Latest / Rinkside Rundown / Zoe Uens on Family, Growth at Quinnipiac and Her Journey to the PWHL
Transcript
- speaker-0: when I think about the PWHL and the success that it's having, I I really think about like the Belleville community and just all the little girls who who now have people to look up to and and who can see themselves playing professionally and I think it's awesome to have a dream that they can see. speaker-1: Hello and welcome back to Rinkside Rundown, the podcast that brings you inside the world of women's hockey one story at a time. I'm your host, Chris Sinclair, and today I'm joined by Zoe Ewens, a defender from Belleville, Ontario, a senior at Quinnipiac University. Zoe, welcome to the show. How you doing? speaker-0: Good. Thank you for having me. speaker-1: Of course, been looking forward to this conversation. ⁓ I wanna go ahead and dive in. And we're gonna start by looking back at how it all started for you. Do you remember what it was about hockey that first made you feel like maybe this is the sport that I wanna pursue? speaker-0: Yeah. both my dad and my brother played hockey and ⁓ I remember like looking out and we were at the old memorial arena in Belleville, Ontario and I was sitting with my mom and I was like, I wanna go play hockey. Like I I had different like skating lessons when I was a kid, but it never kinda hit me that this is something that I wanted to do. But watching my brother play and we always had like ⁓ backdoor rinks in our backyard ⁓ in our backyard, ⁓ when I was growing up and like playing out there with my family and it was such a family activity that we would do as as kids. And I think just having it as a part of my family and seeing my brother all together made me realize that it was something that I wanted to do. speaker-1: Yeah, I guess then how important was it for you to have started off and it be like it's it really feels like it was a family thing. Like how important was it to kind of have that as the foundation rather than maybe feeling any pressure to have to do like play a sport because, you know, you had to play a sport or something like that? It's because you just got to spend time with family. speaker-0: Yeah, I think it was really important. It it definitely helped you like ⁓ find the fun in it too. So my mom, she could would have been happy if I played like if I was a dancer, if I did anything. Like it it didn't matter to my parents what I was doing, but as long as I was happy and I think, doing it with my family just added that fun to it from a young age and and that's where I found it. speaker-1: Yeah, it's so important to have fun, especially early on. ⁓ you ended up you you've played a number of sports, especially early on in your athletic career, we'll call it that. ⁓ when you look back on playing a lot of different sports, what did that mean to you and how important was that to you as well, to be able to kind of see play different sports, try different things out, learn different things from the different sports you were involved in? speaker-0: Yeah, ⁓ I played a ton of different sports, just whether it was in school or outside of school, I played soccer as well. ⁓ but I th I think it's so important and I think a lot of like parents these days look past it and they're like signing their kid up for hockey like twenty four seven all year round. And it's so important, like doing different movements. Like like injuries come so fast with hockey 'cause you're doing the same movement over and over. Just like running, like kicking a ball, doing different mu movements is so important. But it also like gives you like that athleticism that you don't get with hockey. ⁓ to be able to like coordinate yourself is so important. And it it actually helps your hockey in the end. Like when I look back, like obviously I just play hockey now, but when I look back at like me playing soccer and like and now playing hockey, like I get different movements from soccer that I wouldn't have had if I just played hockey all the all year round. speaker-1: Yeah. And I I'm so glad that you mentioned that because I was gonna ask about, you know, whether or not the fact that you play different sports, soccer being one of them, of course, whether you still see the impact, the positive impact of playing that those sports in your game, even now, even after your collegiate career is pretty well in the rearview mirror and you're looking at this next chapter, are you still seeing those? the the impact ⁓ of of those previous sports that you played, ⁓ even though that they were a few years ago. speaker-0: Yeah, a hundred percent. I think like especially like in the gym it's easier to see the difference that like those sports make. Like ⁓ just like you get agility from playing soccer, like you're moving quickly one way to another. Like we'll do sprints in the gym and I feel like that explosiveness that like I used to feel when I played soccer and like it translates on the ice as well. Like I feel like obviously you work at it n ⁓ when you wanna play hockey and I'll work at like my first three steps and changing directions and stuff like that, but I think the basis of of that came from soccer and I didn't even know that I was training for it when I was doing it. speaker-1: Even better when it's just a happy accident. I love that. ⁓ you when I I mentioned off the top, you grew up in Belleville, Belle