Like a lot of young Canadian women these days, Thunder Bay’s Brittany Zuback has always dreamed of pulling a Team Canada jersey over her head and playing for her country.
Unlike most of the dreamers, Zuback realized that dream earlier this summer, donning the Maple Leaf as a member of the Canadian under-18 women’s hockey team for a three-game series against the United States in Lake Placid, N.Y., where 30 years ago the American men won Olympic hockey gold, the forever famous Miracle on Ice squad.
Zuback, 17, who plans on playing NCAA Division 1 hockey, but she’s hoping her first international experience isn’t her last.
“My greatest goal is to play for the senior team and make the Olympic squad when my time comes,” said Zuback, hoping to follow in the footsteps of another famous Thunder Bay Queens graduate, Haley Irwin, who brought home a gold medal from the recent Vancouver Games.
“I actually got the chance to train with Haley Irwin and Al MacKenzie all this summer and it was a great opportunity and I learned so much from both of them. Haley is a great player and it was great to be able to learn from an Olympic hockey player what it takes to reach those next levels and what the next steps are.”
First the 5-foot-6 forward has to finish high school – though she won’t do that at home.
Instead Zuback plans to head to Waterloo, Ont. for her Grade 12 school year, where she intends to play for the Kitchener-Waterloo Rangers of the Provincial Women’s Hockey League, a 19-team circuit that stretches from Ottawa to Hamilton.
“I’m looking forward to it and it should be a great season,” she said via email. “I will be billeting with a family there and am excited to get down there. Also, I’m hoping to keep up my play and make the U-18 team for the world championship, which I believe is in late December in Sweden.”
Zuback, joined in Lake Placid by Queens teammate and star goaltender Amanda Makela, said the adjustment from her midget-aged team to one at the national level seemed to go smoothly, despite the added level of competition as everyone tried to make an impression on the coaching staff.
There was no time for a let-up, Zuback said.
“On this team everyone battles and competes every day. They bring their ‘A’ game during everything, whether it’s during warm-up, fitness testing, the pre-game skate or just a fun game, everything is competitive.”
Zuback, who won gold with the Queens at the 2010 Esso Cup and says she doesn’t shower when on a winning streak at a tournament, was held off the score sheet against the Americans. The U.S. side took all three games
