Back to school—and on the ice Local girls head west to further hockey careers

Carly Holt’s first point in university hockey came late in a game already lost for the Lethbridge Pronghorns, but for the Fort Frances-born defenceman, it was a chance to live out a dream.
“Ever since I was a little kid, it’s been my dream to get up here,” she said. “I love it. I die for it, pretty much.
“It’s what I love to do,” she stressed.
Holt assisted on a late goal, the only one for Lethbridge in a 4-1 loss to the University of Manitoba Bisons in the second game of their CIS season last Saturday.
While it’s hard to take pride in individual accomplishments with a losing record (the Pronghorns lost the first game against the U of M 4-0), Holt is happy to be playing in one of the highest levels in women’s hockey.
“It’s a lot better than last year. There’s more competitiveness here, and I love it so much more,” she said.
Holt is just one of many local girls who have pursued their hockey passions outside the friendly confines of Fort Frances—leaving the province for schools that not-so-coincidentally are well-known for their on-ice programs.
Nicki Mosbeck, another former Muskie who headed off to Saskatchewan this year, is another such player. She is enrolled at Notre Dame College in Wilcox, a residential high school best known for its hockey teams.
A Grade 11 student, Mosbeck is having fun at her new school, although she didn’t make the cut for the school’s ‘AAA’ team, instead filling the ‘AA’ roster.
“I set standards for myself before I came from this school,” she said. “I really wanted to make ‘AAA.’”
She admitted falling below the bar was hard.
“It depends on how high a person sets their standards and I set mine high enough that I thought I could reach,” Mosbeck reasoned. “I just have to re-evaluate and set my goals again.”
Still, she insisted the trip was worth it.
“I love it. I really do love it,” she enthused. “It’s an amazing school.
“The first few days I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I really want to be here,’ kind of thing,” she admitted. “I miss my friends, I miss my parents, I miss my home . . . but settling in, you get to know everybody and your roommates pretty much get to be your sisters.”
Mosbeck added her ‘AA’ team looks very good, and is hopeful the experience will make her a better player and ready for the leap to ‘AAA’ next season.
Plus, she added, “there is a possibility that I could get pulled up throughout the year.”
MacKenzie Caul already has a year under her belt away from home at the University of Manitoba, and said the lifestyle has been easier the second year—even if it’s not much easier on the ice.
“It’s the being away from home and being by yourself, it’s a completely different experience between university hockey and high school hockey and ‘AAA’ hockey.
“The calibre of hockey is so much better, and it’s increasing,” Caul said.
She said she knows how things are going to be for Holt and Mosbeck this season.
“When you’re a rookie, there’s always someone else,” she warned. “You get your one chance, but there’s always somebody ready to step in if you make a mistake, so that plays a big factor.
“I’m actually not as nervous as I was,” Caul added. “Last year was so nerve-racking, being your first year you’re always like, ‘Oh my God, if I don’t do this well is this going to affect the next year.’”
She noted the big second-year challenge was off the ice.
“The biggest change is my schooling. Your schooling keeps getting harder and harder as you progress. It’s a lot of work,” she remarked. “You really have to learn how to balance it.
“When you come back at the end of the day after your practice . . . when you go down and want to rest, you can’t, you have to study or start your assignments.”
Holt said she hasn’t hit the worst of that yet, but that everyone’s been very supportive.
“Being away from home, living on my own right now, it thought it would be a lot harder than it is . . . I came in here expecting the worst, but everything’s been really good,” she said.
As for Holt’s experience at the rink?
“It’s a little tougher than I’m expecting and it’s a lot of work. We’re on the ice almost every day of the week, and we’re in the gym, too.
“Definitely keeping busy.”
Caul hasn’t cracked the Bisons’ listed roster, and said she didn’t get to talk to Holt over the weekend, although the two do still keep in touch. She said she was disappointed, “but that’s just part of it, I guess.”
Holt added that she was “looking forward to seeing her,” having known each other for years, but it wasn’t to be.
Although, for Holt, getting on her first university stat sheet was a nice consolation.