If you are chasing the dream of a professional ice hockey career, there is perhaps no better place than the country where the sport is a national obsession.
That is the opportunity being grasped by a 16-year-old girl from Northern Ireland who is preparing to make her dream move across the Atlantic after being accepted into one of Canada’s elite school ice hockey programmes.
Molly is set to study at a boarding school for student athletes on Prince Edward Island, where she will combine school studies with elite-level ice hockey training.
Molly said she was overjoyed to be given the opportunity to pursue her dream
The opportunity comes after years of dedication to the sport, with Molly making twice-weekly, three-hour round trips from her hometown of Strabane to Belfast, as well as regular ferry crossings from Northern Ireland to Scotland to compete in the sport she loves.
Molly said her love of ice hockey began when her parents took her to watch a Belfast Giants ice hockey game when she was about 10.
“I knew straight away that I wanted to try it,” she told BBC Radio Foyle’s Mark Patterson Show.
“I played some field hockey, but never ice hockey. It’s just so fast and so different from any other sport I’d ever seen before.”
Molly said ice hockey was a fantastic sport, but growing up in County Tyrone meant opportunities to play were limited.
The only permanent, year-round public ice rink on the island of Ireland is Dundonald International Ice Bowl on the outskirts of east Belfast.
‘I played in mostly boys’ teams growing up’
For the past four years, Molly made the journey from Strabane to Belfast twice a week to train with the Junior Belfast Giants, a youth development team.
She has also represented Ireland with the Irish Saints, the official National Youth Development Ice Hockey Team operated by the Irish Ice Hockey Association (IIHA), which has led her to compete in tournaments in both the United States and Canada.
She said that due to a shortage of young female players most of the teams she represented at youth level were predominantly made up of boys.
“Playing with the boys in the Belfast Giants junior team and national level was really great at junior level, but I really wanted to get more experience in the women’s game, and travelling to Scotland was my only way to experience that,” she said.
Over the past two seasons, Molly has played for the Caledonia Steel Queens in Edinburgh, an all-female Scottish side that competes in the Women’s National Ice Hockey League.
All of those experiences at both junior and now more senior level, she says, have fuelled her desire to become a full-time professional.
Molly’s father, Derek McGilligan, admitted it took some time to become accustomed to seeing his daughter compete in such a physical sport when she made the switch to the Scottish league.
“The first couple of games I went to after Molly made the step up, some of the players she was playing against in the women’s league were in their 40s,” he said.
“You would get concerned the odd time, but Molly works so much on her strength that she holds her own on the ice against most people.
“She can handle herself.”
Derek said their family is so proud of everything Molly has achieved so far in such a short space of time and could not wait to see her develop her skills even further in Canada.
Richard ‘Rambo’ Gray, head coach and founder of the Caledonia Steel Queens, told BBC News NI that Molly was an exceptionally talented young ice hockey player, with a rare level of hockey intelligence and versatility for her age.
Despite primarily playing as a winger, he said Molly had also been trusted in a number of positions within the team and had a unique ability to adapt on the ice.
He said he had been fortunate to coach many talented young female players from across the UK, some of whom travel from Northern Ireland to Scotland to play regular top-level league fixtures.
Gray said Molly’s move to Canada was a fantastic opportunity, with the potential for scholarships at universities and a pathway towards higher-level hockey.
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