Victoria Alarcon
Sports & Health Editor
Courtney Unruh stands only five feet, seven inches tall – in her skates. Her height may make it hard to believe, but, yeah, that’s a captain’s ‘C’ stitched onto the chest of her York Lions hockey jersey. As a matter of fact, Unruh was handpicked by head coach Dan Church to lead York’s hard-working female hockey players this season. The team’s hoping for a spot in the playoffs.
“She leads by example. She’s one of the hardest, if not the hardest, worker on the team. She may be soft-spoken, but when she does say something, it means a lot to the rest of the players,” said Church following the season home opener.
For her, the role of captain was inevitable, but it was nevertheless something to celebrate.
“I was excited about it. I mean, it’s definitely a growing program. It’s a growing team, and we’ve lost a lot of people last year, but it’s something to be a part of and be a captain of. I want to try to take the team to the next level that we need this program to do,” said the British Columbia-born Unruh.
It’s a decision echoed not only by the coach, but by her teammates as well. Jessalyn Bogacki, rookie goaltender, notes Unruh is a great captain who always gives the team feedback.
“I like watching her play. She makes the plays; she skates really hard. She’s our fastest skater out there,” explained Bogacki.
Unruh was surrounded by hockey from a young age: her two older brothers played the sport every week. She learned the basics of skating from a figure skating class in which her parents enrolled her; she hated it, she admits, but she now credits that class with helping make her such a sensation on the ice.
Last year, Unruh played a phenomenal season, and was recognized as one of the top scorers in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) league, with nine goals and 20 assists – her best performance yet. She also scored the gold-medal winning goal for the Canadian women’s team while playing in the International University Sports Federation (FISU) winter games in China.
As a forward, she practices skating hard down the ice and making fast accurate shots to the net, skills she thinks will most help her improve.
“There are some obstacles you can’t control, and there are some obstacles you can. For those you can, it comes down to practice,” said Unruh. “The controllable things you have to work on and you have to try to perfect them as much as possible.”
Like any good athlete, Unruh constantly encourages herself to be better, but she encourages her team, too, day in and day out.
“You got to tell them to come back. Tell them to rest and prepare yourselves well, and come back tomorrow,” said Unruh. “Tomorrow’s a new day. It’s something you can’t dwell on.”
Unruh speaks from experience. As a fourth-year returning player, she has gone through a lot and has seen the ups and downs through which a team may travel. She is a reliable player who knows the league’s players and the goalies and knows what the Lions need to do to win.
“I’ve been here for four years now. I know how they [York’s rivals] play, I know how to shut them down in what they do,” said Unruh.
While Unruh doesn’t come off as outgoing, she’s not shy about her commitment to the team and her determination: to her, a leader is only as good as the confidence she conveys.
“[You need] confidence in the team – know that everyone is here for the right reason and everyone has the ability here,” explained Unruh. “There are tough jobs that come with being captain, but at the same time when you know what’s right for the team, you can make the right decisions and take everyone as a whole and move them into one general direction.”
The women’s hockey team has steadily worked their way up the last three years, moving from sixth in the standings to third last year.
This season Unruh intends to reach the playoffs and win the OUA championships, something York hasn’t managed since 1997. They’ve been kept down by some very tough opponents – the toughest may be the Laurier Golden Hawks – but Unruh thinks her team has it in them to win against any rival.
“As a team as a whole, we have everything that needs to be there. We have the talent; we have the experience. We have the group to be that team this year. It’s just about coming together and making it happen.”
