Wiikwemkoong hockey star joins Buffalo Beauts
By Sam Laskaris
BUFFALO, NY – Kelly Babstock will continue to play professional hockey in the United States but much closer to home now.
Babstock, a 25-year-old Ojibwe forward, had spent her first three years in the pro ranks starring with the Connecticut Whale of the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL).
But Babstock recently signed a deal to play for the NWHL’s Buffalo Beauts for the 2018-19 season.
Though she was born in Little Current on Manitoulin Island, Babstock, a member of the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, primarily grew up in Mississauga. Her parents Donna and David as well as two of her younger siblings, sister Shenoah and brother Jacob, still live in Mississauga.
Now that she’ll be suiting up for the Beauts, Babstock will be about a 90-minute drive from home. That’s substantially closer than the eight-hour drive from Mississauga to Hamden, Connecticut, where the Whale play their home matches.
Besides being a member of the Whale the past three years, Babstock also spent four years before that in Connecticut, attending Hamden’s Quinnipiac University on an athletic scholarship.
“I’m super excited,” Babstock said of her decision to join the Buffalo franchise. “It’s going to be great playing so close to home.”
Babstock, who has only signed one-year contracts throughout her pro career, said the Beauts’ brass has been pursuing her for a couple of years now.
“It wasn’t the right timing before,” Babstock said of the Beauts’ previous attempts to entice her to the organization. “But they approached me again at the end of the (2017-18) season and offered me a fantastic opportunity.”
Babstock said one of the most appealing reasons for her to join the Beauts is because the franchise is now owned by Terry and Kim Pegula. The Buffalo couple, who run their company called Pegula Sports and Entertainment, bought the Beauts this past December.
Besides the Beauts, the Pegulas also own the National Hockey League’s Buffalo Sabres, the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills, the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League and the American Hockey League’s Rochester Americans.
The Pegulas also own the HarborCenter complex in downtown Buffalo, where the Beauts play their home games. The complex includes a state-of-the-art training facility.
Babstock added she has also been very impressed with Beauts’ general manager Nik Fattey and the roster he is assembling.
One of the club’s biggest recent acquisitions is Canadian goaltender Shannon Szabados. The 31-year-old was a member of the Canadian squads that captured the gold medal at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics. She also backstopped the Canadians to a silver medal at this year’s PyeongChang Olympics in South Korea.
The Beauts’ roster will also include a number of other Olympians.
Babstock believes the Buffalo squad is now the early favourite to win the NWHL championship this coming season.
“That’s the goal,” she said. “All the girls are super excited to win the Isobel Cup (awarded to the league champs).”
Besides the Whale, the five-team NWHL this coming season will include the Boston Pride, the defending league champion Metropolitan Riveters who play their home contests in Newark, N.J., and the Minnesota Whitecaps, an expansion club.
Babstock will continue to live in Hamden until she moves to Buffalo this September, to prepare for the Beauts’ campaign, which kicks off in October.
Besides playing pro hockey the past three years, Babstock has supplemented her income by working as a private hockey instructor and by coaching girls’ lacrosse teams.
She added she has already spoken to Buffalo-area organizations and will be able to continue in similar roles.