‘It’s been a really long journey’
Five often-challenging years after making her debut, Potomak is back with Canadian team
Sarah Potomak kept faith she could wear the maple leaf again, despite feeling the uncertainty that comes with rejection.
The 24-year-old forward from Aldergrove, B.C., will play for Canada in the women’s world hockey championship Aug. 25 to Sept. 4 in Herning and Frederikshavn, Denmark — five years after her tournament debut.
Potomak was 19, and Canada’s youngest player, at the 2017 world championship in Plymouth, Mich. She scored twice and assisted on another goal in five games.
She was invited to try out for the 2018 Olympic team, but was released from the squad. And, after a knee injury kept her out of the Four Nations Cup in 2018, Potomak’s name was absent from international tournament rosters until Monday.
“It’s been a really long journey for me and a lot of ups and downs, and then going through COVID and cancellations and all that,” Potomak said. “For me to be able to finally make that team just feels really, really good, After 2018, being cut, and just kind of continuing to be cut, (I) just kept picking myself back up.”
Three veteran forwards from Canada’s 2022 Olympic team — Natalie Spooner, Mélodie Daoust and Rebecca Johnston opted out of selection camp for this year’s world championship and created opportunity up front.
Competition was stiff, however, at a massive 142-player Calgary camp from which world championship, development, and under-18 teams were chosen. Sarah’s sister, Amy, 23, was selected for Canada’s developmental team, which will play a three-game series against the U.S,. starting Wednesday in Calgary. Sarah and Amy wee the first sisters to suit up for Canada together during a two-game series with the U.S. in 2016.
Now Sarah Potomak is back with the world championship team. Canadian head coach Toy Ryan, who was familiar with her quick hands and abrasive game, delivered the news on the final day of selection camp.
“I was one of the last forwards of the whole group to be called in so I was super-anxious and just sick,” Potomak said. “Troy told me congratulations. I couldn’t really speak. I was pretty emotional. To be able to walk into a room full of teammates was pretty special.”
“She’s been released a lot the last few years,” Ryan said. “What happens when a player is released is they actually don’t ever know how close they were. I needed to tell her how close many times that she was. We felt the way she came and competed at camp, now is a good opportunity for her to get that chance.”
A Minnesota Golden Gophers standout, Potomak was about to lead the No. 4 seed into the 2020 women’s Frozen Four. She had topped the team in scoring in her senior year with 19 goals and 27 assists in 36 games. But the NCAA tournament was abruptly called off two days before puck drop as the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
The curtailing of Canada’s camps and the dearth of any women’s games — international or otherwise — for months hampered Potomak’s ability to move up Canada’s depth chart and it tested her confidence.
“There were some days (that) were really, really hard,” Potomak said. “It was just leaning on the ones that mean the most to me, like my family … the more I did that, the more they kind of leaned into me and just kept kind of building me up as well.
“The more that I got out there playing hockey, (I was) just falling back in love with hockey, to be honest ... After 2018 it was pretty rough and even a bit of college was rough, too. (But) for me just to fall in love with hockey again, that’s when I’m having fun, like any player can attest to, that’s when you’re playing your best game.”
Now an assistant coach of Trinity Western University’s women, Sarah says she’s in better shape than she was in 2017.
“Fitness testing scores have gone up drastically since 2017 and that helps me on the ice be stronger, faster, quicker,” she said. “I still have a really good offensive side, but I can play basically any role they want me to play.”
Canada meets host Denmark on Saturday and the United States Tuesday in pre-tournament games before opening the championship Aug. 25 against Finland in Herning.