Photo 1: Players with the Ottawa Valley Thunder atom hockey team listen as former pro hockey player Rachel McKay spoke to them about her hockey career last week in Cobden. The players are, front row from left, Ashlyn MacGregor-Kirkham, Sophie Procher, Cassandra Mercer, Abby Pleau and Morgan Fleury. Back row from left: Cadence Dufour, Olivia Tousignant, Ruby Selle, Tatum Ogilvie, Brooklyn Tomasini, Aalyah Allmand and Ayla Lammi.
Photo 2: Taking a few moments for a group photo are, front row from left: Abby Pleau, Cassandra Mercer, Ashlyn MacGregor-Kirkham, Sophie Procher and Brooklyn Tomasini. Back row from left: Cadence Dufour, Olivia Tousignant, Ruby Selle, Lily
Cahill, Rachel (Barrie) McKay, Tatum Ogilvie, Aalyah Allmand, Morgan Fleury and Ayla Lammi
by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
COBDEN — Two young goalies were quite excited as Rachel (Barrie) McKay spent time with them at a recent practice at the Astrolabe Arena in Cobden.
McKay has vast experience playing goalie. It all began when her older brother needed a goalie for road hockey. When it was time to play ice hockey, there were only boys teams, and that’s what she played on until she earned a scholarship to a university, where she played on the women’s hockey team. She also played for Team Ontario.
McKay spoke to the Ottawa Valley Thunder atom team in the lobby of the arena prior to going onto the ice.
“I started playing hockey when my older brother needed a goalie to play road hockey,” she said. “I got shoved into the net and I never left. That’s how I started playing.”
She began her hockey career in Arnprior and at 15, played for the Arnprior Packers Junior B hockey club. She was drafted to the Smiths Falls Bears Jr. A. hockey club and from there earned a full four-year scholarship to St. Lawrence University, where she completed a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and her Masters of Education in counselling and human development.
Along the way, she also played for the Ottawa Valley Titans major bantam hockey team. McKay noted there were a couple of years where she didn’t make the competitive hockey teams, so she played house league, but again, it was on boys teams.
She admitted a few women’s hockey teams wanted her to play for them, but it was at a lower level, and she wanted to keep pushing herself.
McKay said it was “an unconventional way” for her to play women’s hockey at the university level since she’d never played on a women’s hockey team before. She played for Team Ontario at the Canada Games and was scouted by various universities before ending up at St. Lawrence University for the next four years of her hockey career.
McKay noted she played hockey for 17 years, from the time she was four until she graduated university at 21.
Looking at the smiling and excited faces of the young girls, McKay said, “For you, right now, hockey is fun and it should be, that’s the main thing.
You guys have to go out there and have fun and if you work hard, both at hockey and school, you’ll never know where that might take you.
“I had the best of both worlds,” she said. “I was playing hockey and going to school.”
She stressed, “The biggest thing is you never know where things will take you. There’s not just one path. My path was definitely very different than most people’s path of going away and playing at school.”
McKay told the girls to set goals and if they work towards them, they can achieve them.
She asked the girls what they liked about hockey and received a variety of answers.
The new people you get to meet as you go to new teams, was one of the answers.
“That’s the awesome part of playing hockey,” McKay said. “Some of your friends in hockey will be your friends all while you are growing up. Some of my best friends are from when I played goalie.”
When a youngster said there’s no boys on the team, McKay said, “You’re lucky. I didn’t get to have that. I was stuck with a bunch of guys.”
When a player answered she liked to deke, McKay asked the two goalies what they have to do when a player dekes them, and they answered, “Save it.” A deke is when an opposing player feints they are going to shoot the puck one way and they shoot it another way.
As a goalie, McKay made many saves and earned shutouts, but she admitted she couldn’t remember her stats. She told the girls, “Practice and hard work and you’ll get better at all those things.”
When asked which team was her favourite out of all that she has played on, she admitted it was St. Lawrence, because the hockey was free and she was able to earn an education.
She also told the girls they should always talk to their coaches and parents about their hockey careers, whether it be playing house league or competition, going to a lower level or moving up.
“When I was in novice, I tried out for boys hockey and made it,” she said. “The second year I got cut, so I played house league and the next year I tried out for a higher level. Keep trying, work hard, set goals, and you will get better.”
A mother of two girls, ages six and four, McKay noted they are already playing hockey.
She admitted, “I loved hockey right from the beginning, and I still do. I like going to the rink.”
And before heading to the ice, to work with the two goalies, the answer to the final question was, Montreal Canadiens.
Since becoming involved with hockey, atom coach Chris Pleau said he has had many ‘hockey’ people come and spend time with the teams.
“Any chance I have to introduce a mentor to my teams, I jump at the opportunity,” he said.
These mentors are from current midget Thunder players, to the National Women’s Team, Olympic athletes and past NHL stars, he said.
“Each one affects an individual differently depending on what the player is interested in,” Pleau said. “It also affects the players at different stages in their careers.”
As an example, he said a tour of a university campus and their hockey program is more exciting for teenaged players than for the atom group.
This year, the atom team has two former players coaching, Sadie Wegner and Bridget Hamilton. Mr. Pleau believes Wegner and Hamilton, combined with various mentors who will come in and talk to the players throughout the season, will have a positive impact on the individual girls and the team as a whole.
When he found out McKay was available to come and talk with the girls he knew, she had to come as soon as she was able to.
“The mentors serve as an important asset to our program because they have ‘been there and done that’, and they have an unbiased opinion on the training needed and opportunities available,” Pleau said. “The mentor has a completely different network of contacts, information and connections that the player may not have available to them. The mentors also give the players a story of life lessons and third party information that the coach may not be relaying to the players often enough.”
Each mentor offers something different to the team, he said, and McKay was no different.
“A top level NCAA goaltender who has the benefit of a completed four-year scholarship and now a young mother with an established career, certainly has a unique perspective on the game of hockey,” Pleau said. “We are very fortunate that she was able to spend some time with our team and by all accounts, I expect she will be out again as she enjoyed her time with the girls as well.”
