Published: Friday, 15 January 2021 06:00 Written by David Zammit

Despite only being able to play five games in her final Saskatchewan Female U18 AAA Hockey League season so far, Kamryn Johnson has found a post-secondary hockey opportunity come the fall.

Earlier this week the Swift Current Innovation Credit Union Wildcats defenceman committed to Bishop’s University in Quebec to pursue her hockey and scholastic dreams.

“This one just kind of seemed like the best fit for me academically, hockey-wise it was a really cool opportunity for me,” she said before practice Wednesday afternoon.

One of the big deciding factors for Johnson in choosing a college or university was to be able to play hockey somewhere north of the 49th parallel.

“There were quite a few schools in the states in the Div 1 ACHA division that were reaching out and I had an offer from a few of those schools,” she said. “A big part of me wanted to stay in Canada, and so that’s what I kind of knew I wanted to do and I was given an opportunity by them to do that, so that was the most exciting thing for me.”

Given the COVID-19 pandemic making it hard for teams at the next level to scout U18 AAA, the fourth-year Wildcat with the help of her father Dan Johnson took it upon themselves to make a video and send it out to a multitude of programs.

“One of the bigger things the coach talked about is he really liked my professionalism when I reached out to them and was talking about the opportunity,” she said. “He liked the way I had a bunch of videos set up and it was very well done, so thanks to my dad for that.”

Aside from the 17-year-olds qualities off the ice, the program took notice of her skills on the ice.

“He likes my size, my shot, he thinks I will be a really strong player,” Johnson said. “And I could do a lot of improving on that team, so he’s really excited for that, and he thinks I will be a good asset to their team.”

The Gaiters female team just joined the U Sports league in the 2019/20 season, perhaps giving the Swift Current product a better chance at immediate playing time as the program is still in its infancy, but no promises have been made yet.

“A lot of teams for the first year it doesn’t look that promising just because you gotta work your way into a team,” she said. “And even with my first year (with the) Wildcats like you go in and you don’t want to expect a lot of playing time because then you might get your feelings hurt… You just kinda gotta expect that you need to work your way up… So he said there’s room and spots for anyone at this point.”

Away from the hockey aspect, Johnson has been keeping in contact with an academic counsellor and has narrowed down her schooling choices to a biochemistry degree or a pre-med degree.

“A lot of those degrees are four-year degrees, and I’m probably going to stretch those into 5 years and also hockey is five years for the university level (eligibility-wise),” she said. “And if it’s too much I can lower my class load. I think if I have to take three classes a semester to be eligible to play U Sports… I’m there to play hockey, I’m there to go to school so kind of make sure I’m not procrastinating doing other things and try to stay on top of things will be my goal.”

The right-shot defenceman’s dream is to attend med school.