Skating to the top: Edmonton U18 hockey team rises to success

Local hockey team rises through the standings A local U18 hockey team has gone from last to first in the league in just three seasons. Alison MacKinnon has their story.

Stacked with elite female athletes, the U18 AAA Pandas hockey team was able to make a remarkable comeback from last to first in the standings.

The team and coaching staff credit their success to relentless hard work and dedication to the sport.

Joel Lenius, the head coach of the U18 AAA Pandas, said they had a vision three years ago to change the culture within the club.

“I think we were getting a bit complacent with where we were fitting in the standings,” he explained.

So they decided to start their search for like-minded staff and players willing to support the mission they envisioned for the program.

According to Lenius, the team is full of different personalities, and everyone brings their own flair to the ice.

“We appreciate those differences, which I think so often in team sports is often overlooked.”

“I think individually everyone has found their own success on our team,” Kali MacDonald, a Pandas player, added.

“It really comes down to the team’s success in the end, and I think that’s something our team strives for every single day.”

'PANDA PUCK'

Lenius said the players are highly coachable, attentive to detail and battle hard in practice and when it counts.

“I think they genuinely love coming to compete against one another, which is not often that you see in practices with high-level players.”

“There’s not a time where we’re not battling, where we’re not in that battle trying to have a panda puck,” Chloe Goofers, another player, explained.

“When we play we think of it as that puck is ours, and that’s a panda puck we want to have it all the time.”

Lenius told CTV News Edmonton, they never expected to have so much success so quickly and plans to keep the momentum going.

“Women are amazing hockey players,” he said. “They compete, they battle, they’re physical just like guys are.”

“We have so many girls that are capable of playing at that national level.”

“It’s really special to have built a legacy out of what was not so strong before,” Shaelyn Hopkins, a player who's been with the Pandas from the beginning, added.

“We all just have such a drive to want to be better each and every day.”

'WE WANT OUR NAME TO BE REMEMBERED'

On top of their competitive drive, the team has also formed a bond outside of the rink.

“We’re just really tight knit in the dressing room and I think that shows on the ice,” MacDonald said. “We’re a family so I think that’s what it comes down to.”

“It’s actually amazing what our team has been able to accomplish,” Sydney Dutertre, another player, added. “Just from going all the way to the bottom to the top it’s taken a lot of hard work.”

Dutertre has been coaching a young girls team for about four years and said she often brings them to the dressing room as it serves as motivation for the older players.

“They want to be like us, so now let’s play hard for them as well, show them what we can do.”

“I’ve grown up having NHL players as my role models, but it would be neat to see younger generations be able to be asked like, ‘Who’s your favourite hockey player?’ And say a female hockey player. Maybe even one of us one day,” Hopkins added.

The team spends day in and day out practicing rigorously, and in the end, they’re all working toward the same goal.

“Our team’s really striving for this playoff push and getting as far as we can,” MacDonald said.

“We want our name to be remembered.”