-25 season. 

Hughes is putting together another great season, with the best offensive pace of her career. Hughes currently has nine points in 14 games.

Gabbie Hughes has also represented Team USA several times, earning a gold medal in the 2017 U18 Women’s World Championship and another gold at the 2023 Women’s World Championships.

The Ottawa Charge forward says she hopes coming home to the Centennial Sports Arena as a professional player can help inspire the next generation of local girls to dream big.

“It’s insane to be able to do that for them, because when I was growing up, it was always the boys being able to be that inspiration. So to be able to do it as a female figure for these young girls and have a league they can look forward to playing in,” Hughes said. “I hope they see it and can appreciate and understand that they can do it too.”

Whenever fans and players enter the Centennial Sports Arena, they will now be reminded of one of the community’s greatest representatives with Hughes’ jersey hanging in the rafters. Gabbie Hughes has been a fantastic hockey player at every level and an even better representative off the ice. Now, Centennial/Spring Lake Park players know they can accomplish those same things.