A highlight of the weekend was that Mercyhurst retired jersey number 17, worn by CJ, the first captain, and only four year captain in program history. Let me tell you a CJ story. So when I was a freshman, the program was in its third year of existence, second official year of Division I. The team played in a little league called the Great Lakes Women's Hockey Association (GLWHA), along with Findlay University and Wayne State University. In the year before I arrived, the Lakers went 1-1-2 against Findlay in league play, and 4-0-0 against Wayne State. Findlay went 3-0-1 against Wayne State, so Mercyhurst won the regular season and Findlay and Mercyhurst met in the first ever GLWHA championship. Alas, Findlay won that 2001 Conference Tournament in a 2-1 decision despite being outshot by Mercyhurst. I am told the loss did not go over well. It may have cast a pall over the girls' summer.
Enter me and five other freshmen and one transfer in the fall of 2001, the second season of GLWHA league play. The original seniors (who were only juniors at the time, we actually had no seniors), and the sophomores brought us up to speed on the lay of the land: we hated Findlay (not really, just hockey wise) and had to win this year. It wasn't going to be easy; we respected them, and last year they proved they were better than us in the Championship game. Ok, noted. The message was repeated throughout the year, often delivered by our captain. So we went about our business and had the good fortune to once again win the regular season of the GLWHA. This time we hosted the tourney at Mercyhurst. The tourney was just a one game Championship between the first and second teams in the league, of course, it being a three team league and all.
Ok, so it's Sunday, February 24th, 2002. I'd played on a line with CJ all year, me on the left, CJ at center and another Lyndsay on right wing. It was awesome playing with them. Lyndsay was strong and skilled and fast. CJ was very slight, but played really big and was just smart. She was the first Laker to reach 100 points, and in an era where every freshman class was better than the last, CJ was a big piece of the offence until her very last game, an impressive feat. She pretty much led by example, wasn't exactly a loud rah rah type. She wore her love for hockey on her sleeve, something a few other girls on the team did, and something I had never seen before, but admired. CJ had a little piece of tape on her stick where the blade met the shaft of the stick. On the tape she would write something like "Never Quit." I was never the type to quit but I was also never the type to write it on my stick, and I spent a lot of time that season sitting next to her on the bench, noticing the writing on the tape.
So there we are at home, haven't lost to Findlay all year, playing in the Tournament Championship, and what are we doing? Losing. We were down 1-0, about halfway through the first. End of the first period? Still down. In the second period we had two early power plays but came up empty handed. Now I am not sure when she said it, but at some point I was sitting next to CJ on the bench, and whether it just after a shift or after surveying the scene on the ice, at some point she yelled "we are not losing this game!" There may have been an f word in there but I can't be certain, and don't want to sully her good name, so let's go without. Now I am nothing if not impressionable, and remember I said CJ was not the rah rah type, so to me this was a rather forceful announcement. Could she back it up? Would we back it up? Was CJ having a Mark Messier moment? I thought she was a Gretzky fan. So many things to think about, best to just play hockey, though. Not one word of a lie, CJ set up a goal a couple shifts later. CJ to Randi to me, little tip and in the net most likely. Tied 1-1. No skating down the bench for high fives in those days, it was a different time. But I'm sure I got back to the bench, sat down next to CJ, slightly pleased, and awaited our next shift. All these years later, I remember her words on the bench, and more.
Tied at the start of the third, there were three goals in the first five minutes of the period, leaving Mercyhurst with a 3-2 lead, and eventual 4-2 win, our first and only GLWHA tournament championship. Amazingly, after the GLWHA teams formed the CHA, Mercyhurst has won 12 more conference championships since that time, in a league that has grown in membership and talent.
Lest you think the GLWHA Championship was the only big game that day, there was another contest going down in Salt Lake City, Utah: Canada vs the USA. Canada was trying to win its first Olympic gold medal in fifty years, America was trying to win on home soil, as was done in Lake Placid twenty two years earlier. The Canadians won, and for us Lakers, most of whom were Canadian, we now had two things to celebrate. Campus was empty, everyone was on break, but as always having each other was enough. We put on Canada gear, sweatpants in a lot of cases, and went out and celebrated.
It is now sixteen years later. I am proud of the success of the program, and am happy that young women continue to get an opportunity to play Division I hockey at Mercyhurst. About 25 of us got together for two nights, one in Canada gear, sweatpants in a lot of cases (at the hotel), and we celebrated.
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