OWHL Playoffs: Goodbye to Seniors

In celebration of the Prep Hockey girls' big win at the OWHL Championships, The Tiger Times wanted to interview the seniors on the team to ask them about their experience leading up to, during, and after their victory and their plans for the future. 

The following is a transcript of an interview with Jessica MacKinnon, Maddy Fillier, and Easton McComber. It has been edited for clarity and conciseness. 

Rawnie: Everyone, thank you so much for joining me in this interview. So firstly, just briefly explain the journey and process of the hockey season as well as the league that you're in and the tournament as well. 

Jessica: Yeah, so we're in an under-22 league. We don't play against a lot of schools, actually. We play against different club teams in Ontario. We travel a fair bit from here to Toronto, or up to Quebec. From there, we just played in several different games. We're kind of in a different division from the main one. We're in a development division, but we still get to play against all the other teams in the league which is nice. We had a pretty good start to the year, I would say, and then after Christmas, we took a little slump, but then we won six games in a row to qualify ourselves to make the playoffs. So, it was pretty exciting to make the playoffs and then we came in clutch when we had to play in the playoffs. 

Maddy: We're fairly new to the league we're in. We only started this league when I was in Grade 10, so two years ago. This league is a bit hesitant to add schools, since it's a club team league, so schools aren't really favored in this league. 

Rawnie: The next question would be: can you walk us through the most memorable moments of the tournament from your perspective?  

Maddy: I think the most memorable moment of the tournament, other than winning the championship, was probably our first game. We were losing 2-0 with 10 minutes left and then by the 3-minute mark, we were winning 3-2— we had a big comeback. That was something we kind of struggled at as a team during the year, to find it in us like to come back from goal deficits and stuff. I know that at one point Maria Shea, Avery Falardeau, and I got put on forward for a line even though we're usually defensemen to get a goal for our team, and eventually we did. So, that was a memorable moment for me because we played one shift forward and we managed to get a goal, so that was funny. The comeback was really good for our team.  

Easton: Yeah, and I’ll just say the most memorable part of the tournament is when we played well; we all had fun and we weren't stressed at all. We were making jokes and just talking and it was fun to play in the game and to be there, and it was fun winning. 

Brie: So, would you say that there are any key moments maybe throughout the championship game or tournament or even throughout the whole season that led to your eventual victory?

Jessica: Yeah, I would say a couple of times in the dressing room with the coaches like coming in and telling us we have to get going when we weren't playing that well, especially in the last game after the first period: we weren't really doing the best we could have. After that moment, I guess it kind of just changed.

Rawnie: Yeah, definitely. How do you think your team and also yourselves prepared both mentally and physically for such a large competition, especially since this was one of your last high school hockey games?

Maddy: We have 11 seniors on our team this year, so I guess we all went into it with the mentality that it was the last weekend that we would all play together, especially for the seniors that are graduating as it's our last high school game with Ridley. A lot of us have been here for a few years and I think it was just to prove to each other that we could do better than what we had done in the past. Especially during the season, because we didn't have the best regular season. So I think it was kind of just playing for each other and showing it for each other that we could pull together and win it together. 

Easton: I'd say that as well, and I know that the younger girls were trying to push themselves as well because they didn't want this to be an unsuccessful weekend for the seniors. They wanted us to end well and we wanted to end off well and just put a good end to our season. 

Brie: That's great. I'm sure that since you know hockey is a team sport and teamwork is such an important factor in winning a championship or even going into tournaments and games, how would you say teamwork was incorporated throughout the season and the eventual championship game?

Jessica: So, you need to trust each other, because if we don't trust each other then we can’t succeed. It's a team sport: you can't do it alone. It's not where you're just running a race by yourself, we need to depend on each other. Because in the end, everyone makes mistakes, but you have to realize that you do too. So, you have to learn to trust each other and know that even if a mistake is made, we can pick each other up and continue. For example, we were down in the first game: we played 2-0. We went into the third period with 10 minutes left, and we trusted each other that we could come back, and we eventually did come back. 

Brie: That's nice to hear! Also, since you were previously talking about your coaches and how they were able to inspire your improvement, what were some other ways that your coaches were able to prepare you? 

