Sports
November 13, 2008 09:54 PM
Mike Hayakawa
Heather Hughes recently concluded her career as an under-18 hockey player on a winning note.
The Stouffville resident played a key role as the Team Ontario Red squad won the 2008 National Under-18 Women’s Hockey Championships in Napanee Sunday. The team’s fifth straight title came in dramatic fashion after they edged Team Quebec 2-1 in double overtime in the final.
“It sure felt great,” Hughes, a forward, said. “I’m now finished with my under-18 career and this was a nice way to end it.”
Hughes acknowledged there was pressure on the team since they had won the four prior championships.
Even as a first-year player on the squad after being one of the late cuts during last year’s trials, Hughes sensed those expectations were high. Especially since the Ontario Red entry defeated Quebec in last year’s final.
“This year, we had to go out there and show them that we deserved to win and I think we just wanted it more,” she said.
Scoring two goals for her team during the week-long tournament, including one in last Saturday’s 5-2 semifinal victory over Manitoba, Hughes felt the competition lived up to her expectations.
“It was awesome to play against the best players in Canada,” she said. “I was a little nervous at first. But once I got comfortable with my teammates after our first game I thought I worked hard. And since it was my first tournament I didn’t expect to get too many points.
“I knew this (to play in the tournament) would only happen once in my lifetime. It was an amazing experience.”
As the youngest member of a hockey-playing family including her brother Bobby, a member of the Carolina Hurricanes’ American Hockey League affiliate in Albany, N.Y., and sister Hayley, a sophomore on the Cornell University women’s team, Heather hopes to follow a similar path.
She would like to take the next step by trying to earn a berth on the under-22 national team, whose coaching staff scouted the tourney.
The Grade 12 student, who played for Stouffville District Secondary School and the Toronto Aeros of the Provincial Women’s Hockey League, is weighing several collegiate scholarship offers.
Inquiries have come from the University of Connecticut, Boston University, Quinnipiac College and Cornell.
“I’m definitely looking for a scholarship like what my sister has and I could be making a decision soon. I would like to get it out of the way. But at the same time I want to take time to make the right decision,” she said.