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Have you ever wondered…

Posted: Wednesday, March 23rd Filed in: General

Author Bio:

Position: Defense League: WCHA Sex: Female

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to have a total hockey family? Read below as our anonymous author gives readers incite to her family and hockey culture.

From the day I was born, I was surrounded by the world of hockey. I was born in Oakville, Ontario in 1985 when my father was playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He retired a season after I was born, but hockey has continued to be a central theme in my family. My oldest brother recently retired from hockey after a ten-year professional career, which included seasons in the AHL, ECHL, CHL, and Germany. I always looked up to my father and older brother, the hockey players, and witnessing their passion for the game contributed to the development of my own love for the game. In 2003, I set a goal to obtain a Division I women’s hockey scholarship in the states and within that year I signed my letter of intent and headed to Minnesota for my freshman season. I completed my four years of eligibility and have been back in Canada for 4 years now. One might think that being four years removed from my playing days and having a dad and older brother who are also removed from playing would mean that hockey is no longer at the core of my family. That, in fact, is not the case. My dad currently runs goaltending school across North America, is a goalie coach for a local professional team and has a training facility in Canada that included one-on-one goalie sessions and a skating treadmill. I also have a younger brother who is playing in his sophomore season in the Western Hockey League and is currently in his NHL draft year. My family often gathers at my parent’s house a couple times a week to watch his live games on the Internet. It is interesting how one brother returns home after a ten-year professional career and the other, at the age of sixteen, leaves home in the same year to begin his journey. It is fun to ponder where hockey will take him over the next decade. Hockey has already allowed my family to travel to many destinations all over the world … Freiberg, Germany, Helsinki, Finland, Zurich, Switzerland, Edmonton, Alberta, Kamloops, British Columbia, Timmins, Ontario, Mankato, Minnesota, Shreveport, Louisiana, Las Vegas, Nevada, St. Catherine’s, Ontario, Voorhees, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Toronto Ontario …