After finishing her freshman year at Colgate University as the team’s goal scoring leader, St. Albert’s Melissa Kueber is now battling through what she says must be the sophomore slump.
A concussion kept the 19-year-old forward off the ice for a few games this season, as did bouts of mononucleosis, strep throat and bronchitis.
“I haven’t had the year I’ve wanted to have. I’ve had a lot of injuries and illnesses,” Kueber says. “I’ve missed quite a few games this year already, so knock on wood that all of that is over with.”
Kueber is still dealing with tendonitis, torn ligaments and a cyst in her right wrist, but aside from having to tape up for games, she is back to feeling healthy.
In 2011, Kueber completed her last season with the St. Albert Slash as the team’s all-time career scoring leader and accepted a hockey scholarship at Colgate in Hamilton, NY. Last year she ended her freshman season with the Colgate Raiders as the team’s top ranked goal scorer with 14 pucks between the pipes. She also tied for the second-place points spot with 19 in 32 games. So far this season, she has racked-up five goals and four assists in 20 games, placing her fifth in team’s points ranking.
Kueber is so talented offensively that it’s surprising to learn she was a goalie until five years ago. She began playing hockey as a netminder because she wanted to be a goalie like her dad, and stepped outside the net at age 14.
“I tried out for the boys’ peewee AA team for both goalie and forward, so come the final steps of tryouts I had to decide whether to continue playing goalie or forward, and I chose forward,” she says. “I don’t even really know why, but I like it. I’m happy with my decision.”
Just because she’s happy being a shooter, doesn’t mean Kueber doesn’t enjoy getting back in net every now and then. She says at every pick-up game, she asks to go goalie. And Kueber’s years as a netminder have served her offensively as well.
“It’s definitely good, especially for a forward, knowing how a goalie thinks, so to speak,” she says. “I went to a lot of goalie camps and I used to have great goalie coaches who would teach me all the little tricks of the goalies. So now I know things like where to shoot, using their weaknesses, what’s hard for them, that kind of stuff.”
The 2011 Canada Winter Games gold medallist says the highlight of her college hockey career so far hasn’t been any one game; it’s been playing with such a great team.
“I really just like our team, our team is awesome,” she says. “They welcomed me right from the get-go. They’re always there for you, they help you through classes – all of that stuff.”
And Kueber says with a new coaching staff this year, the Raiders are getting even better.
“Our record won’t show our improvement, but the day we came together with our new coaches at the beginning of this year until now … it’s outstanding the improvement. As individuals and as a team, it’s amazing. I think we’re getting better and better as the days go by,” she says.
Colgate (8-16-3) is currently ranked ninth in the Eastern College Athletic Association standings. Last season the team finished 10th in the league with a 10-21-2 record.
With just six games to go in the regular season, every match-up counts for the Raiders right now, and Kueber says in a league as competitive as the ECAA, anyone can win. The league includes No. 1 ranked Harvard, as well as Princeton and Dartmouth.
“When we play other teams, there are girls that are on the Olympic teams,” she says. “It’s high calibre hockey and it’s very competitive, especially in our league. Every game is a toss-up game.”
Kueber chose Colgate because she wanted to attend a smaller school. The educational studies major is happy with her choice because she loves the team and also because she enjoys the supportive classroom environment at the university.
“The professors here are awesome. They’re very understanding of us for athletics. They’re always there to help you out, so it’s really awesome. The professors even come to our games. They’ll know how we did on the weekends.”