Vegas, if you will. What was the ⁓ what was your experience like ⁓ in Belleville, living in Belleville, growing up? What was the hockey scene like for you? What was the community like for you as well growing up there? speaker-0: Yeah. ⁓ it's a small community, but it's such a hockey deep community and there's so many hockey players that come out of Belleville. ⁓ and so when I was little, like we had a good girls program like the Belleville Bearcats. I grew up playing for them and they always had like a couple good players that you could look up to. Like Alexa Hoskin was a couple years older than me. Hannah Bunton graduated for Belleville, ⁓ Cassie Vinkle as well. And so just like looking up to them was so important for me because I could see what they were doing. They were going and playing college and stuff like that. And like ⁓ I would look up to them and want to do the same. ⁓ but we also had like really good trainers and a good development program in Belleville. Like I've been with the same trainers, ⁓ Jeremy Benoit and and Tom Crowhurst. They do momentous. and Jeremy actually is the head strength coach for the Ottawa Senators now. And so I've trained with them for the past maybe eight seasons in the summer. And ⁓ just like having that development program, it was so important to my game and I wouldn't be where I am today without that as well. speaker-1: So you touched upon some of your junior career ⁓ just a moment ago as well. And I wanted to talk specifically about that junior career and especially your time with the Kingston Junior Ice Wolves. ⁓ and I guess even more specifically, that final season, it seemed, at least statistically, it seemed like something unlocked. It seemed like you took a huge jump. Can you talk about the growth that you had throughout your junior career that ultimately led you to what was a really, really successful last season with Kingston. speaker-0: I just think that building on like I played for Kingston for four seasons and that was my fourth. I think building on like the COVID year we didn't get to play, like it wasn't so much that like obviously I'd been training and and I knew that hockey was something that I wanted to do like for a long time and play professionally, like whatever that looked like. And so obviously I was building towards college and and whatever came after college. But I think just like the gratitude that comes with not playing for a season. like COVID shut everything down. Like you just wanna have fun again and play hockey and being able to play games again. You were just going on the ice, like smiling ear to ear because you were actually able to play games and like it was just such a fun season and and when you're having fun, like good things happen obviously. So speaker-1: Yeah, you see the game a little bit differently when you get to just have fun with it again. That's ⁓ interesting perspective. Not the answer I was expecting, but certainly an interesting perspective. I like that. ⁓ so you were also captain in your junior ⁓ during your junior career as well. Could you talk about that that growth that comes with being captain and and how important you think it was to have that captaincy early on in your career too? speaker-0: Yeah. ⁓ I think that when like I was so young when we were captain, like you think you're old in in grade twelve and in your gap year, but I think my perspective definitely changed a lot. ⁓ I think that I thought that like everyone had to have the same mindset when it came to hockey and like I had the mindset that you have to be so dialed and like you have to warm up, you have to eat all the right things and like a lot of the girls, especially coming out of junior, like don't always have the same mindset as you and that's not a bad thing at all. And I think that year really opened my eyes to the different leadership styles that there are. And like people excel when leaders are leading in different styles because they don't always ⁓ take your style to to heart. And and so I think that it really opened my mind up to, yeah, like I can lead by example, but it doesn't always mean that like this way is the way that everyone's gonna follow and that's okay. Like I don't have to to warm up at like twenty minutes before the game with everybody else. Like we can do it as a team and we can still have a good leadership style, but it can be adaptable to all the different players on the team because they see the game differently and and they wanna get ready for the game differently as well. So I think that was a really big like eye opening moment for me and and a growth moment for me too. speaker-1: I know that we talk a lot, we've already spoken a lot about the impact of certain decisions ultimately that have been made, especially early in your career. But again, with this in particular as well, like being a leader so early on in your career, do you still feel like you're like, do you feel now that you're looking back at your collegiate career, looking at this next chapter, do you do you truly feel like that was a really being a leader, as much as yes, you were, you know, leadership look different then than it certainly does now. Do you still see that that as being a really important defining moment in your career is to be able to hold that captaincy, both the lessons that you learned, of course, on the ice, but maybe also how maybe some