Clare Heisler isn’t surprised her Heritage Woods Kodiaks field hockey team is going to the provincial championships that begin Nov. 15 in Richmond despite finishing fifth in Coquitlam district league play.
After all, the team has already overcome longer odds.
At the beginning of the 2016 season, the Kodiaks almost ceased to exist despite a long record of successes that included Coquitlam district championships and a bronze medal at the 2013 AAA provincials. Their coach was gone and a replacement was proving hard to come by. Even a tweet by Field Hockey BC to help find the team a coach came up empty.
Eventually, Clare’s dad, Colin, stepped in. But his background was in ice hockey, and the team’s late start put him behind the eight ball to find new players to fill holes left in the roster by those who had graduated the previous spring.
The Kodiaks were ousted from the Fraser Valley district championships when they lost a wild card game in a shootout.
“This was quite the devastation for our team,” Heisler said.
So last spring, Heisler and a few of her fellow seniors on the team set out to find a coach who could attract young players, work with them to teach them the skills and tactics that could restore the team to its championship ways and, more importantly, ensure its continuity.
They pitched the coach of their Tri-City Eagles club team, Raquel Chin. But there were a couple of complications; Chin teaches at Riverside secondary and she wasn’t sure how her daughters who play for the Kodiaks, Jade and Jewel Lew, would feel about having their mom as their coach.
When all parties gave their blessing, Chin was on board.
She got to work right away, organizing a team meeting in June. She also asked Colin Heisler to stay on as her associate; he had worked so hard to learn the game and developed a rapport with the players that would serve the team well going forward.
“I’m very organized,” Chin said of hitting the turf running. “The players had to feel like they were being taken care of.”
One of them is Grade 10 defender Allison May, who’d missed her chance to join the team when she was in Grade 9 because of the uncertainty about its future. She said she was excited to make the team in the fall, and the camaraderie created by its grass-roots effort to stay alive has benefitted her game.
“The intensity has brought the team together,” May said. “We really support each other. We share a lot of knowledge out there.”
Chin said melding a team of young players who are still learning field hockey with experienced veterans can be a delicate balancing act. The season didn’t get off to the best start, but as it progressed, she could see things falling into place.
“We were able to watch ourselves progress,” she said of her charges. “They could see the growth and their skill level improve.”
So much so the Kodiaks won both their games on the opening day of the Fraser Valleys, including an upset shootout victory over the league champion Gleaneagle Talons, who’d beaten them twice during the regular season. That guaranteed Heritage Woods a place in the championship round and a spot in the provincials.
“That just boosted them,” Chin said.
And while the team lost the final, 1-0, to perennial powerhouse South Delta, May said their confidence is unbowed.
“We’re stronger than we thought, once we get into the zone,” she said.
That bodes well for the team heading into the provincials, Chin said.
And for the future of the Kodiaks, Heisler said.
“One thing we know for sure, win or lose at provincials, the future is bright for Kodiak field hockey in the years to come,” she said.
PoMo grad an Ivy League all-star
Port Moody secondary school grad Sam McIlwrick, who’s now a senior at Cornell University and a back for the Big Red field hockey team, was a unanimous selection to the Ivy League conference first all-star team that was announced on Tuesday.
McIlwrick anchored Cornell’s defence, which posted the third lowest goal-against average in the Ivy League, and the 18th lowest in the nation. That defence also held opponents to five shots on goal or less in half of their 16 games.
McIlwrick also had success in the offensive zone. Her five goals was second best on the team and she ranked third in points with 12.
It’s the second straight year McIlwrick has been named to the first all-star team, after she was a second-team all-star in her freshman year.
Cornell wrapped up its season last Sunday with a 2-1 win over Dartmouth College. The Big Red finished with 10 wins and six losses overall.
