Raiders hockey took time to celebrate its veteran leadership on the weekend.
The Okotoks-based Rocky Mountain U18 AA and AAA Raiders tipped their cap to their graduating players at the final regular season home games for the Alberta Female Hockey League squads on Feb. 25.
“For the most part, seeing it come to an end is pretty sad,” said Raiders U18 AA captain Grace Bjornson, one of seven graduates on the team. “But you do like to embrace all of the friendships and everything that’s happened for the last 12 years of your life.
“You definitely get bits and pieces where you say, ‘Wow, this is really my last season here in Okotoks.’”
The graduating group includes Bjornson, Amelia Lomas, Molly Sears, Rozene Sabeti-Seidel, Abby Graham, Avery Mahussier and goaltender Tara Den Hoed.
“They’ve been a major piece in our program all year long with their leadership, their general attitude,” said Raiders head coach Dave Hayes. “They really helped change the culture within the team and they work well together
“In the dressing room, they’re constantly talking amongst each other and getting each girl to the next level.”
Lomas, a multi-sport athlete from Millarville, made the rare jump from pond hockey to the AA level for the 2023-24 campaign.
“I quit most of my other sports to be on this team, I wanted to go high in hockey,” she said. “Not a lot of girls can do that coming from a pond hockey league. I’m really proud of myself and my achievements and just playing with this team has been so amazing, great coaching and the competitive level has been great.”
Both Bjornson and Sabeti-Seidel will be playing college hockey south of the border next season with the former following in the footsteps of her brother, Okotoks Bisons alumnus Kyle Dunville, in committing to Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri.
“I’m really happy, I had a lot of opportunities from different schools, but I’m very comfortable with that school,” said Bjornson, who plans to study biology. “There’s a lot of girls that I know and they’re fifth in the nation, so that kind of speaks for itself.”
The Raiders will continue with playoff action kicking off next week just ahead of their opportunity to host the Hockey Alberta U18 Female AA Provincial Championships at the Okotoks Centennial Arenas from March 28-31.
The U18 AAA Raiders also saluted their graduates on Sunday in its home finale versus the Edmonton Oilers.
Brenna Ward, Ella Glubish, Taryn Oloriz, Ava Morgan, Camryn Forbes and Reese Deibert have been culture builders and essential to team development for a young Raiders squad.
“Top to bottom, all of our 06s, when they came in, they were all zero maintenance kids who are incredible in the room,” said Raiders head coach Dave Addison. “They’ve been great leaders whether they’ve got an A or they don’t, they’ve done a great job in terms of practice habits and it shows when you look at the progression.
“When you haven’t had a lot of wins, you have to find different ways of finding success and that’s one thing they’ve been really good at, just locking into helping define what success is, even when it’s not on the scoreboard. AAA is different, it’s very similar to a Jr. A on the male side of things, it’s a tough league to walk into and they’ve done a great job helping girls find their way in the league.”
Glubish said it’s been an emotional ride and it was good to cap it off with a strong performance, a 2-0 loss against a tough Edmonton Oilers team, in the home finale.
“It was really good to come together with my teammates and celebrate with my graduating players,” she said. “We have a really good group of seniors, even the younger girls, we all step up in our own ways and I feel like everyone has contributed to the season and made it a good year.”
Glubish will be moving on to study business at SAIT in the fall and plans to earn a spot in the Alberta Junior Female Hockey League.
“At the beginning of the season, it’s wow, I’m graduating and it didn’t really sink in,” she said. “And now it’s definitely been hitting, but it’s exciting and it gives more motivation for next year too.”
Oloriz, the captain, has committed to State University of New York Canton with Morgan committed to Johnson & Wales University.
After a road date to close the regular season this weekend, the Raiders are set to take on the Calgary Fire in the opening round of the playoffs.”
For more information on both Raiders teams, visit afhl.ca.
