Edge Mountaineers Midget Girl’s Prep head coach Carla MacLeod has skated into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.
The 32-year-old Spruce Grove native, and former Team Canada women’s defenceman, was inducted into the Hall as an athlete at a May 29 ceremony in Red Deer. Class of 2015 inductees include Alberta curler extraordinaire Kevin Martin (athlete), Calgary Flames trainer Jim “Bearcat” Murray (hockey builder) and former Flames play-by-play broadcaster Peter “Yeah, baby!” Maher (Bell Memorial Award).
“Without a doubt,” MacLeod marvels of her fellow inductees. “As a kid who grew up in Calgary, to have those icons within the Flames organization, Bearcat Murray and Peter Maher – this is almost surreal. To be in that class with them on this evening is unique and pretty special.”
Prior to coaching, MacLeod won Olympic gold in 2006 at Turin and 2010 at Vancouver playing for Canada’s women’s hockey team. She also has gold medals from the 2006 Four Nations Cup and the 2007 International Ice Hockey Federation women’s world championships to go with silvers taken at 2008 and 2009 world championships.
Success adheres to her like tape to a stick, making her an obvious choice for induction into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame as an athlete.
“I don’t think the committee had a really hard time picking Carla,” says Debbie Brigley, coordinator at Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. “With her qualifications, what she’s contributed to hockey as a girl, a woman and then leading into coaching and teaching; it’s unreal for a girl from Alberta.”
But it wasn’t always Maple Leafs and wild roses for the determined Albertan. Early in her elite playing career, MacLeod was left off Team Canada in the final selection process. Twice.
“I don’t know if it was a perfect storm,” she recounts. “There was a lot of hard work that was the key ingredient at the end of the day. I was cut from the national team twice before I ever made it. Those are moments that really help shape you as an athlete and, obviously, are the reason I ultimately made the team because I was driven to continue to get better and, hopefully, one day prove myself.”
Done and done. In the process, her hard work and success leading her to a place she hadn’t considered when she first laced up hockey skates some 27 years ago.
“I was working on my speech this last weekend for the induction evening,” she relays. “And this was a dream I didn’t even dream. I didn’t even think of it (Alberta Sports Hall of Fame) as a possibility. But now that I’m loving it, this is a pretty cool dream.”
But it’s not why she played.
“You don’t play the game for accolades. You never do,” she insists. “But, certainly, when something of this magnitude is occurring, it’s so special. It’s a great opportunity not just for myself but more importantly to highlight my family – my siblings and my parents and the people who have really helped.
“These moments allow you that chance to really reflect and be really appreciative of the people who helped you become who you are.”
In MacLeod’s case, among other things, a 2015 athlete inductee at Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.
