A local minor hockey team had a day to remember after being surprised with a major locker room upgrade.
Wetaskiwin Minor Hockey’s U15 Queens received this year’s Gatorade pro room experience while attending Calgary WickFest 2023 from Nov. 23 to 26.
The team won the experience after their assistant captain, Chevelle Saulteaux, entered the contest on social media.
“I posted a video on our Instagram page. It was just a fun video of us talking,” said Chevelle.
“Then I posted it, and I tagged Hayley Wickenheiser and Gatorade Canada for it to enter the contest, and then we just won it,” she said.
The experience was complete with music, towels, name bars with each player’s name and number and, of course, lots of Gatorade.
“It made our year,” said the U15 Queens’ head coach, Trevor Saulteaux.
After finding out the team had won, Trevor said the coaches decided to not tell the players, choosing to surprise them instead.
“We told them that they did win something, but what we did is we had all the parents sneak into the pro dressing room and we had kind of a blind reaction. So, we put music on and they walked in with their hockey bags.”
“They were super excited,” Trevor said.
In addition to the pro room experience, the team had the chance to meet four-time Olympic gold medalist Hayley Wickenheiser.
“She [Wickenheiser] actually came in and surprised the girls. So the girls got to talk with Wickenheiser, ask her questions and Hayley Wickenheiser had a lot of knowledge, and told the girls about how to be a hockey player, how to make it to the next level,” said Trevor.
He said the accomplished athlete had a lot of patience and took the time to speak with all of the players.
“She was in the room for about an hour. You know, she didn’t come in and just say ‘hi,’ take some pictures and leave, she stayed with the girls and talked and took pictures. It was amazing.”
WickFest, created by Wickenheiser, is a female hockey festival that hosts a tournament, workshops, events and special guests to help girls develop their skills in the sport.
This year, the U15 Queens were one of only 80 teams selected out of 200 applicants to attend the festival.
Players on the U15 Queens team range in age from 13 to 14 years old.
Queens team members include Tyler Devine, Mikenna Silzer, Alie Ogilvie, Chevelle Saulteaux, Tia Saddleback, Charlie Gnutel, Carley Schamber, Grace Ness, Taylor Wheele, Norah Zarantonello, Bethany Driedger, Hudsynn Mcauley, Makenna Bailey, Kinnley Gessner, Illianna Strader and Neveah Soosay.
