Between the pipes on the ice and the field
UOIT's Rikki Lund has moved her skills from the arena to the Lacrosse field, helping the women's team to a 4-4-1 record
Oshawa’s Rikki Lund started her career at UOIT by playing for the women’s hockey team in her first year. After taking some time away from sports to concentrate on her studies, Lund has once again put on the pads, but this time, it’s for the women’s lacrosse team.
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
It takes a couple things to make a successful goaltender.
The candidate has to have the ability to ignore human instinct. When a flying projectile is launched your way, whether from the end of a stick or off the end of a foot, they have to ignore the part of them screaming to get out of the way, and do the exact opposite.
It also takes a lot of skill.
Well, UOIT’s Rikki Lund has both of these things, proving herself first on the ice, 
and now, on the lacrosse field.
Lund, a 21-year-old originally from Charlottetown, PEI, made the move to Ontario nearly nine years ago, and for the past four years has called Oshawa and UOIT her home.
Like many Canadian kids, Lund found herself on the ice at a young age, and has spent almost all of that time between the pipes. In her first year at UOIT, she was recruited to play for the Ridgebacks women’s hockey team.
However, after a year, Lund found herself being pulled away from her studies and was forced to drop the sport from her schedule.
In her final year of post-secondary, Lund is looking to do things a little different.
“This is my last year and I’m going to have fun with it,” she says with a laugh.
When she found out the lacrosse team needed a goalie, Lund figured she would give the sport a try – how different could it be?
“It was like night and day,” she says.
Besides the obvious switch from ice to grass, Lund says the technique is completely different.
Whereas in hockey, goalies will rely on their pads, crouching low or dropping down into the butterfly, lacrosse goalies need to stand tall to cover the thin rectangle net behind them.
“It’s definitely been an interesting transition…At first I was crouching really low to the ground, like in my hockey stance,” she says.
Changing the habit has involved a complete shift in mindset, and while she may not have things perfect, Lund says she finding a style that works for her.
“It might not be fundamentally correct, but I’m getting in front on the ball,” she says.
Lund was named UOIT athlete of the week for her role in helping the team start off the season undefeated.
“It’s definitely an honour,” Lund says. “You’re almost alone back there. It’s fantastic to have that recognition from the school.”
The Ridgebacks are now 4-4-1 and head to St. Catherines on Oct. 17 to battle the Queens Gaels.
When asked whether she would choose hockey over lacrosse, Lund laughed, and admitted it was a tough question, but her history on the ice perhaps wins out over her new-found talent on the field.
“Hockey is definitely my safety net,” she says.