Playing pro hockey in Europe a ‘dream come true’ for this Inuvik player | CBC News
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Kyra McDonald has achieved a lifelong dream.
The 22-year-old hockey player grew up playing on the boys team in her hometown of Inuvik, N.W.T.
Since then, her love of the sport has taken her to Alberta, where she played competitively as a teenager. Now she’s playing for the Trinity Western University Spartans in Langley, B.C.
Her hockey career is set to take her to Switzerland next year, where she has been signed to play for Fribourg-Gottéron, a professional team.
She said the chance to keep playing hockey past university is a “dream come true.”
“The fact that it’s a reality, that I get to play professional hockey, is kind of mind-blowing,” she said.
Between the limited opportunities to play hockey in Inuvik and starting competitive leagues later than her peers, she said she frequently dealt with anxiety and self-doubt. That makes her success now especially meaningful.
“I’m so proud of myself, ’cause I definitely just have had that mindset just of trying to keep getting to that next level somehow.”
The moment McDonald was told she had been signed to a European team, she shared the news with people who matter the most, her parents and siblings.
Her dad, Tim Gordon, was delighted. Gordon, a former Junior A player, shares McDonald’s obsession with hockey and was coach in Inuvik.
He said it was an emotional moment to hear his daughter would be playing in Europe. He said it made him think about how far she’s come.
“It’s hard to explain, but just happy and excited and a proud moment,” he said.
McDonald first left home at 15 to play for a AAA team in St. Albert, Alta., and Gordon remembers how hard it was to say goodbye to her though he knew it was the next step in doing what she loved.
He attributes his daughter’s success to one simple thing.
“She just loves the game,” he said.
He remembers her as a five-year-old waking up every morning asking if she could play hockey that day. She wanted to be at the arena every chance she got, he recalled.
McDonald said she is excited to move to Europe this fall and start taking in the sights.
For now though, she is focused on her last playoff run with the Trinity Western University Spartans and the semi-finals happening this coming weekend.
Gordon said he and McDonald’s mother are already saving up their vacation days so they can visit her in Switzerland.