Shawnigan Lake School is no stranger to welcoming athletes back to campus, although in the past, it has usually been rowers returning from winning Olympic medals or rugby players from playing in World Cups.
Morgan Jackson broke new ground, or perhaps more appropriately, new ice when she returned with a gold medal from the 2023 IIHF U-18 women’s world hockey championship in Östersund, Sweden. The entire student body lined the road to the Island secondary school campus on Wednesday to welcome home Jackson.
“I was in shock. The whole school was there,” said the Grade 11 student-athlete from the Comox Valley.
“I did not expect it. All our sports teams are really good.”
Among the throng to greet Jackson was Shawnigan Lake School women’s hockey head coach Carly Haggard, herself a trailblazer who came out of Port Alberni to play NCAA Div. 1 at Dartmouth. The passing of the torch was also evident on another level as Jackson listed fellow-Islander Micah Zandee-Hart as her role model. Canadian senior national team blue-liner Zandee-Hart of Saanichton, last year at Beijing 2022, became the first player from B.C. to win an Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey.
“I met Micah a year ago and she has since reached out to me,” said Jackson.
Jackson’s goal is also the Olympics and is targeted for the group that will represent Canada in the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games, neither of which have yet been awarded to a host city.
“I can’t live without this game and the Olympics are my ultimate dream,” said Jackson.
The Islander played all five games for Canada as a two-way forward, including on the penalty kill, in the world U-18 tournament and is eligible to play again next year.
“I learned so much from the second-year players on the national team, who were so inclusive in imparting their experience, and I know that will be my job next year,” said Jackson, an all-rounder, who grew up playing hockey, lacrosse and soccer in the Comox Valley.
“I gained so much confidence as the world tournament went on and improved a lot.”
Jackson, fellow-forward Jordan Baxter from Coquitlam out of the Delta Hockey Academy, and blue-liner Gracie Graham from her hometown RHA Kelowna Academy, were the B.C. players on the gold-medallist world U-18 Canadian team, which beat host Sweden 10-0 in the final Sunday.
“Morgan is so talented and her hockey IQ is one of the highest I have seen at her age. She is three times better than I was at her age,” said Shawnigan Lake School head coach Haggard.
“She has a very bright future.”
Jackson is a graduate of the Vancouver Island Seals of the B.C. Elite Hockey League and led the Canadian Sport School Hockey League women’s U-18 Prep Division with 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points in 14 games before she was called from club to country for the U-18 worlds. Jackson, a five-foot-eight, 136-pounder, is committed to NCAA Div. 1 Northeastern University in Boston, where she plans on studying health and sciences beginning in the fall of 2024.
It’s back to club play for Jackson on Saturday and Sunday in a two-game set against Delta Hockey Academy on the Lower Mainland. Shawnigan Lake School’s depth was evident without Jackson in going 3-1 in the recent Canadian Sport School Hockey League Showcase in Medicine Hat, Alta.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
