Lecavalier going pro

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Sarah Lecavalier, an accomplished hockey player from Strathmore, has signed on with the Malmö Redhawks, a Division 1 women’s hockey team in Sweden.

Lecavalier, 22, learned about the offer a couple weeks ago and is still getting used to being known as a professional athlete. “That’s something new,” she said.

The news of Lecavalier going pro comes at no shock to her former bantam coach, Keith Klemmensen, who has coached hockey in one form or another since 1976.

“It doesn’t surprise me she earned the opportunity, and it doesn’t surprise me that she stayed with hockey,” he said. “Sarah is one of those kids that has always been driven and motivated. Right off the top, you could see that she had the intensity, work ethic and attention to task that every coach hopes for. She showed up to work for her own sake, not to please anybody else.”

Lecavalier was hard on herself while striving to be a dominant player, noted Klemmensen.

“She had expectations – they were reachable for her, just not as quick as she wanted.”

Beyond hard work, successful players must train through repetition, “to the point where it becomes instinct,” he said. “Sarah was one of those few people who were really willing to do that.”

Lecavalier said her bantam coaches, including Klemmensen, Greg Grant and Jonathan “Doozer” Wheatley, were instrumental in her development as a player.

“They built up my confidence and believed in me,” she said. “It made the concrete foundation of where I’m at today.”

Her success is also due to immeasurable support by her family. 

“It’s hard for me to put into words all they’ve done to support me,” she said. “They’ve given up a lot to let me pursue my dream and to make me the hockey player and person I am today.”

Looking to play NCAA hockey, Lecavalier decided to go to the University of North Dakota. 

“I went through a long recruiting process in high school, and North Dakota was my dream school – that hockey program was top-notch, and the school is good too,” she said.

But after a year, the school cancelled its women’s hockey program. 

“That team unfortunately got cut – it was heartbreak and devastation,” she said. 

Lecavalier continued her NCAA career by transferring to Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, Pa. But things were not easy for Lecavalier there, as her playing time was limited at first, after playing extensively as a freshman at North Dakota.

“My freshmen year was not like a lot of other student athletes, because I did get a lot of playing time and I had a lot of opportunities,” she said. “My second year of college hockey at Robert Morris was more like a freshman year, and it definitely took its toll mentally with me – I didn’t play much that year.”

Then, at the start of her third year, Lecavalier was moved from forward to defense. 

“I played forward my entire life, for like 15 or 16 years, and then all of a sudden I was learning a new position at the highest level,” she said. “It was crazy, but I did my best with it and earned a top-four position pretty quick – I learned as I went.”

Mastering her new position, Lecavalier’s senior season was a success.

“I took the top defensive pairing there, and fortunately got on the scoresheet more than my previous three years,” she said. 

The coaching staff at Robert Morris was “lights out,” she said. One of the assistant coaches on staff was the head coach to the Swedish national team.

“He has a ton of connections, and he’s back in Sweden now,” she said. “So, he’s the one that was kind of working everything like an agent for me.”

Playing hockey in Europe might be an adjustment at first, noted Lecavalier.

“I know I’m kind of a bigger athlete and I like to move my weight around, so I might be in the box a lot more than normal,” she said. “But European hockey is usually just more of a skill game, so I’m pretty excited to test myself in that aspect.”

Lecavalier will be heading to Sweden in early September.