Balmoral squad blazing new trail this season Coach of elite girls hockey squad improvising to get games By: Mike Sawatzky Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Sep. 8, 2020

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This article was published 07/09/2020 (1473 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sarah Zacharias is used to making tactical changes during the heat of a hockey game.

That’s the art of coaching.

But after living and working through the last six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the head coach of Balmoral Hall’s varsity prep girls team and the school’s director of hockey has been required to use her off-ice management skills to make the 2020-21 season possible.

Improvising is the name of the game.

The Blazers belong to the Junior Women’s Hockey League, an elite nine-member association that consists of three U.S.-based teams and six clubs scattered from coast to coast in Canada.

With the current travel restrictions in place, a normal season for Balmoral Hall won’t happen and Zacharias has been plotting for a way to salvage something meaningful.

A normal season for the Blazers would include 55 to 60 games, which is an environment specifically intended to prepare players for college programs in the U.S. and Canada.

When they get the official approval from provincial authorities to play games again, the Balmoral players will be lucky to suit up for between 30 to 40 games this season.

“We’re going to promote our girls through online games,” said Zacharias Tuesday. “We do have a positive to take away from all this craziness.

“Manitoba could be one of the only provinces that’s going to approve full on 5-on-5 games if Hockey Manitoba does continue on in its return-to-play Phase 3, which is expected to be decided upon relatively soon. If that’s a go and we’re playing, we’re a step above everyone else.”

Balmoral’s scheduled season-opening road trip to take on JWHL rivals such as the Boston Shamrocks, Washington (D.C.) Pride and the North American Hockey Academy of Wellesley, Mass., is out of the question.

In fact, any travel out of the province seems unlikely at this time.

 

Zacharias’ solution is made in Manitoba: she’s planning a series of exhibition games with the University of Manitoba’s women’s team and is doing the same with the city’s other top-flight female hockey program at St. Mary’s Academy, coached by Larry Bumstead.

Bumstead’s Flames, playing in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League, are in a similar bind. Both teams are planning to supplement with games against Manitoba Female AAA Hockey League teams.

“Obviously, if we do get cleared to play it will be a victory in itself,” said Blazers co-captain Ashlyn Zaharia, a 17-year-old forward. “But it obviously won’t be the same competitiveness we see in the JWHL. All of just want to play hockey and get some competition in and for all of us, we’re really hopeful we’ll be able to start playing against other teams soon.”

Zaharia and linemate Chiara Esposito, like each six of the team’s seniors, have not yet made college commitments — making this season crucial to their recruitment.

If early indications mean anything, their games will be popular online viewing for university coaches and recruiters. Two recent Balmoral Hall intrasquad games have already been watched 200 times.

“That helps us from a recruiting standpoint because colleges are going to be wanting to watch these games — even if they’re not seeing them in person — they’ll watch online,” said Zacharias. “And if Manitoba is one of the only places that’s playing, that bodes well for my Grade 12s who are still uncommitted.”

While the Blazers just completed a two-week training camp and held their first practice of the school year at the Bell MTS Iceplex Tuesday, they haven’t played since losing in the JWHL semifinals on March 7.

They are eager to get back to the games.

“Something you do realize is how much the game means to you once it gets taken away from you and how much you love it and the people you get to do it with,” said Zaharia. “And so these past six months have been the hardest thing. We’re so close to being able to play games but just being back on the ice and being back with this team — there’s nothing better.”

Esposito, a 17-year-old co-captain, believes it’s possible to stoke the competitive fires even if exhibition games lack some of the usual motivation.

“We have a really competitive team,” she said. “We’re a really good group of girls. We get along but as soon as the puck drops, we’re serious and play as hard as we can. It doesn’t matter that we are teammates, we’re challenging each other to keep that competitive stuff high so we don’t lose that spark.”

 

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14