Olds roots help power UNB women's hockey

If you aren't sure which USports women's hockey you should be rooting for, consider the University of New Brunswick. When the program boots up for the 2018 season, it's going to have some Olds power, both on the ice and behind the bench.

The UNB Reds are in the process of reinstating their varsity women's hockey program, which was downgraded to club status in 2008, and their first order of business was to hire a coach. They chose Sarah Hilworth, most recently the women's hockey head coach at Olds College. And her first order of business was to start putting together a roster. Her first pick? Olds native Paige Grenier.

"When Sarah told me she got the job, she sold me pretty quickly on the school and the campus and what life would be like as a student athlete there," said the 17-year-old Grenier, who's headed into her final year at Olds High School.

Grenier said that she had some interest from other schools, but at the end of the day the chance to play for Hilworth was a big plus.

"She's proven that she's an excellent coach and she knows what she's doing and she's built a program from the ground up before," said Grenier, whose minor hockey career has crossed paths with Hilworth at camps and tryouts. "I just couldn't picture myself going anywhere else other than UNB."

Hilworth didn't have any less of a glowing review when it comes to Grenier.

"That was an easy one for me," said Hilworth. "I've gotten to know her really well over the last four or five years, and she's always been a player that I would … immediately contact and immediately have her come onto my team."

And that's exactly what Hilworth did. Grenier is officially the first committed player for the rebooted UNB program, and will head to Fredericton in the fall of 2018, after her final year of Midget AAA hockey with the Red Deer Chiefs.

"She's an outstanding individual. She holds all the qualities that we're looking for in a student-athlete, both on and off the ice," said Hilworth. "She's a vocal leader who is well respected by her teammates, who comes to the gym, or comes on the ice every day and works her butt off."

"Give her a few years and I can see her being a proven leader on our team," added Hilworth. "From day one I know that she's going to step into some shoes that are going to help the team be successful."

Some might be nervous to commit their five years of university hockey to a brand new program, but for Grenier, it held some appeal.

"It's a pretty unique opportunity to get to recreate the culture in a hockey team out there and build a legacy from that," she said. "That's not something that every single girl gets to experience."

And Hilworth isn't a rookie when it comes to starting hockey programs, or playing for them. The University of Alberta alum won a national championship with the Pandas in 2010, then went on to become the assistant coach. In 2015 the OC Broncos brought her on board to begin their own women's hockey program.

"We started from scratch two years ago, and basically built it from the ground up," she said.

It's valuable experience that Hilworth will take eastward with her. And it's not the only thing she'll be taking. Having worked with Hockey Alberta for five years, she's building up a group of handpicked Albertans to help lead the way for her new program.

"I know what these student athletes are going to bring," she said. "We can rely on players like Paige, because I've seen her growth development, I've been tracking her for the last five years."

At the same time, she said, having a group of players who have either played with one another, against each other, or are just familiar with one another,

"It kinda creates a little bit of a core," said Hilworth, "which we don't have."

Grenier said she trusts Hilworth's ability to put together a competitive team from the get-go.

"I think with any new team there's going to be growing pains, but at the end of the day I know that Sarah and I are both on the same page, in the sense that it doesn't matter whether it's going to be our first or our fifth year in the league, we want to compete every single year for a championship."

And if they do, out here in Alberta, on the other side of the country, they'll have a built-in fan base rooting for them.