“That’s when it hit me: ‘Oh, I’m that person now.’ »
It was March 2014. Brooke Stacey had just won the World Under-18 Hockey Championship with Canada. The name of the player – who signed a reserve contract with the Montreal team in the LPHF last March – was now well known within her community of Kahnawake.
“When I came home after winning the World Cup, there was a crowd waiting for me at the airport,” Stacey said in an interview with The Press, after his team’s training at the Verdun Auditorium. My face was painted on a rock. I was on a billboard [à Kahnawake]. For a small community like that, it was a big accomplishment. »
Stacey was the first Mohawk hockey player from Kahnawake to represent Canada. Today, she is one of a handful of six indigenous players under contract in the LPHF (according to the indigenoushockey.com website). This made her a model for her.
“When I go to play in indigenous tournaments, the young girls recognize me. You can see how happy they are just to meet me. […] It’s good to play this role to show that anything is possible. Because it is, but you have to work hard to get there. »
“Admirable”
The 27-year-old athlete knows what she’s talking about. In addition to taking care of her three-and-a-half-year-old son, Brooke Stacey has been doing just that, working on her fitness, in the last few months. Especially since she never really recovered 100% from her cesarean delivery. She speaks in particular of “pain” in the back which takes time to fade.
“I have to take care of that and focus on my strength, my conditioning, my breathing. Keeping my body level and being ready, because I haven’t been here since December. »
Brooke Stacey was released from the Montreal team’s training camp at this time. In the meantime, she continued to lace up her skates, competing in men’s garage leagues and Indigenous tournaments. The truth is that the attacker did not expect to receive the call from the DG.
“I didn’t think it was going to happen,” she said. When I was released, [Danièle Sauvageau] told me there was a chance, but it was unlikely, because she already had her reserve players. But no one thought there would be such a turnover. »
PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE LPHF MONTRÉAL FACEBOOK ACCOUNT
Brooke Stacey
This is one of the observations of this first season in the LPHF: over the course of matches and injuries, we called on more players than expected to fill positions. As such, Catherine Dubois and Alex Poznikoff constitute two examples that could inspire Stacey for the future: these two players started the season as reserves and finally obtained a formal contract with the team last month.
“She is a player who pays extreme attention to her physical condition,” noted Sauvageau Thursday morning when asked what she had noticed in Stacey. […] It’s impeccable. »
This is despite the fact that she was not part of the team this season.
When she arrived, I thought she might be phased, but not that much. I think it’s admirable.
Danièle Sauvageau, about Brooke Stacey
Same story from Éric Houde, one of head coach Kori Cheverie’s assistants, currently assigned to the Canadian national team at the World Championships.
“I find it funny that a player like that didn’t get discouraged,” he said. She was called back. There are five games left, the playoffs. It’s going to be even tighter, more robust. Precisely, our reserve players, it will be important that they are ready to embark, because it goes quickly. »
And her assets – “a good size, a good skater” – could prove interesting in this circuit which surprises with its physical play, believes Houde.
“I’m sure if we need help, she’ll be able to get the job done.” »
“If I can stay here, wonderful”
Brooke Stacey’s journey in hockey, like that of many players, has not been as smooth as a freshly resurfaced rink. She attended the hockey academy in Cornwall, Ontario, after which she earned a scholarship to join the University of Maine Black Bears from 2014 to 2018. She studied sociology there.
A brief stay with Linköping HC in Sweden followed before she joined the Buffalo Beauts in 2019, in what became the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), then the Montreal Force in 2022-2023. The league disbanded last summer.
In the meantime, she also became a mother. During our discussion with the one who still lives in Kahnawake, her son is in daycare. With the father residing in Maine, she says she has a good network supporting her here.
“I have to leave the house at 7:30 a.m., so my mom takes him to daycare in the morning,” Stacey explains. It’s an adjustment having to depend on people. But she says that’s absolutely fine. And even if we have to move, she would be willing to move with me for the season. »
Because even if her “first choice” would be to obtain a real contract with Montreal, she has no illusions about her uncertain future in LPHF.
The only problem if I moved would be moving away from the father of my child. We’re not together, but I wouldn’t want to do that to him, or to my son, because he already sees it in a limited way.
Brooke Stacey
In addition to Montreal, she is considering Ottawa and Boston as options, given the relative short distance from the American state. But not Toronto, and even less Minnesota.
“My child is one year older in daycare, and then we’ll see. If I can stay here, wonderful. »
In the meantime, she must “bid her time” (it’s a waiting game).
“I don’t wish anyone to get hurt,” she assures. But if it happens, I’m here. »