The Defense Starts Now
JULIE ALBERT OF THE BOSTON SHAMROCKS
WILL PLAY IN HER FIFTH NATIONAL ABORIGINAL
HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP
B Y S C O T T TAY L O R
Photos by James Carey Lauder, Laurie Anderson and Bruce Fedyck
By her own admission, the most
fun Julie Albert has playing
hockey is the time she spends with
Team Manitoba at the National
Aboriginal Hockey Championship.
“Really, it’s like my favourite thing
to do,” said Albert, via telephone from
the practice rink in Wilmington, Mass.,
where she plays for the Junior Women’s
Hockey League’s Boston Shamrocks.
“It feels like I do it every year and it’s
just great. I love the coaching. Dale
Bear is a great coach. And there are
good vibes every game. There is never
any drama. The players are great, the
coaching is great, it’s just so much fun.”
This month, the Manitoba Aboriginal
Sports and Recreation Council
announced its lineups for the provincial
male and female teams, which will
compete at the 2018 NAHC, a national
hockey tournament that will be held
at Membertou First Nation, just three
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kilometres from Sydney, Nova Scotia.
This will be a big year for both male
and female Team Manitoba. Last year,
in Duncan, B.C., they both won the
national championship. It’s the first
time it ever happened and although the
teams won in very different fashions,
our kids did emerge as national champs.
The women’s team completely
dominated last year’s tournament
winning 7-0 in the final game
against Team Saskatchewan.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better
group of girls to work with,” said
head coach Dale Bear. “Every player
contributed in her own way and played
as a team from Game 1 to the Gold
Medal game. The positive attitudes they
had all week made our time memorable.
People from different provinces spoke
about how hardworking, disciplined
and respectful our team was. Hearing
those words about our young ladies