Big chill, big thrill
Peterborough’s Georgia Stewart on Gee Gees team that won national women’s university rugby title during a -20 C snow storm
Winning a national U Sports rugby championship is something Georgia Stewart will never forget but not simply because they won.
The second-year Ottawa Gee Gees flank will also never forget the almost unbearably cold conditions they endured all week in Lethbridge, Alta. Their opening game on Nov. 2 against Acadia, a 65-5 win, was played in a blinding snow storm and their semifinal, a 32-15 overtime win over Calgary, was postponed from Nov. 3 to 4 due to low temperatures. The semifinal and their 20-10 win over Laval on Nov. 5 weren’t much warmer.
It was regularly -20 C and the women were permuted to dress in layers and wear gloves. On the sidelines, water was replaced by hot tea as the drink of choice.
“It was a unique experience,” said Stewart, 19.
“The whole week was definitely very tough with the weather and the whole experience of being there so when the final whistle blew it was a relief to be done playing in that cold weather and to take the gold home.”
It was Ottawa’s first gold medal since women’s rugby debuted as a national university sport 20 years ago. With a laugh, Stewart said she was equally as happy to win as she was to be finished with the cold weather.
“A lot of players were just so emotional because we were finally done playing in such cold weather,” she said. “Definitely for all the fifth year players who it was their last game it was nice to win for them.”
It’s definitely the biggest win Stewart has experienced.
“It’s pretty incredible. I didn’t fully understand how big a deal it was to win but it was great celebrating with the whole team afterwards. It was a cool experience,” she said.
When they arrived on the Monday and during their first training session on Tuesday there was no snow and the temperature was 5 C.
“It was surprising when the snow came the next day and it was -20 and Thursday we were playing in a blizzard. That was kind of a shock,” she said.
In her freshman year, the Gee Gees lost to St. Francis Xavier X-Women in the final. Getting so close and falling short served as motivation for all the returning players.
“This was my second year but previously they had come fourth and third and last year second so this year coming first was a pretty big deal,” she said.
Stewart played 50 of 80 minutes in the final and her playing time more than doubled from her first year.
“Last year I’d get into the last 20 minutes of games which was still pretty cool because I’d never played at the university level before and it’s a pretty big step up from high school,” she said. “It was definitely different this year because I got a lot more playing time. I enjoyed the challenge.”
They’ll lose six starters to graduation but Stewart said they still have quite a few starters returning and she expects they’ll be good again next year.
“Our coach does a lot of recruiting so I think there will be a lot of good players coming in and we have a lot of returning players who will be very good,” she said.
Stewart, the daughter of Jeff and Anne Stewart, started playing rugby in the Peterborough Pagans program when she was in Grade 8 at Warsaw Public School. She also played at Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School. She is studying health sciences at the University of Ottawa.