(Submitted photo/Ireland Sorestad)

By Ben Tompkins

University of Regina

Former Melfort female hockey player new Cougars captain

Nov 9, 2021 | 9:30 AM

The new Captain for the University of Regina Cougars Women’s Hockey team is one that locals will probably know.

Ireland Sorestad, who was named Captain at the start of the season, grew up in Melfort and played quite a few years of hockey here growing up.

She started out figure skating at the age of five with her mom, Jennifer South, being her coach. That is until her mom wanted her in a team sport, which is why she put her in hockey at the age of six and the rest they say is history.

When Sorestad started playing hockey in Melfort, there were no girls’ teams, which meant she had to play with the boys’ team, where she was always the only girl.

She would go on to play in the Melfort Minor Hockey League, as such, until she had to make a choice, did she see a future in women’s hockey?

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The answer ended up being yes, as she would end up leaving the league after her second year of Peewee, to go and try out for the AAA team in Prince Albert, which she made it by the way as she would then play for the Northern Bears for four years before joining the Cougars.

When she joined the U of R, not only was she close to home, but it was the first time in her career that she had a female coach.

Now she’s in her fifth year of playing, in the final year of her Education degree, married to her husband, who also went to the U of R, is from Melfort and actually grew up playing hockey with Ireland, and according to her mom, is currently most likely the first female ever in our area to captain a university hockey team.

When looking back on her journey, Sorestad told northeastnow she is very hopeful for the future of girl’s hockey in the area and wants there to be more opportunities than she had growing up.

“I hope female hockey has evolved since then. I know female hockey hasn’t always been the star thing, so I hope we can evolve it more, so girls do have more opportunities and places to play, despite where they are.”

And although Sorestad was forced to play on a guys team growing up and there weren’t girl’s change rooms at the rink, she said that she loved growing up where she did and if anything, it made her stronger.

“Growing up in a small town, I loved it. I think, since I was the only female on those guys’ teams, I kinda had something to prove. Because of that, I think I worked even harder and I had a chip on my shoulder. Growing up in Melfort was a great experience and I love visiting. I definitely had something to prove and I think I proved it.”

According to Sorestad, however, her time in Melfort isn’t over yet, as she can definitely see a return in the future.

“This year I was accepted into a Hockey Canada Coaching Mentorship program, that helps bring high-level female athletes back into their communities to coach. I’ve been doing that this year and coaching a U15 girls’ hockey team in Regina. That’s been fun, but my goals for the future are, I would definitely want to come back to Melfort and teach there, as well as create a women’s hockey camp or a place where girls can come learn the skills of the game from a women coach or someone who’s had that experience. Ideally, that’s something I want to do and something that is definitely on my mind.”

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8