For various reasons, this season marks the end of the college hockey line for six members of the celebrated Lakeland Rustlers women’s team.
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Further studies, graduation and immediate career plans are steering those valued Rustlers elsewhere after Lakeland’s latest playoff run in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC).
After a couple of one-goal losses last weekend, the pennant-winning and defending-champion Rustlers trail the Red Deer Queens 2-0 in their best-of-five ACAC final. The series resumes this weekend, with games scheduled for Lloydminster on Friday, Red Deer on Saturday and Lloyd on Sunday.
As the playoffs began, Lakeland coach Morgan Mann spoke about each of his departing Rustlers, noting they would be missed on and off the ice.
JULIANNA GIACOBBO
Julianna Giacobbo, the Rustlers’ lone fifth-year player, runs out of eligibility beyond this season. Although she has played just two years at Lakeland, she previously skated with post-secondary teams in New York and Regina.
“She’s in the nursing program here, so she’ll still be at Lakeland next year, going to school, but her eligibility time is up,” Mann said about Giacobbo.
“She loves the game as much as anybody, so this whole thing has been really hard on her. She loves her teammates and the game of hockey.
“So, I think she’ll get into coaching. I know she’s been approached by some people with minor hockey, and I hope she does (coach). She’s got a lot to offer. Hockey and coaching are in her blood.”
Coaching runs in Giacobbo’s family. Her father Geoff is a longtime St. Albert coach, most recently with the U18 AAA boys’ Raiders. His team’s first-round playoff series against the Lloydminster Lancers enabled him to watch the Rustlers’ two playoff wins over the Medicine Hat Rattlers two weeks ago in Lloyd. After sweeping the Lancers 2-0, St. Albert was eliminated after losing 2-1 in its series with the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers.
ADDISON EURICH and MARLEIGH MANN
For two of the veteran Rustlers, their academic pursuits are taking them outside of Lloydminster in the next school year. Addison Eurich of Luseland, Sask., and Lloyd’s Marleigh Mann — Morgan’s niece — both have played two years with the Rustlers.
“Academically, they’re both very intellectual young people that are off to professions (where) they just couldn’t get any more here at Lakeland College,” said coach Mann. “So, Addi is off to New Zealand for chiropractor school, and Marleigh is following in the footsteps of her big sister (Madelyn). After two years here and playing with us, she’s off to vet school at the (University of Saskatchewan).”
Both of those student-athletes have been dedicated on the ice and in the classroom.
“Addi has been a top scorer in the league two years in a row,” coach Mann said about Eurich. “That type of power forward, there aren’t many players in the league like her, with that size and strength and a good stick. The best shot on the team.
“We had a little contest at Christmas that Factory Sports put on. They give a custom-made stick to whoever had the best numbers, coming to the shooting gallery, and she won that contest hands down.”
While her focus is school, Marleigh Mann wouldn’t look out of place playing U Sports hockey with the Huskies at the U of S, says her Lakeland coach.
“If she was with us for another couple of years, Marleigh would be our captain,” Mann said. “We just have three (assistant captains this year), because I believe in shared leadership.
“Marleigh is a leader. If anyone on the team needs help with their studies, she’s the first one to step up.
“Yeah, we’ll really miss both Marleigh and Addi. Very mature. Good teammates. Well-liked. They’ve got exciting careers ahead of them. We’ll be proud to say that they were Rustlers.”
CLAUDIA LAMMERS,
AVA COLE and PARIS APPEL
That same sentiment is the case for all the departing players, including Saskatchewan natives Claudia Lammers of Outlook, Ava Cole of Edam and Paris Appel of Swift Current.
Lammers is “another special player” who for two straight seasons has been an effective scorer, reported Lakeland’s coach.
“In her first year, Lammy led the league in scoring for the playoffs, and last year she was second in playoff scoring,” Mann said.
“A big-game player who brings the energy and is quick — a relentless worker. She’s also a really cool individual. She does it her way. Not a follower.”
With a chuckle, he shared a story about Lammers that he told on seniors’ night as the Rustlers’ regular season finished.
“I said, ‘If you’ve seen Lammy walking around downtown Lloyd, you’d think she was headed to the skatepark.’ She’s not very big and, her style, it looks like she’s more of a skateboarder than a hockey player.”
In reality, “she’s a real athlete,” Mann said. Along with her hockey endeavours, Lammers has represented Team Saskatchewan in national baseball circles.
‘THEY JUST RAISE ATHLETES’
Graduating with a nursing degree, Cole has been a proud representative of Edam, one of those small communities that stands out athletically.
“There’s a few communities like that,” Mann said. “They just raise athletes. That’s Edam. Dewberry is kind of that way. Irma is another.
“Ava is a tough player and blocks shots. She’s just a warrior. She’s going to be a great nurse. She’s somebody that when there’s trauma, like in the emergency room, she’ll just rise to the occasion. She has that (poise).”
Appel is Lakeland’s other fourth-year nursing student in her graduating year.
“In her first-year of the nursing program, Paris had the top marks in Saskatchewan,” Mann said. “A very bright student.
“Her family has really embraced the Rustler hockey family and are such great supporters. They’re from Swift Current but they don’t miss much (in Lloydminster). Her mom did up all the decorations in our (dressing) room, for the grads. Just really good people. Those people are just priceless — to lose Paris and her family (from the hockey program) is a big hole for us.”
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