As Canada’s national women’s hockey team heads into the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics on a mission to win its third gold medal on the international stage, two local athletes will join the battle.
Working their way through the ranks of Sudbury Minor Hockey, Tessa Bonhomme, 24, and Rebecca Johnston, 20, have proven to be top athletes in their sport.
Bonhomme said she’s been playing hockey for as long as she can remember. “I think I had my first practice when I was four years old.”
Her interest was sparked after watching kids playing street hockey at her babysitter’s house. “She convinced my parents to let me play and away I went,” she said.
After being a member of the Sudbury Lady Wolves intermediate AA team for five years, the Lasalle Secondary School graduate headed across the border to Ohio State University. While playing for the Buckeyes for four years, the blueliner earned numerous player of the year titles, and completed her college career as captain of the team.
In 2006, Bonhomme, who has been a member of the national women’s team since 2004, was one of 27 Canadian players centralized for the Olympic Winter Games in Turino. However, she didn’t make the cut that year.
“I was excited to be centralized, but I was nowhere near mentally or physically mature enough to be there,” she was quoted as saying, on www.ctvolympics.ca.
Being a part of the Olympics has been a dream of Bonhomme’s for a long time.
“We are just proud to be examples that there is no set route or recipe to making a national team. We are living proof that, as long as you dream big and have the work ethic to match your desire and drive to be the best, you’ll catch your break at some point.”
As for Johnston, hockey runs in the family. The fourth sibling of six, Johnston started playing hockey at the age of four, to follow suit. “My father and all my brothers and sisters played hockey,” she said.
She played on boys’ teams until she reached high school, when she joined the Sudbury Lady Wolves intermediate AA team for three seasons. Still following in the footsteps of her older sisters — both of whom played hockey at Ivy League schools — the Lo-Ellen Park Secondary grad headed off to Cornell University for her post-secondary education.
Since 2007, Johnston has been making her name known with Cornell’s Big Red hockey team. In her rookie season, she led her team with 16 goals and 16 assists, earning her the title of Ivy League Rookie of the Year. Last year, Johnston was named team MVP, leading the team with 25 goals and 20 assists.
This year, she opted to take the year off of school in order to train for the Olympics. “I have devoted a lot of my time to train and prepare myself so that I am continuously improving every day,” she said.
At 20, Johnston is one of the youngest players on the national team, but it’s not a designation she’s unfamiliar with. In 2007, she made the Canadian Under-22 team and at 17, she was the youngest player, by more than a year, to make the Canadian team, according to www.ctvolympics.ca.
Like Bonhomme, Johnston said representing Sudbury, and Canada, on the Olympic stage, is a dream come true.
“It has been my dream to play at the Olympics one day. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I want to make sure I am at my best throughout the entire event.”
While Bonhomme and Johnston never actually played together in Sudbury, the two women finally crossed paths on Canada’s national under-22 team in 2007.
“I’ve played with every Johnston sister except for Rebecca before we both made the team in 2007,” Bonhomme said. “She’s a spark plug out there and is a great offensive flare for our team ... she is always creating havoc in the other team’s zone.”
Johnston said it’s exciting to be able to share the Olympic experience with a fellow Sudburian. “Tessa has helped me out tremendously throughout these stressful six months. She is a great role model and an amazing hockey player.”
The ladies will take the ice for their first Olympic game Feb. 13 at 5 p.m. against Slovakia.
Check out Thursday’s Northern Life for a profile on Sudbury’s Olympic cross-country skier Devon Kershaw.
Canadian women's Olympic hockey schedule:
Feb. 13 - at 5 p.m., vs. Slovakia
Feb. 15 - at 2:30 p.m., vs. Switzerland
Feb. 17 - at 2:30 p.m., vs. Sweden
Feb. 22 - Semi-finals
Feb. 25 - Bronze medal game, at 11 a.m.; Gold medal game, at 3:30 p.m.
