Kiana Wilkinson's first season playing university hockey did not end in victory, but it was nothing short of a success.
The 18-year-old St. Mary's Huskies defenceman made an immediate impact with the Halifax-based team. She made the Atlantic University Sport All-Rookie team and helped the Huskies to the conference title after posting a 17-6-1 regular season record.
A week ago at the CIS tournament in Calgary, the Huskies went in ranked No. 3 in the country and that's where they finished. After a close 3-2 semifinal loss to the Montreal Carabins, the eventual national champions, the Huskies defeated the top-ranked Guelph Griphons 3-1 in the bronze-medal game, claiming the first CIS women's hockey medal for St. Mary's.
"We're happy with where we ended up and we're definitely coming back next year with bigger goals in mind," said Wilkinson. "We were really good. Definitely against Montreal we played our best game. We didn't get the outcome we wanted but we played good against them, especially in the second and third periods."
The daughter of Coralie Wilkinson and Shane Lapierre said it helped knowing her parents and older brother Kyler were watching from the stands in Calgary.
"Being close to B.C. was good, all my family was there and I knew some people from the other teams, too, so playing against some familiar faces was good as well," she said.
Wilkinson finished the 20-game regular season with one goal and five assists, 20 penalty minutes and had a plus-15 rating.
"The season was really great, we're all really close and it was really fun," said Wilkinson, who is known as a dependable puck-carrier with a booming shot. "It's faster, way more aggressive, and it's a lot different from junior."
Before she joined the Huskies last September, Wilkinson played one season for the Pacific Steelers of the Junior Women's Hockey League. St. Mary's recruited her on a combined academic/athletic scholarship which pays for her tuition and books. Wilkinson is majoring in sciences with designs on studying dentistry. She has a job lined up to work in a dentist's office this summer in Prince George. She plans to return home following her exams in mid-April.
Wilkinson's hockey career began when she was 12 and she blossomed in two successful seasons with the Prince George WIC bantam Cougars, coached by Don Knoop and Stewart Malgunas. She started out as a forward but Knoop and Malgunas convinced her to play defence and Wilkinson has been a bueliner ever since. The Cougar bantams won the provincial triple-A championship in 2014 and Wilkinson went on to play two seasons for the Prince George female Cougars midget triple-A team.
"I didn't start hockey until Grade 7 and I'm thankfully for everybody who got me into it," she said.
Wilkinson was elated to learn the Northern Capitals (formerly known as the Cougars) repeated as B.C. Female Midget Triple-a Hockey League champions and will host the regional championship starting Friday at Kin 1 against the Alberta champions. The core of this year's Capitals team played with Wilkinson in her final season of midget hockey.
"It makes a great statement for the north," said Wilkinson. "They're doing great this year and that's awesome."
