Age: 31
Local Club: Carleton Ravens
# Olympics: Second
Medal threat: 2 stars
By Jamie Shinkewski
Sara Seiler wants to end her career on a high note, and she has the perfect opportunity to do so as a member of the German Olympic women’s hockey team.
Hockey has drawn the 31-year-old to many points around the globe, including Ottawa for the bulk of her adult life, but Sochi could very well be the last stop in her international playing career.
“At the moment, I think I’m going to retire after the Olympics,” signals the Hausham native who grew up 50 km south of Munich.
Seiler’s entire hockey journey is anything but conventional. When a young girl decides to play hockey in Germany, it’s usually because their brother or father is involved in the game, Seiler indicates, but she’s the only hockey player in her family.
“It’s kind of a funny story,” Seiler recounts. “We went with some friends of ours to a lake in the winter and somebody had skates – they were actually figure skates, and I loved skating on that lake. I didn’t really want to go into figure skating although I was wearing figure skates.”
So, Seiler’s father registered her to play hockey on the local boys’ hockey team where the path to the Olympics had unknowingly begun. Unlike in the great white north, however, the opportunities available in the game aren’t as evident in Germany.
“In Canada, it’s easier to have a role model,” Seiler highlights. “When I was a little girl, I didn’t know who was on the national team.”
However, just like young Canadians, Seiler relied on her parents and grandparents to drive her to the rink for games and practices.
“If they wouldn’t have been there for me, I would not have been able to even come close to what I’ve achieved,” she notes. “You need those hockey parents that drive you every single day to practice and early in the morning to the games.”
Former NWHL club drew Seiler
The defensively-strong centre joined the national team and made her Olympic debut in 2006 at Torino, placing fifth. The next year it was off to Canada to join the Ottawa Raiders of the National Women’s Hockey League.
“I was so focused on hockey and training I just needed a new challenge – something that showed me how much I like hockey again,” Seiler recalls. “Canada, with hockey being the number one sport, sounded like a good idea.”
The Raiders folded after her first season, so it was then that Seiler decided to resume her educational career. She joined the Carleton University women’s hockey program, eventually becoming the Ravens’ first European captain.
“Sara’s a very focused, driven athlete,” says Carleton head coach Shelley Coolidge, who brought Seiler onto her staff as a fitness coach once she’d graduated. “It’s about doing the right thing, pushing yourself the best you can. If you’re going to be an Olympian, it’s about every single day not taking shortcuts.”
Seiler, who now calls Orleans home, practiced with the Ravens at the beginning of the season before leaving in November to join ERC Ingolstadt, a German club team in an attempt to re-familirize herself with her soon-to-be Olympic teammates.
Germany is seeking to build on its fifth-place finish at last year’s World Championships in Ottawa, a surprise to many considering the Germans had missed the Vancouver 2010 Games and had to lift themselves from the second-tier championships and then stave off relegation in the next two worlds.
“It’s always a hard thing to qualify,” states the former economics student. “You need to perform at your best in that moment and that’s not always easy.”
Team Germany’s objective is to at least be playing in a quarterfinal at the Olympics to prove that last year’s worlds performance wasn’t just a fluke.
“We don’t have one line that needs to be at its best and score all the goals. I think we’re even throughout and any line could score,” highlights Seiler, adding that goaltending is a major team strength. “Our goalkeepers, they definitely are key for us to be successful.”
Now a veteran on the squad, Seiler is confident that her team’s performance will provide an excellent final memory in her unusual ride through the hockey world.
“We play together quite well,” she adds. “We’ve known each other for a long time.”
MESSAGE TO ASPIRING OLYMPIANS:
“Always believe in your dream and that hard work pays off.”
SCHEDULE
Sun., Feb. 9
GER vs RUS
8 a.m. ET
Tue., Feb. 11
GER vs SWE
5 a.m.
Thu., Feb. 13
GER vs JPN
3 a.m.
Sat., Feb. 15
Quarter-Finals
3 & 7:30 a.m.
Sun., Feb. 17
Semi-Finals
7:30 a.m. & noon
Thu., Feb. 20
Bronze & Gold Medal Match
7 a.m. & noon