Anishinabek hockey stars crack Hit The Ice roster
By Sam Laskaris
BOSTON—Four Anishinabek teenage hockey players have had a rather memorable summer thus far.
That’s because the female players were part of the seventh season of the Hit The Ice program.
The TV series annually features Indigenous players from across Canada coming together for a two-week training session.
In previous years, the series featured male players, instructed by former and current pros. The series followed the fortunes of these individuals throughout their camps and in some cases as they received tryouts to various higher-calibre teams.
This year, however, only female players were invited to try out for the program. A total of 22 players were selected.
The Anishinabek players who made the cut included Mya Headrick and Mia Cress, both from Garden River First Nation; Cailen Hanzlik from Nipissing First Nation; and Cassie Whiteye, a member of Munsee Delaware Nation.
The players participated in a two-week camp in Powassan, Ont., which included participating in a game in Toronto at the former Maple Leaf Gardens, now called the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
The squad also competed in the Women’s Beantown Classic, which concluded this past Sunday in Marlborough, Mass., located about 50 kilometres west of Boston.
“The whole experience was really fun,” said Hanzlik, a 16-year-old who was one of the two goalies on the squad. “It was a long but short three weeks.”
The team played four matches at the Massachusetts tournament. A total of 36 clubs from across Canada and the United States competed in its category. With its 2-2 record, the club did not advance to the playoff portion of the event.
Hanzlik, who had one win and a loss in her two tournament appearances, is already missing those who participated in the venture with her.
“I’m going to miss doing things with all my close friends that I made from across Canada,” she said.
Besides Ontario, the team included players from British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
Former national women’s team coach Lisa Haley and Brigette Lacquette, the first female First Nations player to suit up for the Canadian women’s Olympic team earlier this year, were instructors at the Powassan camp.
“It was pretty incredible to have them there,” said Headrick, a 13-year-old centre who was the youngest player on the Hit The Ice team.
The squad featured players as old as 17.
“I was nervous but I’ve played against older players before,” Headrick said.
This past season she was a member of a girls’ Bantam (13-14) AA team in Sault Ste. Marie. Though she is eligible to play in the Bantam ranks again this coming season, Headrick will move up and suit up for the Midget (15-17) AA squad in Sault Ste. Marie.
Headrick is one of five hockey-playing children in her family.
Her oldest brother Owen, 20, attended Michigan’s Lake Superior State University for a year and a half before joining the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters, where he finished off his junior career this past spring.
Meanwhile, Jana Headrick, 19, has spent the past two seasons with the University of Toronto women’s squad.
Though she’ll only be starting her Grade Nine studies this September, Mya Headrick is already planning out her future in hockey as well.
“I kind of want to go to the States and play [Division 1] university hockey,” she said.
As for Hanzlik, she’s entering Grade 11. Though she is keen to play at the post-secondary level, at this point she is unsure whether she wants to pursue the sport at a Canadian or American school.
Hanzlik suited up for a girls’ Midget AA team in North Bay this past season. She’s switching to play for a Sudbury-based Midget AA club this coming year.
Filming for the seventh season of Hit The Ice is now complete. Episodes are expected to start being broadcasted on APTN starting next February.