Hockey star takes to the ice with Nunavut kids

Team Canada women’s hockey star Jayna Hefford hands over her Sochi gold medal to the orange-tuqued Justus, after delivering hockey clinics to Iqaluit children Nov. 1 at the Arctic Winter Games arena. (PHOTO BY LISA GREGOIRE)

A somewhat reluctant but excited Joseph Netser, 5, poses with veteran Team Canada hockey star Jayna Hefford in Iqaluit Nov. 1. (PHOTO BY LISA GREGOIRE)

Jayna Hefford, five-time Olympian in women’s hockey, is sitting in the lobby of the Arctic Winter Games arena in Iqaluit with her gold medal from the Sochi games, surrounded by children and their parents.

The questions come fast and furious.

Is it made of real gold? How heavy is it? Can I hold it? Is it hard to get onto Team Canada? How many medals do you have? What’s your most memorable game? How many goals have you scored in the Olympics?

For the record:

• it’s gold-plated;

• it’s pretty heavy — it hurts your neck when you wear it for a while;

• yes, but be careful, hold it with two hands;

• it’s like any try-out but you have to be invited;

• five: one silver from Nagano and four gold from Salt Lake City, Torino, Vancouver and Sochi;

• well, Sochi was such an incredible game but if she had to choose, probably Salt Lake City since they were the underdogs going in; and,

• 13 total, in those five Olympic games.

The power forward, number 16 from Team Canada, and hockey school trainer, was invited to Iqaluit by several Nunavut hockey and recreation organizations, to deliver clinics to boys and girls in Iqaluit from novice age to teenagers Nov. 1 to Nov. 2.

Hefford, who just turned 37, said the clinics were well attended, that participants were all enthusiastic and good listeners, and that she was delighted to make her first trip to Iqaluit.

All the clinics were co-ed, though boys seemed to dominate in numbers, she said. But she did offer a two-day clinic just for teen girls, aged 13 to about 17, and said that was satisfying.

“I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know if girls play much hockey up here or how many there would be,” she said. “It was great to see there’s a team here and girls who love to play the game. They have a good skill level.”

She said that’s a difficult age to keep girls playing hockey because the teenage years bring distractions — there are so many new things competing for their time.

So she was happy to see such a committed, and talented, group of female players.

Originally from Kingston, Ont., Hefford started playing hockey at age six and played every winter thereafter for the next 31 years.

This winter will be the first season where she’s not actually playing on a team, she said, but she hasn’t given up hockey just yet. This year, she’s coaching the University of Toronto’s women’s hockey team and also delivering clinics as part of her hockey school.

At 5’5”, and weighing only 135 pounds, she is the smallest of Team Canada’s hockey stars, but that hasn’t impacted her ability or achievement in the game.

She has racked up numerous awards and accolades including the “top forward” award at the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 world championships and, at the Salt Lake City Olympics, she scored the game-winning, break-away goal in the gold medal round.

Girl’s and women’s hockey has changed dramatically since she started playing, she said. Girls used to be recruited when they were 17 or 18 but now they’re being scouted at age 11 and 12 and nurtured from that age onward.

“They’re just getting better every year,” she said of the young recruits to Team Canada. That — coupled with the fact more girls are playing which improves competition all around — means the level of the game for women has vastly improved, she said.

Young Igalungmiut hockey players were star-struck on Saturday afternoon, handing her everything they could find for autographs: hockey sticks, jerseys, jackets, hats and sheets of paper.

She said in the past year, she’s managed to visit Newfoundland and Labrador, the Yukon and also Nunavut, to deliver hockey clinics to kids.

“That’s the best thing about doing what I do,” she said. “ I get to go places and do things I wouldn’t normally do.”

Hefford was also the guest of honour at an awards banquet Nov. 1 in Iqaluit, hosted by the Recreation and Parks Association of Nunavut.