of those lessons that you learned away from the ice that you even still carry with you now as you're embarking on this next chapter? speaker-0: Yeah, a hundred percent. Like I think that it helped me become an assistant captain this year with Quinnipiac as well and just like I remember we would if this is a kind of a random story, but we were warming up like I like to get ready before the game and then just like get in my gear and go on the ice. And so we were warming up like so close to the game, but it was affecting like a lot of the players because they like to like sit in their stalls and like put their headphones on and like like get ready and then go on the ice. And so we had like ⁓ we had like four captains, I think, that year. And we had just like a talk and we're like, hey, maybe this isn't good for like everyone. And I was just like like seeing it from a different perspective, I was like, that totally makes sense. And like it opened my perspective to be like, ⁓ this maybe isn't the best thing for the team, even though it might be the best thing for me. And so coming now and being an assistant captain at Quinnipiac, I think like that story kind of sticks with me a little bit. It's just like I don't have to like tell the team what to do as a captain. I can just lead by example and do my own thing and and everyone else can see what I'm doing and it can influence them a little bit, but I'm not here to tell you what to do at all. And and so it definitely stuck with me a lot. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. ⁓ okay. Well, we've mentioned Quinipiac a couple of times now. Let's talk more specifically about Quinipiac. And I I I do want to start with, you know, when you're looking at your collegiate options, there are of course a lot of them. And I so I want to know first what made Quinipiac feel like home? What made it feel like that spot that you wanted to take your your your hockey career? speaker-0: Yeah. ⁓ so my brother went through the collegiate ⁓ process as well, like recruiting process and I kinda went on a couple of visits with him just to see what it was like and so I'd been to a couple schools already, not for myself, but but with him. I don't know if that's actually allowed, but I I went on the visits with him and so it was really interesting and so I'd had exposure to it as well already. ⁓ and then when it came to my turn to do it, I had ideas of what I wanted out of a school, but it was also before the rule change. So I was so young when it happened. Like I was grade nine when I was starting to talk to schools and I didn't know what I wanted to do like academically. And obviously that's important as well. Like I need a like like outside of hockey afterwards at some point. ⁓ so when I was talking to Quinnipiac, like the coaches were just so nice and and they they were really like they gave a warm feeling, like Like they really cared about you as a person outside of just like the hockey player, which I really liked. ⁓ as well as like they had a lot of options academically. So I didn't really know what I wanted to do, but they had so many options that at that point it didn't matter that I could probably choose something that I would have fun doing. ⁓ and then when I visited campus, there's no coaches or anything that were allowed to visit with me at that point, but ⁓ it just felt like home, like walking around Quinnipiac. It's such a beautiful campus and Like the mountains and everything around it. I like it just felt like home and I I knew that that was a place that I wanted to go. speaker-1: Well, and it's one heck of a program too. When you look at their history, you know, like that's that's that's you know, that's a nice ⁓ add on, a nice cherry on top is it's it's a great program too, for sure. ⁓ you know, so when you look at your collegiate career, of course, a lot of successes on the ice, which we'll get to in just a moment, but you were also able to balance that success on the ice with success academically as well, having ⁓ received E A C all ⁓ academic honors. multiple times, which is incredible. Congratulations. How were you able to to find that balance? And how long do you think it took you to be able to navigate, okay, I have to perform on the ice, but I also have to perform in the classroom too? speaker-0: Yeah. I think that in high school, like honestly, it was harder for me to to have that motivation to try and not that I didn't try, but to actually want to learn and things like that because it was separated from hockey. But knowing that like now my performance on the ice also depends on my performance in the classroom and how they're connected. It actually gave me like more motivation to do well in the classroom. ⁓ just because it was easy to to connect hockey with school now. ⁓ but it did take a while and it was like a a big learning curve when I came to university because all of a sudden you're so busy, you're on the ice every day working out and you're in the classroom every day. And my my undergrad degree was pretty hard and it I wasn't used to to having to study for things and stuff like that. So my whole freshman year was a big learning curve in that sense. But ⁓ it definitely set me up for for success moving forward and allowed me to have the next three years is like pretty smooth once you learn the details and the habits that you you need to do every day. speaker-1: