Rivalry Series Recap: United States 2, Canada 1

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 at all times
instructed myself that if I saved 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 obtained her hooked on hockey, however Giguère needed to work exhausting 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 instructed her it was to play
hockey. I began taking part in hockey the following yr and I preferred it straight away,
despite the fact that 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, received MVP and rookie of the yr honours and
led the crew in scoring twice, she needed to determine which college to attend
within the United States to proceed her tutorial and athletic pursuits.

Clarkson University shortly turned the popular choice for all the
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 residence. 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 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 recreation on the NCAA Frozen Four. Giguère was the hero, scoring
the profitable aim in time beyond regulation.

That was simply the beginning. Giguère turned the most effective 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, obtained the
Patty Kazmaier Award as the perfect participant in NCAA ladies’s hockey.

After 4 seasons at Clarkson, together with her final as crew captain, Giguère
sat atop the college’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 in a position to 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 ultimate.

The further yr 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 exhausting to beat. The previous couple of years I used to be captain have been fairly robust for
everybody as a result of we have been in the course of a pandemic, however I would not change
something. I may also bear in mind my yr at UMD for the remainder of my life. It
was the most effective years. We made it to the nationwide championship ultimate,
and it could have been nice to win one other title.”

Those years spent south of the border have additionally formed the particular person Giguère
has develop into.

Whether it’s as a hockey participant or just as an individual, she doesn’t remorse
her choice 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
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
discovered loads from my coaches at Clarkson. Then I obtained 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 following chapter in Giguère’s profession
shall be written in Western Canada.

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

“I bear 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
obtained 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 preferred what we noticed.”

And what could possibly 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 possibility to repopulate the inspiration of your program, so we
thought it could 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
info 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 crew, 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 can
be my first official recreation in opposition to the United States. You can see on TV how
intense it could possibly get, [and] I am unable to wait to expertise that. I’ll must
watch loads to study the sport programs, how the crew works, and all that.
I’m not careworn about it, I like studying. I’ve already discovered a number of
stuff after just some practices. I’m simply going to play hockey and hope
every part goes effectively.”