Jessica: I would say during the practices throughout the whole year, but a couple of weeks leading up to it, was key in going through how we would enter the offensive zone and being able to review different tactics. But mainly by just preparing us by being encouraging, saying, “Guys, we can actually do this.”

Rawnie: What do you think winning the championships means to you guys and also to the entire team as a whole? 

Maddy: I think from a team perspective, we went through our fair share of adversity, coming from the league itself. Not only in the games but I think as a team, it was really good to show that although we're a school team and we have hard academics, we all work around as a group, and we can still compete with the teams that are in the league who have been there for years and years. So as a team, I think it was good to prove ourselves at the end of the season.  

Easton: Yeah, and we struggled a bit through the season and there were some down parts and we just kept pushing to get better because we knew what was at the end and we knew we had to play well in the end to see good results. I think that mentality was with everybody throughout the season and when we finally got there, we knew what we had to do and we knew we had to go into this tournament strong and work as hard as we could to get the championship. We proved ourselves in the end. 

Jessica: Yeah, it was a great experience. There are 11 of us that are graduating. So, just to end our years at Ridley here that way, it was pretty nice. 

Brie: Yeah, and finally did your team face any obstacles that almost doubted your potential victory?

Jessica: Yeah, throughout the tournament, I would say the first game was the biggest one with the 2-0 deficit going with 10 minutes left in the game. But besides that, throughout the year, I'd say the slump after Christmas was the one that we were just down, we kept losing around like 5 or 6 games in a row. We needed a win to get into the playoffs, so I guess just leaning on each other to say like, “Hey guys, we can do it.” It's not one person, it's everyone who needs to win, and it's everyone who can contribute to the team. We pulled together at the end.  

Rawnie:  So how does this overall experience sum up your time playing hockey and how do you guys feel about graduating after playing hockey for so long in high school? 

Maddy: I think it's a bittersweet ending to my Ridley career for sure. It's sad to finish what has been four years of my Ridley hockey career and to finally be the one who is leaving, not watching others leave every season. So, it's a different feeling, but I think there was no better way we could have ended the season. Although we're sad, like, we're proud of what we came out with.  

Easton: Yeah, and I'd say it was crazy actually realizing that I am a senior this year and that it is finally my turn to move on and not just watch everybody older than me move on and it took a while to like click in and actually realize like, “wow like I'm graduating this year” but it was just such a good ending this year and it really helped me figure out what I'm gonna do next year and it just put such a good end to my minor hockey career. 

Rawnie: Great, so the last question is looking ahead, what are your aspirations and goals for yourselves, as either hockey players or students in university, even though your season's ended? 

Maddy: I think of aspirations for the future, I know we all look to play post-secondary hockey. Some girls have committed to play post-secondary, such as Easton, yet, I'm going to play another year of junior hockey while taking university courses. I think being here and being on the team has shown us a lot about balancing academics, it has really prepared us for university, especially when we're on the road and we need to catch up on courses. Then, the grind of our weekly schedule, maintaining school and hockey, because our hockey schedule is very vigorous during the season. So I think being here really pushed us to pursue future aspirations, both athletically and academically.  

Easton: Yeah, and  I'd just say doing the work on the road and everything really does prepare you for next year as you're going to have to do a lot of that in university. I know a lot of our seniors are playing university hockey and we're going to have to do work on the road. It just made it better being in a school team too because then you have class together as you're all at the same school together, so you can also help each other out. 

Maddy: I know on our team, we consider ourselves a big family so it's just like having those people to fall back on at the end of the day through hardships through both hockey and school. We consider ourselves a big group of sisters, so it's really special to us like to have this supportive group

Brie: Okay that’s perfect, thank you so much for your part in this interview.

Rawnie: Yes, thank you again, we wish you all luck in your future hockey and university careers. 

Thank you so much to Jessica MacKinnon, Maddy Fillier, and Easton McComber for taking time out of their busy end to senior year to answer our questions. Congratulations once again to the team’s big win and we at The Tiger Times wish all the seniors graduating good luck in their future and hockey endeavors!