So then how important was it for you to have overcome that, have met that challenge of, whoa, there's a lot of work to do here, ⁓ and overcame it and obviously come out the other side ⁓ with, you know, both successfully on the ice as well as off. How important was that for you? speaker-0: Yeah, I think it was so important. Like just like challenges in general. Like Coach B, he's our strength coach here. He talks about them and it's like it's so important to do hard things because when you do other hard things, they're easier in the end. Like it our whole spring program is just like doing hard things after hard things so that when hard things come in the games that ⁓ they're easier for us to overcome. And I think with my school Like I did that hard thing and it it was really hard my freshman year. Towards the end of it it got a little bit easier. But with the help of those around me, like ⁓ I was able to overcome it and when hard things came, my sophomore year and my junior year, they didn't seem as hard anymore. speaker-1: When you look back and you reflect on your time at Quinnipiac, how where do you think or how do you think you've changed the most? And and of course your game, I'd love to hear from ⁓ about the evolution of your game, of course, but also away from the ice as a person too. speaker-0: Yeah. ⁓ when I came into Konipiak, I was so hockey focused, which it wasn't a bad thing at all. Like I just knew that I wanted to be a hockey player. ⁓ hopefully for the rest of my life. Like that's what I was thinking at that point. ⁓ but it kind of consumed me in a sense where all I thought about was how am I gonna get better? What am I gonna eat to make me better? Like like things like that. And I still have that, ⁓ in a sense, but it kinda consumed me in a bad way. Like like mentally it took a toll on me. Like you can't think about how like if I had a bad game, I would be upset at myself and and it took a toll on my mental health a little bit, ⁓ with that. But I think n going through those four years and really learning that you're more than a hockey player was really important to me. ⁓ because when now what if I like I don't measure my own personal ⁓ confidence on what I do in hockey. And I think it's so important to learn that, ⁓ at whatever age you learn that at. But ⁓ I think it's so important to separate hockey and the person that you are because at the end of the day, as much as I love it and and I wanna ⁓ play at the next level and keep going, you are more than just a hockey player and you can't ⁓ base yourself on what you do in hockey. speaker-1: That is profound advice. And I feel like that leads us perfectly into another opportunity to reflect. And that's on maybe some of the people. When you look at your journey, your full journey to this point, you know, you've mentioned how important family was, especially in falling in love with the sport initially. But along the way, who are some of those other people who have really supported you, have been a positive influence on you, have helped you to become you in this very moment? I'm ready to embark on this next chapter. speaker-0: Mm. Yeah. Well, aside from my family, obviously they had such a huge impact on me. ⁓ I think Coach B, our strength coach, like not only does he teach you about your body and like what you can do to get better, but he's also such a good and knowledgeable person when it comes to like how can I prepare my mind and how can I be mentally ready to to play here, but also play at the next level and and kinda like play the game of life if I if I want to put a spin of words on it. But ⁓ he has such good advice and he prepares you for challenges on the ice and off the ice. And he had such a big impact on ⁓ just my success at Quinnipiac and and where I am right now. ⁓ but I also like the coaches at Quinnipiac obviously had such a huge impact on me. ⁓ and it wasn't always easy, like what we did on the ice in practice, like there it's so mentally tough. But the way that they approach it. is coming from such a caring place and they want you to succeed. ⁓ so whenever you had, say, like a bad game or like you weren't feeling like good about something, they have an open door policy. Like you're walking into their office and and asking them questions like how can I get better? What what did I do wrong here? Like like things like that. And they're always giving you like real advice. They're not trying to ⁓ like make you happy kind of thing. Like all of them are so knowledgeable about hockey in life and and I I think those ⁓ all the mentors at Quinnipiac had had such a big impact on on where I am right now. speaker-1: Well, and we've seen too, when you think about the Quinnipiac program, ⁓ we've seen a lot of players and we're we're about to we're about about to talk about your own journey to this next step, but you've had the opportunity also to see a number of your teammates, friends make that jump and see success at the professional level as well. Of course, teammates, ⁓ sorry, opponents from other teams as well, of course. But What does that mean to you as well when especially when you're thinking about your own journey? You're looking at, hey, I made this decision to go to Quinipiac, but look at the look at the product that's coming out of Quinipiac and the success that you're see that they're seeing in their own journey, their own professional