By Dan Plouffe
It was a historic campaign for the Nepean Wildcats as they established a new record for most points in a season in the Provincial Women’s Hockey League.
The Intermediate ‘AA’ Wildcats posted an exceptional 32-3-3 record against Ontario’s best junior women’s teams, but what makes the feat all the more remarkable was the club’s record just two years ago: 6-18-10.
“It’s really exciting,” says Nepean captain Lindsay Eastwood. “We’ve never been this far. It’s Nepean history – coming from the bottom and now we’re here. It’s awesome.”
Eastwood was a member of the bottom-feeding squad, when she broke into the league as a 14-year-old. After that first campaign, the 6’ 1” defender figured she’d have to jump ship and join another team if she ever wanted to win a title, but a major transformation began that off-season.
“We had a bunch of great girls come in and we all collaborated,” Eastwood recounts. “And once you start winning, it makes it more enjoyable and people want to come to hockey.”
The club’s leadership changed, with NHLPA player agent Jody Campeau coming on board as general manager, along with a new coaching staff headed by Bruce MacDonald. A new philosophy, with an elevated level of commitment expected from everyone, became a pillar.
“It’s been a culture change, simple as that,” MacDonald underlines. “Has it gone quicker than we anticipated? There’s no doubt about it.”
All the pieces fell into place for the Wildcats this year, the coach adds.
Nepean, which allowed just 40 goals in 38 regular season games, received great goaltending from Kira Bombay (20-1-1, 9 SO, .82 GAA, .954 SV%), who played Midget ‘A’ hockey last year, along with Halhed.
A strong force defensively, the team’s blueliners were also the league’s top-scoring defence.
“If you build from the goal out, you’re going to win a lot of hockey games,” MacDonald highlights.
Up front, the Wildcats’ dominant top-scoring forward line resembles a half-court basketball offence when they setup in their opponent’s zone – cycling the puck and rotating players with speed while maintaining possession until a good shooting opportunity presents itself, and then rebounding their shots.
They score almost as frequently as a basketball team too. Katryne Villeneuve, Sam Cogan and Addi Halladay finished Nos. 3, 4 & 6 in league scoring with 55, 53 and 52 points each (Rebecca Leslie, the captain of the seventh-place Ottawa Senators, also registered 52).
“It’s the chemistry they have together,” MacDonald explains. “They know the game really well and they read off each other. They’re big, strong girls too. They’re really hard to handle. When they get going, it’s very tough for the opponent to stop them.
“And our defence is strong, so they use our defence really well too.”
It’s been a mix that only became more potent as the season progressed.
“Once they started beating the top teams, they started believing in themselves, and it got easier,” MacDonald adds. “I’m proud of my team, and how they get along – the camaraderie. We’ve bonded together as a group since day one, and it’s gotten better every day.”
It wasn’t a road without its share of bumps and stress, however, he emphasizes.
“We played almost .900 hockey and it took us until the last game to clinch first place. That’s how competitive this league is,” highlights MacDonald, whose senior players all have university/college hockey opportunities lined up for next year. “If you don’t show up, you’re not going to win, no matter who you play. It’s a credit to the league, and a credit to our kids.”
After a pair of home-ice victories on March 1 and 2, the Wildcats need to win one more game in three opportunities on the March 8 weekend to advance past Toronto Leaside in their best-of-five playoff series to move on to the final-8 single-elimination tournament April 3-6 in Oakville.
There’s a break in the middle of the playoffs to accommodate the under-18 world championships. Nepean owns several candidates to dress for Team Canada, including Cogan, a national U18 gold medalist for Team Ontario Red, and Eastwood and fellow defender Josiane Pozzebon, national silver medalists with Ontario Blue earlier this season.
“There’s three things we want to win this year – the league, the playoffs, and the provincials,” Eastwood says of her Wildcats’ goals. “We’ve got one, and now we’ve got two more cups to win.”
Coach returns cancer-free
While the Wildcats’ U18 worlds hopefuls – along with the Senators’ Leslie and Amanda Titus, both national gold medalists – wait on pins and needles for the final Canadian roster to be announced, one Ottawa team member already has her place confirmed for the March 23-30 event in Budapest.
Chantale Lussier will act as Team Canada’s mental skills coach, a role she’ll especially treasure after being forced to miss last year’s worlds. Three weeks before the 2013 championships, Lussier had an ultra-sound and discovered a solid mass on her kidney, which led to weeks and months of tests and uncertainty, eventually resulting in a cancer diagnosis.
“It truly is a life crisis,” Lussier describes. “You’re facing questions of life and death, and pain and suffering. There was an incredible amount of fear.”
In June 2013, the University of Ottawa grad underwent successful surgery to remove her left kidney, and has now bounced back cancer-free.
“I was a very, very lucky person,” says Lussier, who was overwhelmed by the support and encouragement she received from the hockey community. “Inevitably, it’s very transformative. You get a real sense real quick of what matters and what doesn’t. There’s no bigger lesson in perspective.”
There was a smaller lesson Lussier picked up that benefited her as a mental performance consultant as well.
“I remember thinking, ‘I’m going to put this experience in my back pocket to remember these feelings,’” explains the former Royal Winnipeg Ballet dancer who trained at The School of Dance in Beechwood. “Now I really know how an athlete might feel if either they don’t get selected and it’s two weeks before the event, or if they get a serious injury and they have to stay back.”
Lussier is excited to now return to the U18 women’s national team she’s worked with since 2011, especially after watching the men’s and women’s teams win Olympic gold in Sochi.
“I think we certainly have a great deal of positive inspiration to fuel our tanks,” indicates the operator of Elysian Insight, her business that has offices at The School of Dance and the Bell Sensplex. “Let’s bring a little dose of that to Hungary and see what we can do with it.”
Lussier’s role as mental skills coach is wide-ranging. One of her major tasks – much like the other members of the coaching staff – is to help build a team that doesn’t compete together all year into a successful squad in a matter of days or weeks.
Interpersonal relationships, communication, team cohesion and leadership are key topics. Sometimes she talks to the team as a group, sometimes it’s 1-on-1, sometimes it’s meeting with coaches and staff formally or informally. Getting everyone to pull as one is a key objective, including some players who made need to accept different roles than they’re accustomed to with their club teams.
Perhaps the greatest focus for the mental skills coach is helping players to deal with the pressure of the biggest moment in most of their hockey careers to date, and to perform at their best.
“Learning how to manage the pressure of the situation, and enjoy it – that’s something that I find often gets lost,” Lussier notes. “We think we have to take everything very, very seriously. And of course, we need to be very committed to what we do, but also bring that joy and energy to it. It helps us through those situations where there’s pressure.
“That’s something I try to remind them – there’s a reason they’ve been playing hockey all this time and it’s because they love it. So let’s see if we can tap into that real great energizing mood or feeling and bring that to the ice.”
Lussier revels in seeing athletes she works with shine on a big stage, and much like them, she dreams of one day being part of an Olympic team.