Molly fires Ireland to silver medal in Canada

WHAT a difference a year makes!

Twelve months ago, Sion Mills girl, Molly McGillian was a member of the Irish under-15 ice hockey team who travelled to the SEDMHA tournament in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they lost all three of their group games narrowly.

But last week, the Strabane Academy pupil and her team-mates returned and they showed a dramatic improvement by reaching the final. En route to the showpiece which they lost 5-0 to Sherwood Falcons as tiredness crept in after seven matches in just four days, they won all but one of their games.

Molly and her under-15 Saints got their tournament up and running against Dieppe Eagles, who they defeated 4-1 before they went on to take on Shediac Cap-Pele Predators, winning 7-4 with the Tyrone lass on the scoresheet. Unfortunately they lost their next game 3-1 but they bounced back in style to conclude their group phase with a stunning 8-2 triumph over the Flames to qualify for the last eight.

That propelled Molly and her team-mates into the quarter-finals where they went head-to-head with the Moncton Hawks. A tight first period saw the Hawks lead 2-1 but the Saints rallied to level the match at the end of the second before storming to a 6-4 victory.

That success led to a semi-final encounter with a match-up against Sherwood Falcons at Greenwood Energy Centre where a tight clash saw the teams level at 1-1 after the first and second periods. But the match came to life in the final period with Ireland edging through with a 3-2 victory to reach the final for the first time.

Molly, who plays competitively in Scotland and England throughout the year, thoroughly enjoyed her experience of playing in an international tournament with the Irish Saints in Canada, telling local TV channel CTV about it when interviewed about her journey from Sion to Nova Scotia not once, but twice!

“It’s so exciting and so fun, the atmosphere in here [the ice hockey arena in Nova Scotia] with all the parents and the billets is amazing,” beamed Molly, whose TV appearances have now been viewed over 300,000 times online.

“It’s insane [compared] to what we have at home because we don’t have competitive teams to play against in Ireland and we only get to train together once a month, so it’s different.

“I practice a lot at home, a lot of work at the gym and a lot of shooting pucks and stuff just to make sure I can keep up with the boys.

“We got silver but I’m still really happy because nobody ever thought we’d make it this far. We came last year and we did not do as well as we did, so I’m proud of everyone in that locker room. We played well.”

Due to the lack of ice hockey teams in Ireland as a whole, Molly and her family have to travel to Scotland for her to play for a ladies team in Edinburgh called the Caledonia Steel Queens and they are hopeful of attracting sponsors to help support that in the near future.