Of the two hockey players being inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame with the Class of 2015, former NHL star Paul Kariya will receive the lion’s share of attention.
But Olympian Shelley Winter Andrews of Victoria, the first field-hockey player to be enshrined in the 47-year-history of the B.C. Sports Hall, can more than hold her own in the resumé department.
“I am overwhelmed by this honour,” said Winter Andrews, as the Class of 2015 was unveiled Thursday at B.C. Place Stadium.
The Oak Bay High graduate spearheaded a halcyon era in co-captaining Canada to the silver medal at the 1983 World Cup, bronze at the 1986 World Cup and fifth place at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
“We took field hockey seriously. It was not a once-a-week or twice-a-week thing for us. It became our lives,” said the 61-year-old retired Lansdowne Middle School teacher.
That attitude coincided with a revolution in Canadian sport preparation.
“Suddenly, sports psychologists, weight training and top-level coaching became available to us. The national team soccer girls are all together now but those sort of ideas [such as centralization] were all new to us.”
And they made the most of it, rising to heights never before imagined for Canadian field hockey.
Winter Andrews led the way, holding down the back line as national team captain, and becoming the first Canadian player to reach 100 career caps.
“You have to have a competitive nature, which I do. But I was not a big gung-ho type captain. I led by example,” said Winter Andrews. “I just loved the sport”
She still does, playing in the Island Third Division for the Oak Bay Field Hockey Club.
Kariya grew up in North Vancouver and played 15 seasons in the NHL from 1994 to 2010 and amassed 989 points in 989 regular-season games for an exact point-a-game pace. He was twice winner of the Lady Byng Award as the NHL’s most gentlemanly player, a three-time NHL first-team all-star and helped lead Canada to the silver and gold medals, respectively, at the 1994 Lillehammer and 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
Also being enshrined in the 2015 ceremonies, to take place May 28 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, are four-time Olympic-medallist speedskater Denny Morrison from Fort St. John, Olympic runner Leah Pells from Vancouver and wheelchair rugby five-time Paralympian Garett Hickling of Mica Creek.
Inducted in the team category for 2015 are the B.C. players from the 2012 London Summer Olympics bronze-medallist Canadian women’s soccer team — Emily Zurrer of Crofton, Christine Sinclair from Burnaby, Sophie Schmidt of Abbotsford, Brittany Timko of Coquitlam and Karina LeBlanc from Maple Ridge.
