Two Solway Shark youngsters have been selected to play at the world’s most prestigious junior hockey tournament in Canada.
For the first time in six decades, girls’ teams from around the world have been invited to participate in the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament.
Mollie Walker, 12, and Maisie Simpson, 12, will represent Dumfries with the England National U13 Team.
Both girls are feeling “grateful” for a lifetime experience.
Mollie who played hockey for almost seven years said: “I am not nervous as I was before when I didn’t know the team. It is made up of girls from all over the UK and we have never met some of them but the coaches have helped us get to know each other. I am excited about meeting even more new people and teams from around the world and playing in the NHL size stadium.
“I think we have a good chance to beat a few teams and hope we win the tournament for the girls’.”
Maisie has been playing for five years and is feeling “special” to play in the first girls tournament.
She said: “I have worked very hard to get to this stage both with my clubs in Dumfries and at the England Girls camps and trials so I am pleased that the hard work has paid off.
“It will be very tough as we are a fairly new team of girls put together at the end of last year and we will be up against teams from some of the best hockey nations in the world, such as Switzerland, Canada, USA and France, but we will give it 100 per cent and we are always improving game by game.
“I am really excited and looking forward to it. It will be a great opportunity and experience to meet other female ice hockey players and see their skills too.”
The girls have a training session in Nottingham on February 4 before they will travel to Heathrow Airport and take off to Quebec on February 7. Both girls increased their training hours before the upcoming tournament to work on durability, balance and muscle strength.
Mollie’s mum Jenny said: “We are beyond words with how proud and excited we are. Mollie lives and breathes ice hockey.
“She has watched other girls like Cassie McGregor, Ruby Newlands and others that took part in the last Under 18s worlds. She said to the GB coach in 2019 that she will be playing for them one day. She has kept that promise and is well on her way as England is a direct pathway to GB.”
Her dad Andy added: “Mollie’s sister also plays ice hockey and we as a family are passionate about promoting females in sport with Mollie even being an Ambassador for The Women’s Ice Hockey Life Magazine. This being the first time in 63 years that the tournament has invited girls is out of this world and truly inspirational.”
Maisie’s parents Kerry and Lee are experiencing mixed emotions of being proud, nervous and excited for their daughter.
Kerry said: “It’s amazing to see how they have developed over the years leading up to this and that they are now getting the opportunity to perform on the world stage and make history. I have watched Maisie develop from her first time on the ice at “snow tots” then onto the skate UK programme and into ice hockey which she absolutely loves.”
Lee added: “It is certainly a proud parent moment and it is great to know that all the hard work pays off and as a parent that all the thousands of miles driving to and from the UK’s ice rinks is worthwhile.”
As the tournament approaches, Mollie and Maisie decided to fundraise money to help with the trip expenses. With the help from the family and friends they have done raffles, tombolas, 50/50 draws, litter picking, bike rides and more to raise funds. There was also a table set up at the Men’s Solway Sharks game on January 28 to help girls reach their financial goals.
Kerry said: “Maisie came up with the idea of covering the distance from where she lands at Trudeau Airport in Montreal to the Videotron Arena in Quebec, where the team plays their first game. This is a distance of 177 miles along the St Lawrence river. She decided that she will cycle, walk, run and skate around the roads of Dumfries and Galloway and log miles when she’s on the ice and is currently at 86 miles completed so far so she needs to keep up the pace with two weeks to go.”
Jenny added: “We are so grateful for everyone who has helped. We have been lucky enough to get support from the Nithsdale Trust and this helped with costs for kit and trials. Unfortunately, some of the grants we can apply for require you to use the money after you receive it and we had tried to be super organised so have left these for a while as we are sure with travelling around the UK and the possibility of other games abroad more fundraising may be needed.
To help Solway Shark Juniors in their journey to Quebec, donations can be made for Mollie: www.gofund.me/d2cf13ba and Maisie: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lee-simpson-1.
