Rivalry Series Recap: United States 4, Canada 3 (SO)

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
instructed myself that if I stored 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 acquired her hooked on hockey, however Giguère needed to work onerous 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 instructed her it was to play
hockey. I began enjoying hockey the following yr and I preferred 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
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 group in scoring twice, she needed to resolve 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 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 need to go removed from dwelling. My mother and father 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 faculty, and the workers
reassured me that they’d assist me. Hockey can also be very fashionable 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 successful objective in extra time.

That was simply the beginning. Giguère grew to become probably the greatest 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 one of the best participant in NCAA girls’s hockey.

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

Eligibility guidelines launched by the NCAA through 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 closing.

The further yr pushed her profession complete 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 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 midst of a pandemic, however I would not change
something. I will even keep in mind my yr at UMD for the remainder of my life. It
was probably the greatest years. We made it to the nationwide championship closing,
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 change 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 quite a bit from my coaches at Clarkson. Then I acquired to expertise a
completely 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
can be written in Western Canada.

While this can 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 certainly one of our pre-worlds camps [in 2019]. We
thought this August on the summer time camp that we had, we thought she regarded
actually good; we thought that she regarded 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 preferred 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 muse of your program, so we
thought it could be an amazing 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 will proper now however let her instincts take over in
the play.”

After just a few days spent with the group, Giguère is already effectively 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 should
be my first official recreation towards the United States. You can see on TV how
intense it may well get, [and] I am unable to wait to expertise that. I’ll need to
watch quite a bit to study the sport programs, how the group works, and all that.
I’m not pressured about it, I like studying. I’ve already discovered loads of
stuff after only a few practices. I’m simply going to play hockey and hope
every part goes effectively.”