By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle
The last time the Times Chronicle spoke with hockey player Danica Maynard, she was preparing for the Canada Winter Games with lofty aspirations of securing her first gold medal at only 15 years old. Now she returns to Osoyoos having done exactly that.
The British Columbia U18 Women’s hockey team made history, and for the first time ever won gold at the Canada Winter Games this year, beating Nova Scotia 3-0 in the gold medal game on Saturday March 4 at Credit Union Place in Summerside, P.E.I.
Not only did Maynard win gold, she was a crucial part of the team. She was in the starting lineup and played forward during the tournament despite normally playing defense. Not only was she entrusted with the duties of forward for this tournament, she also played defense on the powerplay.
“Very exciting, and something that doesn’t happen often,” Maynard commented.
BC U18 women’s hockey team starting line up at the Canada Winter Games 2023 in P.E.I. Dean Maynard photo.
This medal came with an incredible amount of experience for the 15 year old. She was able to play on a team with girls older and more experienced, such as four members of the Canadian U18 National Gold medal team and two of them played on her line.
“They were big role models for me, they helped me a lot to understand the game and what it means to be a leader, all the different ways of getting better, skills, winning, and just controlling your play under pressure by playing the game freely, how you would play normally.”
Two of these players, Jordan Baxter and Maya Serdachny, assisted on the last goal of the gold medal game, where Maynard potted a goal upstairs in the third period, solidifying a comfortable 3-0 lead on their way to become national champions.
To get to the final game, Team BC beat Manitoba 5-0 in the quarter finals, then defeated team Quebec 6-1 in the semi-finals.
Not only did the team win the first gold medal in its history, and only the second medal in BC women’s hockey history at the games, but also Team BC picked up 103 medals, making it their best performance ever at the Canada Winter Games.
Maynard receiving her first gold medal. Dean Maynard photo.
When asked what’s next, the now gold medal winner does not have much time off, as she is back to school the day after returning home, and her team, the Penticton Okanagan Hockey Academy U18 – CSSHL starts their playoffs this weekend.
Following this, at the end of March, she is heading back east to Ontario because she was invited to represent her culture by the Metis Nation of British Columbia (MNBC) to represent Indigenous women in sports. Maynard is the only female from BC representing the province.
“That is really exciting that I get to be representing my culture of Indigenous people,” she commented enthusiastically.
Following this, the U18 National Women’s Team tryouts will be in August and she is very hopeful to get invited to those.
When asked what experience she can now bring back to the South Okanagan, she responded, “The more you connect with everyone and have chemistry, the more everyone gets going and just plays the game and understands it. When you connect more as a team and understand everyone, and understand everyone’s roles, you are in a good environment, and you feel like a family, more than individual teammates.”
She was also very grateful that she “had a lot of support from everyone when I was gone,” referring to her home here in the South Okanagan.
