Cochrane netminder Kirsten Chamberlin finally achieved her goal of representing her province at the 2015 National Women’s Under-18 (U18) Hockey Championship the week of Nov. 4.
With this being her first time competing in the tournament that happens every year, excluding years when the Canada Winter Games take place, the Edge School Mountaineers Midget Prep girl’s goalie wanted to make the moment count. She was in her final year of eligibility to wear Hockey Alberta’s U18 hockey sweater.
“Overall it was a really good experience. It was a fun thing to be part of,” she said. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything, we had a great group of girls and an amazing connection with our team.”
The 2015 National Women’s U18 Hockey Championship was held in Huntsville, Ont., for the first time in the tournament’s 11-year history in its current format.
“The (organizers) did an amazing job of organizing everything and putting the whole production together,” she said. “Talking to girls from past years, they said it was one of the best organizations they had seen yet.”
Entering the tournament, Alberta was on a bit of a run at the national level, winning bronze in the 2013 National Women’s U18 Championship and repeating its bronze finish in the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Price George, B.C. Unfortunately for Chamberlin and the rest of Team Alberta, the 2015 national tournament did not bring as much success for the team as it played to an eighth-place finish, falling 4-0 Nov. 7 to Saskatchewan in the seventh-place match.
“Over the past couple of years you’ve been trying to make this team and you (finally) get there, it’s obviously disappointing not to get the result you wanted,” Chamberlin said. “At the end of the day we won in a lot more ways than just on the ice.
“The experiences are what you can take out of the tournament, whether you get third, first or last, it’s kind of irrelevant at this point because of the experiences.”
Chamberlin played in a pair of games for Alberta during the tournament, giving up four goals over five periods of play, while splitting playing time with Zoe De Beauville of Calgary.
“Going into the tournament, (our coaching staff) set us up (to share the crease),” Chamberlin said. “They said going in, we were each going to get in for sure one game and then play it by ear from there.
“They played us completely fairly and both myself and (De Beauville) played the way we needed to. The way it ended up being played was about as fair as it was going to get.”
