Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Women's Hockey Awards Banquet ================================================================ Location: Hart House Hall, University of Toronto Date: February 13, 1998 INTRODUCTION Seeing you all here tonight brings back fond memories of my years playing university hockey. I've been to quite a few of these awards banquets during my rather LENGTHY university hockey career. I have a lot of great memories of university hockey, and I can honestly say that it was one of the best experiences of my life. I'd like to share with you tonight some of my thoughts on the university hockey experience, and why I think it is so valuable. UNIVERSITY HOCKEY DEVELOPS PLAYERS I think the university hockey environment gives players a unique opportunity to really develop to their potential. Before I went away to university, I thought the coach was just someone who stood on the bench and opened the door. In my first two weeks of practicing with my new university team, I quickly realized how wrong I was. I learned so much over such a short period of time. It's the combination of having a lot of ice time, and having dedicated quality coaches, that makes it possible for university players to develop to their full potential. I think that's why so many university players have gone on to make the national team. You may never get such an opportunity to develop your skills again. Personally, I'm convinced that if I hadn't pursued a university hockey career, I would have never made the national team. SECOND FAMILY But there is a lot more to playing university hockey than just developing your hockey skills. For me, one of the most memorable things about playing university hockey is the fun we had in the dressing room, and bonding together as a team. You know, things like the bus trips together, rookie initiation, celebrating birthdays, and making the rookies bring us breakfast for those early morning practices! With a university team, it's a special experience because you all have so much in common. Being together every day, it becomes almost like a second family. Your university days really are "days to remember," although you may not even realize it now. I've met so many great people playing university hockey and many of my closest friends, including my current roommates, were former teammates. LIFE SKILLS Another reason why the university hockey experience is so valuable, is because of the life skills it helps you to develop. Being a full-time student while playing on a varsity team requires you to learn how to manage your time efficiently. You have to be organized enough to juggle academics, athletics, and your personal life into your schedule. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices. Being in the Masters program in Computer Science, I must admit I had to sacrifice SLEEP on more than one occasion! As a member of a hockey team, you also learn how to work hard together to achieve your goals. Everyone on a team has a role to fulfill. In order to be successful, you learn the importance of being able to rely on and communicate with each other. You also learn the importance of hard work and determination. You can have all the natural talent in the world, but if you don't have the desire and motivation to go along with it, you'll never be a top-notch hockey player. And this isn't only true for sports, working hard and giving your best effort are important for success in all areas of life! ACADEMICS I must admit that the main reason I decided to pursue a Masters degree in Computer Science at U of T was the opportunity to play on the university team. Looking back, it turned out to be an excellent decision both in terms of hockey and academics. One of the benefits of the Canadian university hockey system is the emphasis placed on academics. It's not a four-year hockey program! Through school, you also develop skills that will enable you to have a career afterwards. My education gave me the opportunity to learn about the Internet, in terms of developing applications for the world wide web. As it turned out, designing my own web page was a stepping stone to developing the women's hockey web site, which is currently visited by more than 1000 different people each day. My education has also led to the opportunity to do consulting work in the computer industry. Making the women's hockey web site has turned out to be quite a learning experience for me, in many ways. It has been fun making contacts through e-mail with people all over the world to gather information about women's hockey in various countries for the web pages. And I think the most rewarding part is knowing how much it is appreciated ... I've had e-mail messages from women and girls who first learned about women's hockey through my web pages, and then went on to take up the sport, and are really enjoying it. For me, that makes it all worthwhile. It's also a great way to give something back to the sport I love. I'm really lucky, in that, I'm able to combine academics and hockey into something that may turn into a career. OPPORTUNITIES I think it's great that more opportunities are available to pursue careers in women's hockey. It is now possible to be a full-time coach, to run hockey camps just for girls, to work in publicity and public relations, and of course to play in the Olympics! There has also been some talk of a women's professional league staring next season, and there are already opportunities to play in Europe. I had a great experience playing hockey in Switzerland during the 92-93 season. I think it's important to take advantage of as many opportunities as you can. Each has something different to offer. I'm really glad that I didn't pass up the opportunity to play university hockey. And speaking of opportunities, what a wonderful opportunity you have this weekend, and with the upcoming first-ever CIAU championship! CONCLUSION Let me finish by wishing you good luck and I hope that you all get as much out of your university hockey experience as I did. And who knows, maybe one day I'll see some of you in the Olympics.