Ice one! Hallie’s hockey dream comes true
A 15-YEAR-OLD who endured an ‘exhausting’ seven-hour round trip to hockey training each week has been selected for the Irish women’s national ice hockey team.
Since the age of 10, Hallie Cummins has made a three-and-a-half hour trip from her home in Kilkenny to Belfast every week to train as there are no ice hockey facilities in the Republic.
But her hard work and determination has paid off and the teenager is now preparing to travel to Kuwait today to compete in the IIHF Development Cup as the youngest player on the Irish squad.
Hallie told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘Making the senior national ladies team means a lot to me, it’s been a dream of mine since I started playing aged five. I grew up with two older brothers who played ice hockey, I’ve been the only girl on many of my U15 and U18 club teams which play against boy teams, and I’ve also played against senior men’s national teams, so I’m used to tough and rough training sessions and games.
‘But having other girls around me in the changing rooms and supporting each other on and off the ice is incredible.’
Hallie’s closest ice hockey training facility is Dundonald International Ice Bowl in the North, which is exactly 300km miles away from Kilkenny city.
Speaking about the seven-hour round trip she makes each week, she admitted: ‘It is extremely exhausting, especially on a school night getting in late sometimes, but it’s worth it.
‘I hope and dream that one day a proper facility will be built closer. Even Dublin would be fantastic.’