“At the beginning of the year, we knew that we wanted to play for a championship title and we accepted all that goes into that.”
Earlier this year, Alexie Olivier and the Guelph Gryphons women’s hockey team rode a third period goal from captain Katherine Heard, edging the Ottawa Gee Gees 2-1 in the OUA final to earn their first provincial university women’s hockey banner since 2019.
That does not come without sacrifice.
In the case of the 22 year-old fourth year Gryphon who hails from northern Ontario, it would mean that the long-time offensive contributor with pretty much every Sudbury Lady Wolves team she ever played on would set aside the numbers in order to accomplish the ultimate team goal.
“Everybody wants to score those really important goals, everybody wants to be a point producer, but you have to own what you are really, really good at,” said Olivier. “My mindset changed.”
It certainly wasn’t as though the local multi-sport talent who also excelled in competitive soccer and starred with the 2013-2014 Atom “A” Lady Wolves team that captured provincial gold has forgotten how to put the puck in the net.
Of the four goals that she scored this past season, three were of the game-winning variety – second highest on the team. A late November road trip to the nation’s capital featured an overtime encounter with the aforementioned Gee Gees, the teams heading to three on three overtime, the contest tied at 2-2.
Just 22 seconds following the puck drop on period four, Olivier batted in her own rebound on a clear-cut breakaway, helping the Gryphons to a 19-4-3-0 regular season mark this year. “I have a lot of family in Ottawa,” stated the hard-working super fit forward. “And all of that family pride was there, supporting me.”
“It reminded me that I have the best family ever.”
Moments like these are super critical when one is asked to swallow hard and accept the fact that the power-play time to which they had long become accustomed is likely to be no more.
“I bring a lot of speed and try and stay involved with the play as much as I can,” began Olivier, enjoying a candid deep dive into those key attributes of her game that would play a big part in earning a trip to nationals. “I have developed a lot of confidence over the past four years.”
“Having the confidence to create pressure and disruption is a huge thing. It’s about being a player that is really hard to play against; being willing to block those shots at key times, winning battles in the tough areas. That’s where I have seen a lot of growth in my game.”
Alexie Olivier, the senior, undoubtedly sounds much differently than Alexie Olivier, the freshman. “I had a hard time accepting it at first,” she said – which honestly does not make her unlike the thousands of supremely talented young athletes, stars in their hometown setting, having to deal with the fact that their post-secondary squad has assembled an entire crew of athletes who were all stars on their hometown teams.
“Everyone has a role; everyone is important,” said Olivier. “Even people that are sitting out are important, practicing hard to make your teammates better.”
Preparing to return for a fifth and final year of eligibility, the Psychology major now understands that her raison d’être with the Gryphons is hardly limited to those very specific skill-sets that she can spend hours on end working upon.
“As a fourth year player, the role I took on was trying to be someone who is consistent and reliable – not necessarily being the loudest, but leading with how I played and how I approached things every day, setting a standard for the younger players.”
“Every role is important and it takes everyone on the team to win,” added Olivier. “Everyone accepted that team-first culture.”
And in the late afternoon of March 14th, before an enthusiastic crowd at the Gryphon Centre Arena, Alexie Olivier and her teammates accepted the OUA gold medals that come, on occasion, with one and all buying into that belief.
