Mitch Calvert
Talk about pulling it all together.
Fort Frances native Carly Holt and her Lethbridge junior girls’ hockey squad struggled all season to get enough numbers out to practices and games, but then rose above the rest when it mattered most with a 3-0 whitewash of the Irma Junior Chargers in the Alberta junior girls’ provincial championship March 15.
“We didn’t get rolling until almost Christmas time and it was hard to get us all out for practices,” Holt admitted.
“We couldn’t find people at first, and then it was hard to get people to commit time, and then we couldn’t find ice time.
“Just everything was adding up, it wasn’t working out for whatever reason,” she noted. “But despite what we had of a season, we were still hoping to take provincials and we were really happy when we did.”
Holt, 19, registered eight assists in the four-game provincial tournament, helping Lethbridge earn victories over the Calgary Junior Devils (4-0), Calgary Junior Comets (7-0), and finally the Chargers in the final (they had tied them 2-2 in their first meeting in the round-robin).
The former captain of the Muskie girls’ squad played for the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns last season, but was forced to give it up this year due to a demanding university schedule in nursing.
“I do miss it more than anything, but I guess I had to make a decision between school and hockey,” Holt reasoned. “It was an extremely busy hockey schedule, but it was such a learning experience and I loved every minute of it.
“It was tough to leave [the Pronghorns], but the nursing program is going well,” she added. “Halfway done [the four-year program] after this semester.”
The daughter of John and Sandra Holt always has viewed hockey as a big part of her life—and hopes to accomplish more accolades on the ice before hanging up the skates for good.
“I’ve been in the hockey system for a long time and my dad has been there every step of the way,” she lauded. “Playing for the Muskies was a good experience and I was able to play all four years [at Fort High].”
Despite several hiccups with this year’s junior team in Lethbridge (to be expected in the inaugural season for any squad), a provincial title sets the bar pretty high for next season and Holt hopes the players can build off it heading into next fall.
“Hopefully we can get things going earlier,” she remarked. “It was our first year we had it actually, so those things happen, I guess.”
“It was just more along the lines of getting the girls together and working things out as a team,” she added.
