Hockey dreams were realized with a national championship for a Millarville forward.
Sienna McClinchey and the Liberty University Lady Flames scorched the opposition to take home the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s (ACHA) Division 1 women’s hockey championship, the seventh in program history, in St. Louis, Missouri.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” said McClinchey, a sophomore forward. “It means a lot to me, and I know it means a lot to my family as well.
“It’s basically everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”
The Lady Flames got through their conference playoff to earn a date at the national championships with 12 teams in pool play and the final four teams of Adrian College, Midland University along with the host Maryville University Saints.
“We had a really good coaching staff, really good team and our team just bonded from the start,” McClinchey said. “It was a good all-around group of girls.
“We had a couple of upsets and lost a few games and then once we got back, we changed our mindsets and were able to keep our momentum through and we knew we could do it.”
Liberty defeated Midland 5-2 in the semifinal and then secured the title with a 2-1 double overtime victory over Maryville with Zosia Amadek notching the game winner.
“They had a crazy crowd with all of their teams there,” said McClinchey. “It was definitely a lot, the crowd was very loud against us, but I think it was the perfect match-up for us.
“Going into double-overtime, it was a flashback to last year and how we lost in the semifinals, but we knew we could pull it off this year.”
McClinchey played her minor hockey with High Country and Okotoks and skated with the Rocky Mountain Raiders at the AA and AAA levels before moving to the Edge School for her Grade 12 season.
Off the ice, the hard-working forward is a diligent student as evidenced by her being on the Dean’s List in every semester to date while studying psychology, child life specialist, with a minor in family and child development.
The 19-year-old said life as a student-athlete at the Lynchburg, Virginia university is an exercise in effective time management.
“Throughout being here, it’s helped me a lot,” she said. “Balancing a sport and academics and really going hard on the academics side and having to get homework done on time.
“We’re on the road a lot so we’re having to get assignments in ahead of time, we have to study on the road, and it’s just being really disciplined on the academic side.”
