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 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
advised myself that if I stored bettering and dealing on myself, I might imagine
in my dream. I wasn’t going to surrender. Even although I’m 25, I’m nonetheless in
my greatest years. I’m glad to have my probability.”

Her cousins received 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 advised her it was to play
hockey. I began enjoying hockey the subsequent 12 months and I favored it straight away,
although 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 workforce in scoring twice, she needed to determine which college to attend
within the United States to proceed her educational and athletic pursuits.

Clarkson University shortly grew to become the popular choice for the 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 converse English. I
did not need to go removed from house. My dad and mom inspired me to go there to
study 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 be very fashionable there.”

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

That was simply the beginning. Giguère grew to become among the finest gamers within the
school recreation; 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, acquired the
Patty Kazmaier Award as the very best participant in NCAA ladies’s hockey.

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

Eligibility guidelines launched by the NCAA through 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 additional 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 among the finest years. We made it to the nationwide championship last,
and it could 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 resolution 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 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 rather a lot from my coaches at Clarkson. Then I received to expertise a
totally different perspective with Minnesota Duluth, which allowed me to study
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 likely be written in Western Canada.

While this will likely 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 among our pre-worlds camps [in 2019]. We
thought this August on the summer time camp that we had, we thought she seemed
actually good; we thought that she seemed assured and composed. That simply
received 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 might 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 muse of your program, so we
thought it could be an important 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 will proper now however let her instincts take over in
the play.”

After just a few days spent with the workforce, Giguère is already nicely conscious of
the significance of those three video games, each collectively and individually.

“It’s essential to beat the Americans,” she says. “In my case, it can
be my first official recreation in opposition to the United States. You can see on TV how
intense it could actually get, [and] I can not wait to expertise that. I’ll must
watch rather a lot to study the sport techniques, how the workforce works, and all that.
I’m not harassed about it, I like studying. I’ve already discovered quite a lot of
stuff after just some practices. I’m simply going to play hockey and hope
every part goes nicely.”