Canada’s roster unveiled for Rivalry Series games in December

This week, Élizabeth Giguère’s dream will come true.

For the very first time, the Quebec City product will play with Canada’s
National Women’s Team when it faces the United States within the first three
video games of the Rivalry Series.

Giguère, 25, has needed to wait a number of years earlier than getting her first
alternative.

“Maybe I wasn’t ready at first, about five years ago,” she says. “I at all times
informed myself that if I saved bettering and dealing on myself, I may imagine
in my dream. I wasn’t going to surrender. Even although I’m 25, I’m nonetheless in
my finest years. I’m glad to have my probability.”

Her cousins acquired her hooked on hockey, however Giguère needed to work onerous to
persuade her dad and mom it was an actual ardour.

“I really wanted to try [minor hockey]; it looked fun,” she says. “I
began saving cash, and my mom requested me why. I informed her it was to play
hockey. I began taking part in hockey the subsequent 12 months and I favored it straight away,
though I wasn’t actually good at it.”

Giguère performed her first few seasons with boys’ groups earlier than becoming a member of the
women on the U15 and U18 ranges with the Citadelles de Québec.

After three seasons with Cégep de Limoilou, throughout which she helped the
Titans to a league championship, gained MVP and rookie of the 12 months honours and
led the staff in scoring twice, she needed to resolve which college to attend
within the United States to proceed her tutorial and athletic pursuits.

Clarkson University rapidly turned the popular choice for the whole
household.

“It was difficult at first because I didn’t want to leave Quebec,” says
Giguère, who has beforehand represented Canada on the 2015 IIHF U18 Women’s
World Championship and 2017 Nations Cup. “I couldn’t converse English. I
did not need to go removed from house. My dad and mom inspired me to go there to
be taught English. Since it was solely a five-hour drive, I went to go to
Clarkson, and I actually favored it. It’s a small faculty, and the workers
reassured me that they’d assist me. Hockey can also be extremely popular there.”

In the 2017-18 season, her freshman 12 months, Clarkson made it to the
championship sport on the NCAA Frozen Four. Giguère was the hero, scoring
the successful aim in extra time.

That was simply the beginning. Giguère turned top-of-the-line gamers within the
faculty sport; she was twice named a First Team All-American, was ECAC
Rookie the Year and ECAC Player, led the Golden Knights in scoring in three
consecutive seasons, led the NCAA in scoring and, in 2019-20, obtained the
Patty Kazmaier Award as the perfect participant in NCAA ladies’s hockey.

After 4 seasons at Clarkson, together with her final as staff captain, Giguère
sat atop the college’s all-time scoring record with 233 factors in 137 video games
(99 targets and 134 assists).

Eligibility guidelines launched by the NCAA throughout the COVID-19 pandemic meant
Giguère was capable of play a fifth season and she or he made the transfer to the
University of Minnesota Duluth, incomes Second Team All-American honours
and serving to the Bulldogs attain the Frozen Four last.

The further 12 months pushed her profession complete to 295 factors, which ranks sixth in
NCAA ladies’s hockey historical past.

“My best memory is probably winning the Frozen Four,” Giguère says. “That’s
fairly onerous to beat. The previous couple of years I used to be captain had been fairly robust for
everybody as a result of we had been in the course of a pandemic, however I would not change
something. I may even keep in mind my 12 months at UMD for the remainder of my life. It
was top-of-the-line years. We made it to the nationwide championship last,
and it might have been nice to win one other title.”

Those years spent south of the border have additionally formed the individual Giguère
has turn out to be.

Whether it’s as a hockey participant or just as an individual, she doesn’t remorse
her determination to go.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, I used to be at one once I began [at Clarkson] and now
I’m at 10,” says Giguère, who’s starting her professional profession this season with
the Boston Pride of the Premier Hockey Federation. “It’s wonderful. I did not
converse any phrase of English, I used to be shy and really reserved. I’ve actually grown
as an individual. I’m extra mature, and now bilingual. As a hockey participant, I
discovered quite a bit from my coaches at Clarkson. Then I acquired to expertise a
totally different perspective with Minnesota Duluth, which allowed me to be taught
extra.”

Get to know Pride ahead Élizabeth Giguère (@Eligiguere11) after her electrical begin to her PHF profession! pic.twitter.com/k65e6dommU

— Boston Pride (@TheBostonPride) November 11, 2022

Alongside her expertise inBoston, the subsequent chapter in Giguère’s profession
will probably be written in Western Canada.

While this will probably be her first look with Canada’s National Women’s
Team, head coach Troy Ryan has been following her efficiency for some
time.

“I keep in mind she was in Halifax at one in every of our pre-worlds camps [in 2019]. We
thought this August on the summer season camp that we had, we thought she seemed
actually good; we thought that she seemed assured and composed. That simply
acquired us much more curious. We’ve at all times been curious, we’ve at all times scouted
her, we’ve at all times watched her however her efficiency at this August camp, we
actually favored what we noticed.”

And what may very well be higher than going through the United States in her Team Canada
debut?

“The advantage of the Rivalry Series is that proper after worlds, you
have a possibility to repopulate the inspiration of your program, so we
thought it might be an excellent alternative for her to have a number of video games
in opposition to the United States,” Ryan says. “She’s clearly a really expert
hockey participant that likes to create offence. We’ll attempt to throw as a lot
data at her as we are able to proper now however let her instincts take over in
the play.”

After only some days spent with the staff, Giguère is already effectively conscious of
the significance of those three video games, each collectively and individually.

“It’s crucial to beat the Americans,” she says. “In my case, it’s going to
be my first official sport in opposition to the United States. You can see on TV how
intense it might probably get, [and] I am unable to wait to expertise that. I’ll should
watch quite a bit to be taught the sport techniques, how the staff works, and all that.
I’m not harassed about it, I like studying. I’ve already discovered a whole lot of
stuff after only a few practices. I’m simply going to play hockey and hope
every part goes effectively.”