From Medicine Hat News
By James Tubb
Two Medicine Hat products will be lacing up their skates for U.S. college women’s hockey teams.
Ryan Harvey-Zink and Brooklynne Painter, who have both played the past three seasons with the South Alberta Hockey Academy women’s U18 hockey team, will head south as they begin their post-secondary hockey careers. Harvey-Zink is suiting up for the Indiana Tech Athletics and Painter will play for Illinois’ McKendree University Bearcats.
Both families loaded up their cars and embarked on the trip to their respective schools Wednesday.
Harvey-Zink, a forward, sees her commitment as an adventure like she’s never experience before and is looking forward to the new opportunity. She says it was a hard choice on where she wanted to play but picked the Athletics because of head coach Scott Hicks and his philosophy about the team.
“He was just so big about his team culture and I loved that about him,” Harvey-Zink said. “It was really important to him everyone got along, was there for the right reasons and was like a second family. Hard work was everything to him and I love that. He also talks a lot about mental health and sport which I think is really important. I’m going into exercise science, which will likely teach me all about that, so I liked that he focused on that a lot.”
Painter, who plays defence, says it’s surreal seeing her dream come true of playing college hockey. She’s looking forward not only to the experience as a whole but the fact she already has a friend at McKendree University. Bearcats forward Janaya Laqua played two seasons at SAHA alongside Painter. She says knowing Laqua and having toured the school and practised with last year’s team, has calmed some of the nerves ahead of her move.
“Even just knowing where I’ll be living because I visited there and when I was there I was able to stay in the dorms with Janaya so I kind of got the full experience,” Painter said. “From eating in the dining hall, sleeping in the dorms to waking up at 5 a.m. for a 6:15 a.m. practice, which was a little rough with a little jet lag at that time, but obviously the full experience.
“It’s just wanting to live that every day is where most of my excitement comes from.”
Painter says she enjoyed the dining hall because it offered the normal menu while also having salad, pizza and burger bars. She’s a fan of Canadian pizza but isn’t expecting to be served that in Illinois.
“I might have to switch things up,” Painter said.
Both Harvey-Zink and Painter are original members of SAHA’s women’s hockey team, joining the academy ahead of the 2020-21 season that featured no games due to COVID-19. They both look back positively on their time in the black and blue and leave with lessons, motivation and life-long friendships after what seemed to be a quick three years.
“They really made me grow as a human being, developed me beyond compare, it was insane and I met so many people that I care about and who’ve helped me through so many things,” Harvey-Zink said.
“I don’t think I’d be able to make it to the next level if it wasn’t for SAHA,” Painter said. “My teammates, my coaches and even just the program itself pushed me to be one of the best hockey players and people I could. So I don’t think I’d be where I was if it wasn’t for SAHA.”
Both played minor hockey in Medicine Hat before joining SAHA, suiting up for the Southern Express. Painter played boys hockey until she reached bantam age when she joined Harvey-Zink with the Express and the duo have played on the same team until this upcoming season.
Indiana Tech and McKendree University play in the American Collegiate Hockey Association Hockey, which is the national association for Non-NCAA Collegiate Hockey throughout the United States. Both schools are at the ACHA D1 level and while they don’t have any regular season games lined up this season, the pair want to face each other at least once in their college careers.
“It’s going to be really fun and I hope we get to play them sometime these next few years we’re both down there because we’ve been talking about it already,” Harvey-Zink said. “We’re going to take pictures after the game, we’re not friends on the ice but we’ll be friends afterward and it’ll be really fun. It’ll be great to see her and hear about all her adventures too.”
Painter is looking forward to them matching up against one another as forward and defence.
“I know some of her weaknesses, she knows some of mine but I also know some of her strengths and she knows some of mine, so I think it’ll be fun just trying to test each other,” Painter said. “Obviously, we’ll be enemies when we’re playing. But I can’t wait to be her friend again after the game, just chat and catch up.”
Both understand the importance of growing the women’s hockey game not only in Medicine Hat but across the hockey world. For Painter, who grew up playing both boys and girls hockey, she says it was a motivator and taught her not to give up when pushed down.
“I want to help grow the game of hockey in Medicine Hat for girls because there’s not very many opportunities in Medicine Hat for girls,” Painter said. “It’s growing more but when I was growing up, really guys hockey was my only option. It pushed me a lot and obviously you get those little comments, ‘You shoot like a girl; You skate like a girl.’ It just pushed me to become better than them.
“For the younger girls, just don’t give up. I know sometimes it seems hard and you’re not gonna make it but I had those thoughts too and here I am.”
(Originally published at https://medicinehatnews.com/sports/local-sports/2023/08/12/hatters-committed-to-playing-u-s-college-hockey/)
