ROCHESTER, NY — Kasie D. Strong-Fairbarn, a native of Groton, now living in Guilford, CT, has been inducted into the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Sports Hall of Fame. She is one of six former RIT athletes honored on Sunday, Oct. 13.
Playing forward on the RIT women’s ice hockey team, Kasie skated from 2001-2005. A two-year captain, she was the 2005 RIT Senior Athlete of the Year and garnered several Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) honors. She ranks fourth in career scoring with 136 points and second in assists with 83.
The school record-holder with five goals and eight points in a game, Kasie helped guide RIT to a 73-28-6 record. During her career RIT made four straight appearances in the ECAC Championship.
Equally impressive in the classroom, Kasie majored in Packaging Science and received multiple academic honors in the ECAC, American Women’s College Hockey Association and Empire 8 conferences. She was also awarded the prestigious Packaging Science Rock-Tenn Leadership Scholarship.
After RIT, she went on to coach girls’ hockey in Texas. While there, she earned her USA Hockey Level 4 Coaching Certification. Later, she played and coached professionally in Germany and Norway. In Norway, as both player and head coach, she led the Astor Damer Elite team to their first-ever Norwegian Women’s Elite Series Championship. Strong-Fairbarn also led her team in scoring.
While in Europe, she was the head power skating instructor for local youth programs and remains the co-owner of Strong Dynamics Hockey Skating and Agility Training and Swedishstickhandling.com.
A Packaging Engineer at Unilever, she and her husband, Ryan, (former RIT men’s hockey player) live in Guilford, Conn. They are expecting their first child this month.
Kasie is the daughter of Joyce Morin Strong and William Strong. Strong-Fairbarn is a graduate of Groton-Dunstable High School where she played hockey and soccer. Strong-Fairbarn’s brother, Kip, is a senior forward on the Crusaders’ hockey team.
