Border battle for women’s hockey bragging rights
Alexa Vasko is hoping to make national team roster for Canada-U.S. exhibition series
Alexa Vasko has a score to settle on the ice with the U.S.
Ever since her Canadian team settled for silver at the world’s under-18 women’s hockey championships two years ago, she has been hoping to avenge that loss.
And where better to exact that revenge than Lake Placid, N.Y., site of the 1980 Miracle on Ice, arguably one of the greatest moments in the history of amateur hockey in the U.S. The community in upstate New York is where the U.S. upset the then Soviet Union on the way to defeating Finland for the gold in men’s hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
It also is where the Canadian national women’s development team will be playing a threegame series against their U.S. counterparts that gets underway Aug. 14.
Vasko is among 45 players invited to a selection camp that starts Friday in Calgary and continues until Aug. 11 when the final roster for the Canada-U.S. series will be set. A camp that features intrasquad games, office training, fitness testing and classroom sessions also includes a team of U SPORTS all-stars, as well as national teams from France and Japan.
Two years ago the 20-year-old daughter of Dennis and Dana Vasko of St. Catharines was an alternate captain on the Canadian team that lost to the U.S. in the final at the world under-18 women’s championships in Prague. Last year, when the national development team series was played in Calgary, she made the national development team that went 1-2 against the U.S.
“It’s always a rivalry with the U.S., whether it’s U18, U22 or the senior national team. We all play together,” she said. “We know the U.S. We know their tendencies and stuff.
“It’s always a great rivalry, and it’s also a little bit of fun, too.”
The Governor Simcoe Secondary School graduate is going into her third year at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa., on a Division 1 athletic scholarship. At Lake Placid, Vasko will be playing some of the players she competes against in university should she make the Canadian roster for the second year in a row.
“In our conference and in our league at Mercyhurst, we play against a bunch of people who will be at this camp on the Canadian side. I actually play against all these girls, so we’re all friends,” she said. “If I crack the roster, I will be playing against all those people we see in our league and our conference.”
Wearing the Maple Leaf, while special, will be no different for Vasko than centring a line for the Mercyhurst Lakers in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference once the puck drops.
“It’s always an honour to wear the Maple Leaf, but no matter what team I’m on, whether it’s Mercyhurst or the U22 team, I’m going to play the same way,” she said.
“I’m just going to play the way I play.”
There isn’t supposed to be contact in women’s hockey, “but there definitely is.
“Everyone wants to win, whether it’s the collegiate level or national level,” the five-footfive Vasko said.
“But when you go to these camps, everyone wants it a little bit more, so it’s definitely going to be pretty physical.”
Even if she doesn’t make the roster, Vasko will consider attending the camp in Calgary as time well spent.
“Whether it’s from a fitness aspect, nutrition aspect, psychological aspect, you have all these meetings. We have games. We have workouts,” she said.
“I definitely will take all those resources back to my team in Erie, Pa.,” she added.
“Hopefully, we can use that for our success.”
Vasko, who played with the St. Catharines Chaos until bantam before going to Stoney Creek to compete at the midget and junior levels, learned a lot from taking part in the under-18 camp two years ago and trying out for the development team last year.
“I struggled a little bit with my confidence, but going through those ranks and playing at the collegiate level, I’ve learned to improve my confidence and realize, ‘OK, I’m supposed to be here,’ ” she said.
“That’s definitely translated to on the ice for me.”
Has Vasko become more American after two years living in northwestern Pennsylvania and majoring in exercise science?
“My parents like to say I sometimes come home with an American accent, but I beg to differ,” she said with a chuckle.
“I like to think I keep my Canadian roots, but it’s also nice to explore a little, be on your own and find that sense of independence.”
She is undecided about her career path outside of hockey, “but something in the medical field for sure.”
“Hopefully, once I’m out of my collegiate career I can go on and play professional and make a living out of that,” Vasko said. “Once my collegiate career is over, I definitely don’t want to shut the door on hockey.”
Vasko, whose great uncle Elmer (Moose) Vasko played for the Chicago Blackhawks and the Minnesota North Stars, caught the hockey bug as a three-yearold watching her dad playing old-timers hockey
“I was just strapped on the little skates with two blades, and I would skate around on the rink. I just decided I’d give it a try, and I think it’s worked out pretty well.”
“It’s always an honour to wear the Maple Leaf, but no matter what team I’m on, whether it’s Mercyhurst or the U22 team, I’m going to play the same way.” ALEXA VASKO Canadian national development team selection camp invitee