Spooner joins UOIT coaching staff in mentorship role
The UOIT women’s hockey program hopes Natalie Spooner joining its coaching staff will help take the program to the next level.
Spooner, hailing from Scarborough, will be a player mentor for UOIT, with her main focus on-ice being skill development. Away from the ice, she hopes to share and use her experiences as a member of the national program to teach the players how to mentally and physically prepare themselves to become the best players they can be.
“I’m pretty excited,” states Spooner in a news release. “I graduated from university two or three years ago now, so I’m excited to get back into the university atmosphere. For the girls, I think this is one of the most exciting times of their lives, just concentrating on hockey and school.”
Although her hockey resume is centered around playing the game and not as much on the coaching side, with Spooner still playing, she hopes UOIT players will learn from what she is doing in season and vice versa.
“It is a little weird now, kind of turning the tables and being on the other side (coaching), but I think as you get older, there are younger girls in the game of hockey and you try to give back and teach those girls because they are the future of hockey,” she said. “If I can do that just a little bit with some of these UOIT girls, I think it will be awesome.”
On top of her new role with the Ridgebacks, she is a member of the Toronto Furies of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. Spooner is also a member of the Canadian national team, which she has won numerous international medals with. At the IIHF world women’s championship, she has won one gold (2012) and three silver medals (2011, 2013 and 2015).
She was also a member of the gold medal winning Canadian team at the Sochi Winter Olympics last year.
“I’ve worked with Natalie for a couple years now in her development and to have her on board, bringing her experiences and knowledge to UOIT is a huge benefit to our program,” says Justin Caruana, the team’s head coach. “With her experience as a university athlete, as well as a current player, we expect and hope that our girls will listen to everything she has to say. Every bit of knowledge she gives them will be something that has the potential to take our program to the next level.”
The UOIT Ridgebacks open the OUA regular season Oct. 8 at home against the York Lions. On Sept. 29, they host the St. Thomas Tommies for an exhibition game at the Campus Ice Centre.
Season tickets are now available through the UOIT athletic department. To purchase your ticketsm contact Scott Dennis at 905-721-8668 ext. 2784 or e-mail scott-dennis@dc-uoit.ca.