Her team may not have made it to the playoffs, but for sniper Katrina Hawkins just having a shot at playing college hockey has been bliss.
“It feels wonderful to just be able to come this far,” said Hawkins. “Hockey is my passion. It’s my love.”
Hawkins, who grew up in Powell River, is a freshman at Chatham University, an all-girls NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) college in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was recruited last year after playing for Nanaimo’s Mid-North Island Extreme, the midget A girls’ rep team in 2012. She was awarded an academic scholarship to attend Chatham.
Hawkins is a forward with a deadly accurate wrist shot. “I find the style of play a little different than at home and the systems my coach uses are completely different than what I learned growing up,” said Hawkins. “I’ve had to adjust, but I think I’m doing okay with it.”
She doesn’t have a magic formula for her success over the years, except for “hard work. That’s all there is to it.”
During the season, Hawkins laced her skates up four mornings a week for 7 am practices before classes began.
She shoots right-handed, which she said gives her an edge over the majority of players that shoot left-handed.
Hawkins scored her first hat trick early February when the Chatham Cougars mauled State University of New York Potsdam in a 4-2 decision. She was named Eastern College Athletic Conference - West (ECAC) Player of the Week for her performance at the game. Hawkins was the first player from Chatham to win the award.
As play wrapped up, Hawkins scored a team-high of six goals during the season. However, the Cougars finished last in their division.
Although Chatham isn’t a big hockey school, Hawkins said she likes being there and looks forward to returning next year.
“It’s a great campus, a great school and a welcome change to living in a small town,” she said.
Hawkins is keenly interested in psychology and said she’d like to pursue a career in counselling when she finishes school.
She is also a strong advocate for girls’ hockey. She volunteered last year with the female hockey program as a student coach/mentor. She said that she’d like to see Western Canada girls’ minor hockey strengthened and developed to create more opportunities for girls in university hockey.
“Back East they have all these recruiting tournaments with coaches from all the division one and three schools,” she said. “There isn’t much for female hockey players in BC.”
She said her coach at Chatham is one of the only coaches in the NCAA to look at players in Western Canada.
Hawkins’ advice for girls coming up though minor hockey is to stick with it.
