Canadian hockey starMeghan Agosta excited to participate in Alzheimer’s Face Off
Fundraising events set for April 26-28 in Edmonton
There are daily reminders in Meghan Agosta’s life about her decorated championship hockey past.
The recently retired Canadian national team standout lives in Vancouver. Her job as a Vancouver Police constable and busy role as a mom often has her driving past places of fond memories from her golden performance at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.
“It’s really cool to drive around and see B.C. Place, where the opening and closing ceremonies took place, then go past Rogers Arena, where we won gold and through the Athletes Village,” says Agosta, a fourtime competitor with three gold medals and world championships in 2007 and 2012. “It brings back such great memories. It was a crazy time.”
Agosta, 37, one of the headliners for the Alzheimer’s Face Off Pro-AmHockey Tournament, presented by Christenson Communities Ltd., will be featured at the Champions Luncheon along with Jeremy Roenick and Rebecca Johnston. She is no stranger to Alzheimer’s disease.
“Alzheimer’s has touched me and my family in many ways with family and friends,” Agosta says. “To be able to be a part of something even bigger than gold and silver medals, to be able to give back and raise money for such a great cause and just knowing and understanding what other people are going through, to be able to be a part of something like this, is so special.
“It’s something I want to continue doing. You’re leaving that legacy and being a part of something you want to shed some light on.”
Agosta joined the Vancouver Police Force shortly after the 2014 Games. Growing up in Ruthven, Ont., ( just outside of Windsor), she had two passions: chasing the sirens of fire trucks, police cars and ambulances and playing street hockey on the backyard rink her father Nino would build each winter.
Nino felt Meghan should take figure skating like her sister Kara. But young Meghan went to her mother, Char, and begged her mom to cajole Nino to let her try hockey. Meghan wanted to be like her brother Jeric, who was a year older and later earned a hockey scholarship at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
Meghan scored 19 goals in her first organized game. She earned a scholarship to Mercyhurst College in Erie,
Pa., where she graduated with a criminal law and justice degree. She burst onto the international scene as the youngest Canadian women’s team member at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, the country her father grew up in. Meghan marked the occasion by scoring a hat trick on her 19th birthday in Canada’s second game against Russia.
She was the MVP at the Vancouver Games and completed her hat trick of three golds at the Games four years later.
Meghan has four children with her husband Jason: two stepchildren, Jaden, 14, and Jackson, 11; daughter Chance, 5; and son Rylan. Despite her busy schedule, she returns to her hometown each summer to run a hockey school. At home in Vancouver, Rylan already plays mini- sticks hockey, and one of his first words was Zamboni. Chance is developing into a young standout and future international athlete.
“Watching her play brings a smile to my face,” says Meghan, who added that Chance wears sweater No. 2, just like her mom. “I look at my little girl, and she’s my inspiration. She made me a mom first and now a hockey mom.
“I’m excited to be her mom and give back to my kids like my parents gave back to me. I’m forever grateful.”
The Alzheimer’s Face Off takes place April 26-28 in Edmonton. To purchase a table to the Champions Luncheon or to learn more, visit alzheimersfaceoff.ca.
Alzheimer's has touched me and my family in many ways.”