WILKINSON WRAPS UNIVERSITY HOCKEY CAREER
Of all the top-25 pointgetters in women's hockey this season in Atlantic University Sports, only one did not score a goal.
As the second-year captain of the St. Mary's Huskies, Kiana Wilkinson of Prince George was aiming to break that goose egg last weekend but did not score while the Huskies wrapped the regular season title with wins in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.
Known as a two-way defenceman, goals have never been Wilkinson's forté. In 125 games over five seasons, she scored five goals and had 49 points. Her 23 assists this season left her tied for ninth in the league scoring race. No other U Sports women's hockey player in the country finished with more assists.
“I'd rather have 23 assists and zero goals than the opposite,” said Wilkininson.
The Halifax-based Huskies finished atop the AUS standings with a 22-5-1 record, the same as St. Francis Xavier X-women. The two teams split the season series but the Huskies claimed first place because they earned more points in those head-to-head games with the X-women.
St. Mary's and St. FX each earned first-round playoff byes and will start the playoffs at home next week.
Leaving home for North Vancouver when she was 16 to pursue her hockey dreams in the Junior Women's Hockey League with the Pacific Steelers was a tough decision for Wilkinson but her two seasons with the Steelers exposed her to quality opponents in the team's travels all over Canada and the United States and she used that experience as a springboard to a scholarship at St. Mary's.
She didn't start playing hockey until she was 13, after nine years with the Prince George Figure Skating Club. She suffered a broken arm figure skating and while recovering pulled out some of her older brother Kyler's hockey gear from the attic. She started playing hockey that year and spent her 15-year-old season in the B.C. triple-A midget league for the Northern Cougars, coached by Stew Malgunas and Don Knoop, before heading to the JWHL.
Wilkinson joined the Huskies in 2015, the year the rebuilding project started by head coach Chris Larade blossomed. As a rookie, she helped the Huskies win the first of three consecutive AUS titles and they went on to capture bronze at the U Sports/CIS national championship in Calgary.
“Last year we had more of a building year and had eight rookies come in and no fifth-years and this year we have four rookies that came in and they're killing it, it's been an awesome year,” said the fivefoot-nine, 160-pound Wilkinson.
“Chris is the best coach I could have asked for, for these last five years. He won two coach-of-the-year awards and he's an incredible person and coach. We're hoping for not only an AUS championships but a national championship as well.”
This season, the Huskies moved back to the St. Mary's campus for home games in the newly-opened 875-seat Dauphinee Centre, built with a $2 million donation.
While she's sad to see her university career coming to an end, Wilkinson has made the most of her time as a varsity athlete, on and off the ice. The secondyear captain of the Huskies won the AUS student-athlete community service award last season. She's co-lead of the Huskies' athletic council, which organizes student events and community fundraisers.
“As a player I've grown a lot but, I think, as a person too,” she said. “The time change has kind of built my independence, I can't really rely on my parents (Coralie Wilkinson and Shane Lapierre) as much for everything and I think my leadership skills have grown tremendously.”
Wilkinson, who turned 23 on Monday, is majoring in biology with a minor in psychology and hopes to get into forensics with the RCMP once her hockey career ends. That likely won't be anytime soon. She's exploring her options to play in one of the women's leagues in Europe.
“It's kind of now or never,” she said. “I'm talking to a few teams now and I'm not quite sure where I'll end up yet.”