Pictured: Kaitlyn Overeem         Photo Credit: Jon Halpenny Sports Photos

 

I have some bad news and I have some good news.

 

The bad news is that there are so many 519 female athletes and 519 girls/women's teams that have done so well recently, I don't have enough room to cover them all.

The good news is that there are so many 519 female athletes and 519 girls/women's teams that have done so  well recently, I don't have enough room to cover them all.

 

In no particular order, here are some examples…

 

Loren Gabel's (hockey) star continues to rise

 

A couple of years back, I had the privilege of interviewing hockey star Loren Gabel and her parents in their Kitchener home.

 

At that time, she was already a star and on scholarship with Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y. ; had already been part of an NCAA national championship in her sophomore year; and had just experienced her initial Team Canada National Women's Development camp in Calgary.

 

Now the St. Mary's High School grad has another trophy on the mantle: the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as the top player in NCAA Division 1 women's ice hockey.

 

Gabel had been a finalist before but this year's recognition as the best-of-the-best made her senior year near perfect.

 

I say near-perfect because the Golden Knights lost out in the semi-finals of the Frozen Four this year, preventing Gabel and her school from capturing a third straight national crown.

 

Gabel leaves Clarkson as their all-time scoring leader with 213 points, including 116 goals, and has re-joined the Canadian National Team as they prepare for the upcoming world championships.

 

UW women's volleyball boldly goes where they've never been before

 

Not only did the 2018-2019 Waterloo Warriors women's volleyball team finish with their best regular season record in program history (17-2) and earn a bronze in the OUA Final Four, the team also picked up a number of significant individual awards.

 

First-year right side Sarah Glynn was named to the U SPORTS all-rookie squad and then further selected as the U SPORTS rookie of the year for volleyball.

 

Sharing the national stage with her was head coach, Richard Eddy, who was named recipient of the Marilyn Pomfret Award as U SPORTS Coach of the Year. Eddy is the first bench boss in program history to win this award.

Both Glynn and Eddy had previously been recognized in similar fashion when the OUA West major awards were announced last month. Glynn was also a first team all-star and named to the all-rookie team.

 

Other Warriors earning OUA West recognition were Claire Mackenzie (1st team all-star for the third consecutive year), Cambridge native and third-year setter Claire Gagne (2nd team all-star) and first-year middle Ella Stewart (2nd team all-star; all-rookie team).

 

I'll have much more about the volleyball Warriors and their breakthrough season when I feature them in my next column.

 

Julia Pavlik, college basketball POY

 

Waterloo Collegiate grad and former University of Waterloo basketball player Julia Pavlik was recently chosen as the Canadian college basketball player of the year in an online vote.

 

After four years of university ball with the Warriors, Pavlik just completed her fifth season of eligibility playing at Redeemer University College in Hamilton. She's attending teacher's college there.

 

The Royals are part of the OCAA (Ontario College Athletic Association).

 

Pavlik averaged 14.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.5 steals per game for the Royals while logging 39+ minutes per game for a team that was often short-staffed.

 

In a head-to-head structure similar to the 64-team NCAA March Madness bracket, Pavlik advanced in an online poll conducted by @CCR_Canada (College Court Report) to the national college finals where she nudged out Maria Carroll of the Mount Saint Vincent Mystics.

 

In an act of true sportsmanship, Pavlik gave up her spot  to Carroll in a "grand finale" vote which pitted the CCAA POY against a similarly-selected U SPORTS POY - a vote that Carroll ultimately won.

 

When asked about her experience at Redeemer this year, Pavlik said that she "thoroughly enjoyed it" and that everyone was "very welcoming and supportive."

 

"Because there were so few of us on the team (usually 8 players or less), I feel like I was somehow able to play more freely. It's been a very fun year for me."

 

Waterloo Wildfire, Ontario ringette champions…and not done yet

 

After capturing their league title, the Waterloo Wildfire U16AA squad took it up a notch by also capturing the provincial crown. This means that heading into national competition next week, their new moniker will be Team Ontario.

 

Although their victory at provincials in early March was not a surprise (the team went in with a #1 ranking), what the Wildfire accomplished was still very impressive: they finished 8-0 for the tourney (held in Waterloo) against top-notch competition.

 

The team is coached by Melanie Norris and they will now head to P.E.I. for the Canadian Ringette Championships which run from April 7 to April 13.

 

Kaitlyn Overeem, Rookie of the Year

 

When University of Waterloo women's basketball head coach Craig Nickel told me about successfully landing Brantford St. John's star point guard Kaitlyn Overeem as a top recruit a year ago, his excitement was obvious and genuine.

 

It's now become even more obvious why.

 

After putting up impressive numbers all season for the Warriors (13.6 ppg; 5.3 rpg; 3.4 assists; 2.3 steals), the first-year Kinesiology student was acclaimed as  OUA Rookie of the Year. This, of course, was in addition to being named to the OUA All-Rookie team.

 

That exciting news was followed shortly afterwards by her selection to the U SPORTS All-Rookie Team - a designation that initially left Overeem speechless.

 

"It is such an honour to even be considered for awards at this level because everyone is so talented and very skilled. I am so thankful and I owe it to my teammates and my coaches as well as my family for all their support and belief in me. I would not be the athlete or person I am today if it weren’t for these people."

 

When I asked Overeem how she feels about next year's Warriors squad, her positivity was obvious.

 

"Looking to the future, I am so excited to see what we will be able to accomplish as a team."

"I know this is just the beginning…we are still quite a young team and as we all continue to learn and develop as athletes, I get excited to think about what we can become."

 

I'm sure that Coach Nickel and his staff as well as the Warrior faithful are equally excited.

 

St. David Catholic Secondary School & University of Guelph hit hockey heights

 

Two 519 academic institutions captured major hockey titles last month: the St David Celtics of Waterloo won the OFSAA A/AA provincial championship while the University of Guelph Gryphons returned home from out east with a national title in tow.

 

The Celtics traveled to Midland where they finished the tournament with a perfect 6-0 record, including a thrilling 1-0 victory over the Lo-Ellen Park Knights of Sudbury in the finals.

 

Goaltender Mikayla Schnarr had four shutouts for the Celts (who entered the 16-team competition as the #3 seed) while Grace Ciuman scored the overtime winner in the Gold Medal game.

 

Meanwhile, in Charlottetown, P.E.I., the Lady Gryphons notched their first-ever U SPORTS ice hockey crown by the same 1-0 score, albeit not in OT. Captain Kaitlyn Lowy pocketed the historic marker late in the second period and the Gryphs hung on to win against the McGill Martlets.

 

Fifth-year goaltender Valerie Lamenta earned the shutout and was later named to the tournament all-star team  along with teammates Mallory Young on defence and Claire Merrick up front.

 

Rachel Flanagan has called herself the head coach of women's hockey at U of G for a dozen years.

 

Now she can also call herself (and her team) a National Champion.