Following Dreams

You may not be aware of this fact, but there's an Olympic hockey tournament being played this week in the city of Nottingham, England from October 7-10! I should qualify this statement by stating that it's a pre-qualification tournament for four teams looking to get into the Beijing Olympics in Feburary, but there is a cool Canada West tie-in to this tournament! Let's take a peek at what's happening across the pond with this tournament!

There are three spots up for grabs in the 2022 Beijing Olympic women's hockey tournament for countries around the world who qualify through a series of tournaments. This would be one of these tournaments, but this particular event was originally scheduled to take place in South Korea before the Korean government requested that the tournament be moved with respect to the pandemic measures in that country. Needing a place to play, the tournament was relocated to Nottingham where all of Great Britain, Korea, Iceland, and Slovenia will battle for a chance to move on in this qualifying stage as they seek one of those three spots in the 2022 Olympics!

The team that wins this four-team event in Nottingham isn't out of the woods yet, but it does get them one step closer to competing for an Olympic gold medal in February. I suspect that Korea, Iceland, and Slovenia will do everything in their power to prevent Great Britain from being the team that wins the tournament, but I can tell you that, as a Canada West women's hockey fan, I am cheering for Team Great Britain in this event as they have a Calgary Dinos player skating for them!

Goaltender Ella Howard, seen to the right in a previous IIHF tournament wearing her Great Britain colours, will tend nets for the Calgary Dinos in the near future, and it's exciting to see her chasing her Olympic dreams as one of the two netminders the British squad has named for this tournament. While seeing any Canada West players - former or current - chase their Olympic dreams is always exciting, seeing Howard playing such a vital role for Great Britain at the age of 18 means we'll likely see her compete on the international stage for a long time for her country while also being a big part of the Calgary Dinos women's program for the foreseeable future!

Of course, the University of Calgary is used to having women's hockey players represent their countries at the Olympics. Hayley Wickenheiser was part of Team Canada while she played with the Dinos and while she earned her degree while both Iya Gavrilova and Sasha Vafina suited up for Russia during and after their Canada West playing days with the Dinos came to an end. Having the first British netminder in Canada West women's hockey history go off and represent her country is just part of life at the Calgary campus, it seems.

There are other players who have also represented their teams on the international stage from across the Canada West landscape as well. Of course, we were lucky enough to watch Venla Hovi for a few seasons with the Bisons, and the Olympic and World Championship medalist made large impacts with Team Finland and with the Bisons before retiring.

Mathea Fischer from UBC proudly represented Norway in a number of IIHF competitions during her time at the Vancouver school. Fischer has yet to skate in the Olympics as Norway is looking to qualify for that opportunity as well, but she was part of the 2019 Women's World Hockey Championship Division-1 tournament where she helped Norway finish in third-place. There will be lots of opportunities for Mathea to represent Norway in the future, and you can catch her playing this season with SDE in the SDHL!

Playing alongside Fischer for Norway was defender Emma Bergesen who currently plays for the Mount Royal Cougars! Bergesen was also part of that 2019 Women's World Hockey Championship Division-1 Norwegian squad that finished in third-place, but she'll be back at Mount Royal this season as the Cougars look to build upon their incredible run to Nationals last season of which Bergesen was a part.

It should be noted that both Fischer and Bergesen will likely be part of the Norwegian squad playing in the 2022 Olympic Qualification Round 3, Group C tournament in Chomutov, Czech Republic from November 11-14, so they too will still get a chance to follow their dreams of being in the Olympics as long as they can win that qualifying tournament. They'll be facing the Czech Republic, Hungary, and the winner of one of the three qualifying tournaments like Great Britain is trying to win.

There is one player guaranteed to be skating at the Beijing Olympics this year who has a Canada West background. Emily Costales is currently playing for the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays in the ZhHL (the Russian women's professional league), and it would appear that the Chinese national women's team will be selecting most, if not all, of these women for their entry into the Olympics as the host country! Costales was a standout forward with UBC for two seasons after transferring in from Syracuse University in the NCAA, and it appears she's set to make her Olympic debut in February!

Needless to say, we've been pretty blessed with amazing talent in Canada West women's hockey, and I'm hopeful we'll see other players make their national teams' rosters before their careers are over. Perhaps Regina's Adela Juzkova will play for the Czech Republic at some point. Maybe Manitoba's Polina Goncharova gets a shot with Russia or the Bisons' Miressa Mäkelä suits up for Finland. Heck, maybe someone like Mount Royal's Anna Purschke or Alberta's Kirsten Chamberlin gets a shot with Canada at some point!

Whatever happens in the future, it's pretty clear there are some exceptional athletes competing in Canada West. Ella Howard of Great Britain is the next name in a long line of international stars seen in Canada university hockey out west, and we're excited to watch her and Team Great Britain compete in Nottingham starting on Thursday! Go Ella, and here's hoping Great Britain moves on!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!