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Botts is on the cusp of a break through into the highest eche lons of global women’s hockey. The other, dubbed D.C., made her debut on the senior women’s world stage this year, and is trying to establish herself as a regular in a star-studded lineup. Jennifer Botterill of Winnipeg and Pilot Mound’s Delaney Collins were important members of the Canadian women’s team that won yet another Four Nations Cup yesterday. Their birth days are only a day apart in early May, although they’re two years apart in age — Bot terill is 21, Collins 23. The point is, they’re young, they’re Manitobans and both hope to be mak ing their mark on the hockey world for many years to come. “Every international competition I’m in, I get a little more confident,” said Botterill, the Harvard student who won the tournament scoring title with three goals and six assists for nine points in only four games. “In some games, in some tournaments, PROVO, Utah — The one called the puck’s just going to go your way and go in the net for you. “It’s not that I felt so much better this tournament,” said Botterill, who can rarely be caught giving herself any platitudes. “There’s different things you can do to contribute to the team’s success. I feel I've done differ ent things in the past, but this tourna ment other things worked well.” The Americans had bombed Cana da 4-1 in the round-robin, but Canada, as it usually does, saved its best game for when it really counted — the medal round. “The competitions between us are so close,” said Botterill. “We always seem to come up big in tournaments and our team really seems to come together very well... I don’t know what it is — if it’s just that Canadian heart or just something with our team .We just play so well together. I don’t know if I can pinpoint exactly what it is,” she added. And perhaps showing that sports psychology genius may run in families, the daughter of University of Winnipeg guru Cal Botterill said: “You just have to have a positive feeling and such a belief in each other that we can pull it out. That’s really to our advantage.’ Botterill is becoming one of the best young female forwards in the game with her smooth skating style, her size (S-foot-9, 155 pounds), her quick bursts into the opposition zone and her maturing scoring potential. But all that makes her a very busy lady. She juggles Harvard — she hopes to be playing for the Ivy League school at the NCAA Final Fours in Minneapolis in March — and the national team — where she'll almost certainly be a vital component at the Worlds in Minnesota in early April. “Being back in Salt Lake in 2002 is my ultimate goal,” she said. “It’s what I'm training for and working for all the time, is to have another shot to win an Olympic gold medal. That’s been a dream of mine since I was young, so that’s definitely my focus for the next year-and-a-half.” Collins, meanwhile, is a mobile blueliner who lists Bobby Orr as her hockey hero. “I felt great,” she said after yester day’s win. “Actually, I’m thinking a couple of times during the game that I’m certainly not as nervous as I was last year (at the 2000 Worlds in Missis sauga, Ont.) and that I felt good out there and I knew that with six defence men out there, I needed to step up and play hard and play like I can.” While Botterill is one of the top players internationally for Canada, Collins is trying to overcome the old stigma of being too small. Her defen sive play has been questioned, but when it comes to offence and moving the puck, coach Daniele Savageau knows where she wants D.C. on the point. “My two role models are Doug Flu tie and Phil Housley,” said the 5-foot- 3 dynamo with the slick moves and quick acceleration. “They're both small and they’re smart and they make things happen in their respec tive sports. I look to both of them for inspiration because I know I’m not one of the bigger players on the ice out there. I try to use my skills to my advantage and my feet.” HILE she travels all over and is based largely in Cal gary, where she plays for the Oval X-Treme. Collins never for gets where she came from and takes every opportunity she can to come home. “Pilot Mound is very important to me, because I would never be where I am today if I didn’t have the oppor tunities for sport in the ideal commu nity where I could just go to the rink,” she said. “There were never any girls to play with so I was accept ed on the boys’ team and that’s how it was “I had great coaching and great family support. It’s where my heart is, where my home is.” Chris.Curiou@freepress.mb.ca Ta Tali
Newspaper Details
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA
Sun, Nov 12, 2000
Page 20
Full Page
Clipped by
Manitoba H.
CA 22 Sep 2026
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