At 14, Emily Bailey has played quite a lot of hockey in the last few years. She plays for the Bonavista Area Minor Hockey Association, and is also involved with Hockey NL’s elite development programs.
Recently she got the opportunity to play with the Seventh Wave NL under-15 hockey team that competed in a tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Five teams competed, including Tampa Bay, Carolina, Colorado, and Hamilton.
The Seventh Wave brought home the silver medal. They faced the Colorado entry in the final where they came out on the wrong side of a 6-3 decision. However, Bailey says a silver medal at that caliber tournament is a good showing.
“It was great hockey and it was a great experience for me,” says Bailey.
This will be Bailey’s last year playing in the under-15 division. Next year she moves up to the under-17 female division.
She says she hopes to get a lot more hockey in over the winter in order to prepare for the provincial camps again next spring.
Meanwhile she says she’s going to savour her hockey silver.
“It was my first time playing outside the country so that’s pretty special.”
Emily is a student at Bishop White School in Port Rexton. Her parents Michael and Sheila accompanied her on the trip.
For mom Sheila one of the highlights of the trip was a visit to the Bank Atlantic Centre in Sunrise, Florida to watch the Washington Capitals and the Florida Panthers in action. But even better than the National Hockey League game was the opportunity to see her daughter step onto the Bank Atlantic Centre ice in Sunrise, Florida for an inters squad game between the Seventh Wave team.
“They were on the ice for about five or six minutes between periods of the hockey game. It’s not everyday that you can say your daughter played on a national hockey league ice surface. For us as parents that was pretty special,” says her mom.
