By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
Given that it’s summer, you’d think Allie Munroe would be spending more time on the soccer field than inside a hockey arena.
Although on the flip side, given the amount of hockey she’s cramming into this month and next, it’s surprising she’s still able to find the time to play soccer at all.
This week Munroe of Yarmouth and Catherine Tufts of Clare are attending the summer evaluation camp for the female Team Atlantic under-18 hockey program. The evaluation camp began Sunday, July 14 and runs to Thursday, July 18 at St. FX University in Antigonish.
Forty-four players from the four Atlantic Provinces are attending the evaluation camp. A female national under 18 tournament will be held in Calgary, Alberta, Nov. 6-10.
Munroe was excited to have been invited to the evaluation camp.
“I was hoping for it,” she says.
Munroe played rep hockey in the Yarmouth County Minor Hockey Association and also played bantam major with the Western Hurricanes. This past year she attended New Hampton School, a prep school in New Hampshire where she played hockey, soccer and lacrosse. She returns to the school in the fall for her Grade 11 year. At the school she plays hockey as part of a New England prep league. She’s chosen to attend school in New Hampshire because her goal is to eventually play Division 1 college hockey in the United States.
“I definitely have hopes for that,” she says.
But before going back to school in the fall, Munroe has a lot on her hockey plate in addition to this week’s Team Atlantic U-18 evaluation camp.
“I have a tournament in Boston called The Beantown, I’m going with a Nova Scotia team, and then about four days after that I have other Team Nova Scotia tryouts.”
“So then you’re not playing soccer this summer?” this reporter asks Munroe, assuming there’s no time for hockey and that too.
“I still play soccer up in Bridgewater,” she says laughing. “I haven ‘t made a practice yet, but I go to the games.”
Like Munroe, Catherine Tufts is also juggling a lot this summer.
“Unfortunately I'm not seeing the ice as much as I'd like because it interferes with my work,” she says. “Having said that, I go on the ice every Thursday night with a group that Amanda Boulegon organizes and I still manage to find time to work out Monday to Friday. I had a trainer for three weeks in Clare. Now I'm currently training in Yarmouth with a new trainer because my old one had to go back to school.”
Aside from trying out for the U-18 Team Atlantic – a team Tufts has played on the past two years – she will also be attending the Beantown tournament in Boston.
In the fall she returns to the Ontario Hockey Academy in Cornwall, Ontario, for her third year of school there, which is also her graduation year. Her hockey team at that prep school plays games and tournaments in Canada and the United States.
Hockey has always been a big part of Tufts’ life. Known to her friends and teammates as Cat, she played hockey in the Clare and Yarmouth minor hockey associations, and also played major bantam with the BMO Western Hurricanes, although not during the same year as Munroe. As well, she’s played on provincial hockey teams and several spring hockey teams.
Asked once in a past interview with this newspaper about what it is about hockey that she loves most, Tufts said it’s the extension of “family” that hockey provides.
“My favorite part of hockey is the way you connect with your teammates,” she said. “They become part of your family and you know you can always count on them.”
That ‘family feel’ also made the transition from school in Yarmouth to school in New Hampshire a lot easier for Munroe and helped her cope with being so far away from home to pursue her hockey goals.
“At some points it’s hard, of course, I miss my parents and my brothers, but I have so much to do there I’m always busy and have so many friends and all kinds of teachers. They know I’m from away so they help me out,” she says. “It was pretty good. I didn’t get too homesick.”
By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
Given that it’s summer, you’d think Allie Munroe would be spending more time on the soccer field than inside a hockey arena.
Although on the flip side, given the amount of hockey she’s cramming into this month and next, it’s surprising she’s still able to find the time to play soccer at all.
This week Munroe of Yarmouth and Catherine Tufts of Clare are attending the summer evaluation camp for the female Team Atlantic under-18 hockey program. The evaluation camp began Sunday, July 14 and runs to Thursday, July 18 at St. FX University in Antigonish.
Forty-four players from the four Atlantic Provinces are attending the evaluation camp. A female national under 18 tournament will be held in Calgary, Alberta, Nov. 6-10.
Munroe was excited to have been invited to the evaluation camp.
“I was hoping for it,” she says.
Munroe played rep hockey in the Yarmouth County Minor Hockey Association and also played bantam major with the Western Hurricanes. This past year she attended New Hampton School, a prep school in New Hampshire where she played hockey, soccer and lacrosse. She returns to the school in the fall for her Grade 11 year. At the school she plays hockey as part of a New England prep league. She’s chosen to attend school in New Hampshire because her goal is to eventually play Division 1 college hockey in the United States.
“I definitely have hopes for that,” she says.
But before going back to school in the fall, Munroe has a lot on her hockey plate in addition to this week’s Team Atlantic U-18 evaluation camp.
“I have a tournament in Boston called The Beantown, I’m going with a Nova Scotia team, and then about four days after that I have other Team Nova Scotia tryouts.”
“So then you’re not playing soccer this summer?” this reporter asks Munroe, assuming there’s no time for hockey and that too.
“I still play soccer up in Bridgewater,” she says laughing. “I haven ‘t made a practice yet, but I go to the games.”
Like Munroe, Catherine Tufts is also juggling a lot this summer.
“Unfortunately I'm not seeing the ice as much as I'd like because it interferes with my work,” she says. “Having said that, I go on the ice every Thursday night with a group that Amanda Boulegon organizes and I still manage to find time to work out Monday to Friday. I had a trainer for three weeks in Clare. Now I'm currently training in Yarmouth with a new trainer because my old one had to go back to school.”
Aside from trying out for the U-18 Team Atlantic – a team Tufts has played on the past two years – she will also be attending the Beantown tournament in Boston.
In the fall she returns to the Ontario Hockey Academy in Cornwall, Ontario, for her third year of school there, which is also her graduation year. Her hockey team at that prep school plays games and tournaments in Canada and the United States.
Hockey has always been a big part of Tufts’ life. Known to her friends and teammates as Cat, she played hockey in the Clare and Yarmouth minor hockey associations, and also played major bantam with the BMO Western Hurricanes, although not during the same year as Munroe. As well, she’s played on provincial hockey teams and several spring hockey teams.
Asked once in a past interview with this newspaper about what it is about hockey that she loves most, Tufts said it’s the extension of “family” that hockey provides.
“My favorite part of hockey is the way you connect with your teammates,” she said. “They become part of your family and you know you can always count on them.”
That ‘family feel’ also made the transition from school in Yarmouth to school in New Hampshire a lot easier for Munroe and helped her cope with being so far away from home to pursue her hockey goals.
“At some points it’s hard, of course, I miss my parents and my brothers, but I have so much to do there I’m always busy and have so many friends and all kinds of teachers. They know I’m from away so they help me out,” she says. “It was pretty good. I didn’t get too homesick.”
