Nipissing First Nation athlete leads University of New Brunswick Reds into national hockey championships
By Sam Laskaris
FREDERICTON – It’s already been a rather memorable season for Lily George, but the Nipissing First Nation member is hoping the 2023-24 season, her final year of eligibility in the university ranks, concludes with a bit more hardware.
George is starring with the University of New Brunswick (UNB) Reds women’s hockey team. The Reds are one of eight teams that will participate in the USports national championship tournament, which begins this Thursday (Mar. 14) and continues until Mar. 17 in Saskatoon.
George, a 23-year-old in her fifth year with the Reds, admits she did not have high hopes for this season.
“This year, we had a lot of freshmen coming in,” she said. “I thought it would be more of a rebuilding year.”
As it turned out, the Reds registered a 20-6-0-1 record, good for second place in the standings of the eight-team Atlantic University Sport (AUS) league.
UNB went on to capture the AUS title and the Reds are ranked third heading into this week’s national tournament.
Plus, George has had a career season to boot. She had her best university season to date, scoring career highs for goals (17), assists (18) and, points (35).
“It’s been good so far,” she said. “It’s kind of exceeded my expectations. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do this year. I just let loose this year and I wanted to have fun with it.”
George is primarily utilized as a left winger on UNB’s top line, but she has also seen some action at right wing.
George is also a key part of UNB’s specialty teams, as she plays on both the club’s power play and penalty killing units.
George is hoping the Reds can bring home a medal, hopefully even gold, from this week’s national tournament.
“I think we’re all excited,” she said. “And we’re probably more ready than ever as a team.”
While George’s focus is with the Reds and their upcoming appearance at the Canadian championships, she also took a few moments to reflect on her past.
More specifically, the times she participated in the Little NHL tournament. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the event, which has become the largest Indigenous youth hockey tournament in Ontario.
A record 245 teams are taking part in this year’s event, which began Mar. 11 and continues until Mar. 14. The majority of the games at this year’s tourney are being held in Markham.
“I remember how fun it was,” said George, who believes she played in the annual event from the time she was three until she was 17. “I remember always looking forward to it. It was always my favourite tournament to go to.”
George is also hoping to continue playing hockey next season. She said she will put her name forward hoping to get drafted by a squad in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
The league, which is in its first season of operations, currently has six franchises based in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Boston, New York, and Minnesota.
“I think there’s a chance [I get drafted],” George said. “But it will only be the second year of the league. And there’s probably a lot of girls that will want to be drafted into the league.”
Though she would prefer to play for a pro squad in North America, George said some European clubs have also expressed interest in her services so she might explore that option.