Faculty of Kinesiology

As an elementary and high school student, I had my mind set on two goals – playing goalie for an NHL team and becoming a sport administrator. Therefore, in the late 80’s when I began to explore University opportunities, along with an academic pathway to sports administration, the hockey program was a major consideration as I had sights on World Women’s Hockey Championships (1994 Lake Placid and 1997 Kitchener) and the 1^st Olympics for women’s hockey (Nagano 1998). I was recruited by both York University and the University of Toronto but chose to play four years at U of T (winning 4 OWIAA Championships) and for the Toronto Aeros Senior team (winning provincials each year 1990 to 1993 and Nationals 1991 and 1993) while pursuing a commerce degree.

During my second year at U of T, I began to explore graduate programs in sport administration and came across the program at UNB. From 1993 to 1996, while completing my graduate work, I played two seasons with UNB’s men’s hockey team, making me the first female to see playing time in men’s U Sports (CIAU at the time). In my first year at UNB I made the 1994 World Championship team and remained with Team Canada through the 1998 Olympics being a member of the first women’s hockey team to attend the Olympics (winning silver).

Following two more years as a member of the national team program player pool, in 2001 I joined Hockey Canada as Manager of Women’s High Performance programs. Initially my role involved working with local host committees where national team games were played in the 2001-02 season. From September 2002 through 2017-18, I was the National Women’s Team manager organizing all related logistics (flights, accommodation, meals, local transportation etc.) for camps and tournaments attending 11 World Championships (between 2004 and 2017) and the Torino, Vancouver and Sochi Olympic Games.

Since 2018, I oversee scouting administration for both the men’s and women’s national programs along with some other support roles on the women’s side including behind the scenes preparation for Beijing. Part of my duties allow me to stay connected with national team alumni. Some of my Nagano teammates have moved into prominent roles in sport including coaching (Vicky Sunohara), broadcasting (Cassie-Campbell Pascall and Jennifer Botterill), NHL player development (Hayley Wickenheiser and Danielle Goyette) and former UNB faculty member Therese Brisson now works with Alpine Canada.

My decision to attend UNB was instrumental in allowing me to achieve both my hockey and sport administration goals. Playing with the Reds men’s hockey team helped take my game to a higher level which assisted in my maintaining national team status from 1994 to 1998. I am very appreciative of the unique opportunity that UNB men’s hockey provided to me.

I still feel a strong connection to the program and continue to stay in touch with some of my teammates. When my work schedule allows, I enjoy travelling to watch the team compete at U Sports Nationals. The course offerings within the UNB graduate program provided good breadth of coverage of various sport administration topics and I also benefitted from an internship with the AHL Fredericton Canadiens in the 1995-96 season.

I was very fortunate to be able to move directly from my playing career into my role with Hockey Canada which has enabled me to travel around the world and within Canada. It was a treat returning to New Brunswick for three weeks in the spring of 2017 as the Canadian Sport-Centre -Atlantic, UNB and Fredericton hosted the women’s national team training camp leading into the 2018 Olympic year. Amidst organizing the day to day camp logistics, the chance to stop pucks at some of the team practices at the LBR (the Aitken Centre did not have ice at the time) brought back good memories and a sense of things coming full circle with my national team playing career having begun in 1994 during my first year as a student in Fredericton.