journey as well. What does that mean for you as you look at taking this next step that you can see like they must be doing something right because boy, there are some good players that are coming out of that program. speaker-0: Yeah. I I think that it obviously gives you confidence knowing people that I've played with and like ⁓ played against as well that are going to the next level, but it's also ⁓ a testament to the program that you're coming out of. Like I thinking about who I went into Quinnipiac as and like this little freshman that didn't have a lot of confidence in different areas and things like that and and the person that I'm coming out as and and just like being confident in the player that I am and finding myself throughout this ⁓ these four years, it was such an important ⁓ leg on my journey and ⁓ to see how successful those players are doing at the next level. ⁓ it's just a testament to the to the program in Quinnipek. speaker-1: All right. Let's talk about it then. We we've put this off long enough. We're gonna talk about the the PWHL, the the the next step for you. But before we get into maybe some of the more specifics about how you're approaching it, I I wanna ask, like just how are you feeling? How are you feeling as you're on the verge of potentially embarking on your own professional journey as well? speaker-0: Yeah. I think I'm I'm really confident and I'm excited about it. I think whatever happens going forwards, like I know who I am as a person and as a player and I I know what I have to do to get there and it's it's gonna be a lot of work and and preparation and just like continued on on what I've done before. But I'm just really confident and excited ⁓ to move forward whatever does happen in the future. speaker-1: What kind of what kind of emotions come to mind, especially as you're think as you're looking at, you know, when you started your your collegiate career, there was no PWHL, right? And now there is. And you're seeing incredible reception from the league, ⁓ in terms of fan attendance, all of those different things. What are what emotions come to mind knowing that like that could be that could be you pretty pretty soon, that you could also be ju ⁓ joining that league and it And being able to see that first hand, that that growth of the women's game. What what emotions come to t come to mind when you think about that? Yeah. speaker-0: It might not be emotion, but like when I was a a kid, like I was looking up to I talked about it like ⁓ those three, like Alexa, ⁓ Hannah and and Casty and like ⁓ I couldn't go and watch them play anywhere. Like I just heard about them like being successful at at the different schools that they were going to. And so when I think about the PWHL and the success that it's having, I I really think about like the Belleville community and just all the little girls who who now have people to look up to and and who can see themselves playing professionally and I think it's awesome to have a dream that they can see. And and for me to be able to to potentially be in that league is just so exciting for me and and something that I'd never thought could even be possible. So it's it's just exciting. speaker-1: When you look at your your entire journey to this moment, what would you say is something are some of the things that you're most proud of? Some of those things that whether it's on ice, although I presume most of it'll probably be off ice, but just what are some of those things that you're most proud of as you're reflecting on your collegiate career preparing for the the the draft? speaker-0: I think the things that I'm most proud of maybe weren't like on the ice like you talked about, but it's all the things that happened off the ice. Like it's a lot of like the not bad ⁓ in any sense, but like the harder moments. Like I I had hip surgery my sophomore year, and pushing through like ⁓ the injuries, my my freshman and sophomore year, and then finding out that I actually did have an injury, like I didn't know that I was injured for so long and then ⁓ realizing that I actually was and and being able to to fix that like little things like that. Really I'm really proud of like getting through those things. ⁓ just like I I just think about things that were hard and just like moving past those things to make me and and learn from that those things. I those are all the things that I'm s the most proud of. speaker-1: Yeah, I think it's it's fair, especially right now. Like you're thinking about ⁓ overcoming all those obstacles and how that's really helped to define who you are now. Of course, it's ⁓ it's certainly have benefited you on the ice, but it's more of who you are off the ice. And that's those are totally fair things to to be proud of. When you it when you think about the moment when you may just hear your name called, what do you think is gonna go through ⁓ at the draft, of course? What do you think is gonna go be going through your mind in that moment? Do you do you have you kind of prepared or s even thought what what what am I going be thinking about? Or will I even be able to think when I hear my name called ⁓ at the draft? speaker-0: I honestly haven't thought that far ahead if but I I obviously it's been a dream of mine since before it was even a league and I've always wanted to play professionally and and having my brother go through it as