Rivalry Series Preview: Canada vs. United States

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 couple of years earlier than getting her first
alternative.

“Maybe I wasn’t ready at first, about five years ago,” she says. “I all the time
advised myself that if I saved enhancing 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 likelihood.”

Her cousins obtained her hooked on hockey, however Giguère needed to work exhausting to
persuade her mother and father 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 advised her it was to play
hockey. I began taking part in hockey the following yr and I preferred it instantly,
though I wasn’t actually good at it.”

Giguère performed her first few seasons with boys’ groups earlier than becoming a member of the
ladies 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 yr 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 grew to become the popular possibility for your complete
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 communicate English. I
did not wish to go removed from house. My mother and father 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 preferred it. It’s a small college, and the workers
reassured me that they might assist me. Hockey can be very talked-about there.”

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

That was simply the beginning. Giguère grew to become among the best 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 most effective participant in NCAA girls’s hockey.

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

Eligibility guidelines launched by the NCAA throughout the COVID-19 pandemic meant
Giguère was capable of play a fifth season and he or she 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 additional yr pushed her profession whole to 295 factors, which ranks sixth in
NCAA girls’s hockey historical past.

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

Those years spent south of the border have additionally formed the individual Giguère
has grow 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 after 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 superb. I did not
communicate 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
realized so much from my coaches at Clarkson. Then I obtained to expertise a
completely 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 following chapter in Giguère’s profession
might be written in Western Canada.

While this might 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 considered one of our pre-worlds camps [in 2019]. We
thought this August on the summer season camp that we had, we thought she regarded
actually good; we thought that she regarded assured and composed. That simply
obtained us much more curious. We’ve all the time been curious, we’ve all the time scouted
her, we’ve all the time watched her however her efficiency at this August camp, we
actually preferred what we noticed.”

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

“The benefit of the Rivalry Series is that proper after worlds, you
have a chance to repopulate the muse of your program, so we
thought it will be an important alternative for her to have a number of video games
towards 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
info at her as we are able to proper now however let her instincts take over in
the play.”

After just a few days spent with the staff, Giguère is already properly 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’ll
be my first official sport towards the United States. You can see on TV how
intense it could get, [and] I am unable to wait to expertise that. I’ll must
watch so much to be taught the sport methods, how the staff works, and all that.
I’m not burdened about it, I like studying. I’ve already realized quite a lot of
stuff after just some practices. I’m simply going to play hockey and hope
every little thing goes properly.”