To the Editor:
I remember Corrie Swirsky shooting from the blue line and being able to hit the cross bar the year she was the Munn Cup MVP. Then she went on to win back-to-back Canadian Interuniversity Sports Female Hockey Player of the Year.
When I called Tom O’Brien from CHTM about doing an interview with her from her residence at Concordia University in Montreal, he understood the significance of her achievement and we set it up. I asked her about the road hockey games outside their house on the corner of Beaver and Staghorn with her brother Chad and the kids in the neighbourhood and the countless times she played in the C.A. Nesbitt and Gordon Beard arenas. She spoke about playing “boys” hockey and the impact it had on her development.
I remember seeing her parents Gerry and Leonard at the rink when she played and how supportive they were of her. Everyone in minor hockey knew her and knew how tough and how good she was. She could skate, shoot and didn’t shy away from the corners. That is why her picture hangs in the lobby of the arena.
I applaud minor hockey for their “female weekend” lately. It is long overdue. Did you know that Riverside School teacher Allison Kissick scored the first-ever goal for the all female hockey team the Thompson Tigers? It was an exciting time and yet little has happened since that team.
We have a storied history of hockey in Thompson, and the challenge to minor hockey is to take a leadership role in developing female hockey so that the bantam and midget female teams that represent the north are competitive and instill the core values that Corrie showed us both on the ice and in the classroom. We need female teams at all levels.
Let this weekend be that catalyst for change and a rekindling of female hockey at a younger age.
Brian McCusker
Thompson