well, like ⁓ it's a mix of emotions because we he was drafted his second year of eligibility ⁓ in the draft and ⁓ the first year was such a hard year bec for our family because we were expecting him to go and then his name never got called. ⁓ so I think my parents are excited but a little bit nervous that it could go that way, but I think either way I'm I'm ready for whatever happens. I I'm ready to prove ⁓ who I am as a player and a person and and to make it to to that level no matter what happens, if I do get called or if I don't. speaker-1: Well, I think and you've mentioned it a number of times and we just spoke about it, the fact that you've been able to overcome obstacles throughout your career and you came out the other side better for it. So even if you don't hear your name called, you whatever ends up happening is clear that it's it's going to positively benefit you. So ⁓ although I am absolutely I promise I'm gonna be rooting for you on draft night, that's for sure. ⁓ we are now going to wrap up with the final buzzer segment of the show. It's a fun rapid fire way. Just kind of end the conversation, have some fun, maybe some laughs. We're gonna start off with what is your go-to pregame meal? speaker-0: I've been eating like different things because obviously our team gets our food for us. But I found that I can't eat a lot of protein right before the game. ⁓ because we have team meal a couple hours before the game and it kind of makes me feel sick to my stomach. So I've been having like like chicken in the mornings for breakfast or like a protein for breakfast. And then when I get to pre-game meal, I'll just have like w like a little tiny piece of chicken and then like a bunch of carbs in ⁓ instead. Whatever it whether it's chicken, we usually have chicken, rice and veggies and I'll just have kind of the rice and veggies and a little bit of chicken. speaker-1: Spare. What's one thing that you've learned at Quinipiac that maybe has nothing to do with hockey? speaker-0: I've learned what I want to do ⁓ after school, like after hockey as well. I wanna go back to school, become a registered dietitian. Like I found my passion in in health science and and food and nutrition and so that was something that I learned. speaker-1: Nice. Okay. Great. That's fantastic. What's one word that your teammates would use to describe you? speaker-0: ⁓ I think ⁓ this is a hard one. I think passionate. I I really care about everything I do towards hockey and and towards my teammates as well. And like I'm really passionate and and ⁓ I I think I hope that they would describe that as well. speaker-1: Mm. ⁓ what's something that people might not know about you? I mean, ⁓ outside of maybe the fact you're going back to s you want to go back to school, that's certainly an answer there. But what what else would people might not know about you? speaker-0: ⁓ this is a funny one, but I just started a a food account for on Instagram. speaker-1: ⁓ really? Now what it has it w tell me more. Tell me more. What's what's on it? speaker-0: Well, I I eat a lot of food and I like to like cook a lot. So I I was like, why do I not and I wanna be a dietitian when I get older, so ⁓ I was like, why not start a platform even if I have like I think I have a couple of hundred followers, like I don't have a lot of followers at all, but ⁓ so I just started an account. It's just like a fun way of me like showing like, here's a meal that I made today and and I love doing it, so yeah. speaker-1: All right, well I'll make sure to link that down below as well so people can check it out and give you a follow. I know I will. ⁓ what is on your game day playlist? speaker-0: ⁓ nothing too specific. ⁓ nobody would ever give me ox in the room because I I I listen to some just a bunch of different crazy things, but probably a lot of country music. That's like my go to. It's like feel good country. It doesn't have to be fast, but whatever I'm listening to that day. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. ⁓ not surprising. I assumed that being from Belleville, it might be country. That's what I was preparing for with that answer. ⁓ last one for you. If you could go back and go back to Belleville and give yourself, younger self some advice. What do you think you'd tell her about the journey ahead? speaker-0: Yeah, I would say just embrace the hard. I think those are the moments that really define you and and grow you as a person. And so embracing those moments and knowing that it's gonna be hard, but ⁓ it'll help you in the future and it'll ⁓ create the character that you are today. Like just embrace all the hard moments because they're the most important. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. And look at how it turned out for you. ⁓ I cannot wait to cheer you on as you embark on this next chapter on draft night. I will absolutely be cheering you on. I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to join the show, share your story. This has been an absolute blast. Thank you so much, Zoe. speaker-0: Yeah, thank you for having me again. speaker-1: And if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your fellow hockey fans. Your support helps me to continue bringing you stories just like this one from around the world of women's hockey. I'm Chris Sinclair. Thank you so much for tuning in, and I'll catch you next time on Ringside Rundown.