The puck stops here
Hockey Canada selects Niagara teen to compete in world under-18 women’s championships
It would be an understatement to say that Canada will have to leave the neighbourhood in hopes of settling a score with a neighbour when the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Women’s World Championship gets underway next month.
Dmitrov, Russia, site of the eight-day competition, is half a world and eight time zones removed from Maddy McArthur’s home in St. Catharines.
She is the Denis Morris Catholic High School student who made the national team after backstopping Ontario Red to the title at the national women’s under-18 championships last month. The 17-yearold compiled an 0.67 goals-against average and a .973 save percentage going 3-0 between the pipes for one of two Ontario teams that the eight-team tournament in Quebec City.
The daughter of Don and Jennifer McArthur was named the top goaltender at the national championships.
She called being selected to the team as an “indescribable feeling.
“When I first put on that jersey, no words could truly describe the pride that you feel in that moment,” she said.
The defending champion U.S. won’t be entirely unfamiliar to McArthur when the two perennial powerhouses of women’s world hockey renew their rivalry next month in Russia. She was on the Canadian team that lost two of three to the U.S. in an under-18 summer series in Lake Placid. N.Y.
“I think we have a solid team this year,” the Grade 12 student said. “We made changes to the roster,
“We’re always in contention for gold. Canada and the U.S. have the two strongest female hockey programs worldwide and hopefully we’ll bring home the gold this year.”
McArthur’s “high level of compete and focus” at nationals impressed Delaney Collins, head coach of under-18 team that will represent Canada Jan. 6-13 in Russia.
“She was successful in helping Team Ontario Red clinch the gold medal at National Women’s Under-18 Championship in Quebec City in early November,” Collins said. “As we prepare to travel to Dmitrov, Russia, in early January for the 2018 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship, it is our expectation as a coaching staff to get a continuation of this compete level and the preparedness we have seen in Madelyn to this point.
“She is a good teammate and has very professional approach to the game.”
McArthur, who next year will begin majoring in biology at Boston College on a four-year hockey scholarship, has come a long way since she first laced up a pair of skates.
She began power-skating as a five-year-old and started playing house league two years later.
She was introduced to the goaltender position at the start of second year.
“The team began rotating players giving a try in goal,” McArthur recalled. “I just kept volunteering and volunteering.
“By the time playoffs came, I was their fulltime goalie.”
She wasn’t the greatest skater back then, but that wasn’t the reason she gravitated to the position.
“I kind of thrive off of the pressure, you can be a difference-maker.”
Yes, goaltenders can be the heroes hoisting the championship trophy after earning a shutout, but they can also be the goat who allows a soft goal in overtime in the gold medal game.
After nine years and counting between the pipes, McArthur has come to reconcile those two extremes.
“It has to go through five players before it gets to me,” she said. “My mistake is just magnified.
“I’m OK with that, I realize that, but it has to go through five players before it gets it me.”
McArthur, who is in her second year with the Oakville Junior Hornets of the Provincial Women’s Hockey League, ranks athleticism and rebound as her strengths as a netminder.
“My positioning helps with that as well,” she said. “As long as I’m in the right position, I can track properly and deflect the puck to where I want to.”
Her skating has improved over the years, too.
“I can get to the bench if a penalty is called for sure,” she said with a laugh.
From the crease McArthur can see all but the sliver of the ice that’s behing her and, as such, likens the position to a quarterback in football.
“You see can see everything in front of you, you can see plays develop,” she said. “That’s why communication with your defence is so important.”
And, yes, McArthur takes advantage of mental skills coaching offered by Hockey Canada when she feels the pressure of being the team’s last line of defence is getting to be too much.
“That definitely helps,” she said. “When I’m at these events there are mental skills coaches you can go to and talk to.
“At this point, I think my mental game is definitely one of the biggest parts of my game. I deal with the pressure pretty well.”
When she’s on the ice, and on her game, McArthur gets to a point where she can turn off her brain and shift into a “flow state.”
“You just kind of let your instincts take over.”
McArthur is blessed with what from time to time has been a goaltender’s greatest gift: a selective memory. She can usually forget a bad or soft goal that she would like to have back.
“You have to refocus and prepare for the next shot, no matter what.”
That doesn’t mean McArthur won’t revisit a bad goal.
“You can look back on a goal if you’re looking to see what you can do better.”
A “great support system” of coaches, teammates, friends and family helps McArthur keep a loss in perspective. They make sure she doesn’t heap all of the blame on her shoulders.
“They remind me that a goaltender’s mistakes are magnified, and although you may feel like the loss is put on you, the puck still had to go through five other players,” McArthur said.
She gets along with the other goaltenders on her team, but appreciates the relationship is “unique” among players on a hockey team.
“You can be competitors in a friendly way and make each other better, but at the end of the day you have to have that ‘team mentality’ that whoever is playing, you want the team to win,” McArthur said. “So whoever is better for the job, you have to support them and support the coach’s decision as well.”
McArthur recalled she was 12 when she began realizing that hockey could be her ticket to a free education.
“You look up to the girls who get Division 1 scholarships, and you hope one day you can get your education paid for.”
Colleges began showing interest in her when she was in Grade 9.
She chose Boston College over Dartmouth because of the strength of the Eagles hockey program.
“Their hockey program is absolutely fantastic and to be with so many elite hockey players who have the mentality of they want to win and who are setting goals every day,” McArthur said.
“The players want to be there, they want to win a national championship, and at the end of the day that’s my goal as well.”
McArthur, who also wanted to go a Catholic university, is taking biology as a pre-med major in hopes of becoming a neurologist specializing in concussion research.
She attended a cellular biology class during a campus visit.
“It just interested me so much,” she said. “It just confirmed my decision to major in biology.”