YARMOUTH, N.S. — Yarmouth’s Allie Munroe is used to travelling for hockey.
But the 22-year-old is about to embark on the biggest road trip of her hockey career.
Munroe is heading to Stockholm, Sweden to play professional hockey.
Munroe made the decision to go overseas after searching for a Plan B following the folding of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League earlier this year.
“I thought I still needed to play to reach my Team Canada goals, so I heard about the league in Sweden and I was really interested and I contacted a few different teams and coaches. This team felt like the right fit for me, in Stockholm,” she says.
Munroe, who plays defence, has spent the past four seasons playing hockey at Syracuse University in the United States. She had 20 goals and 51 assists during her time at Syracuse. In her sophomore season in 2016-2017 she earned the College Hockey America (CHA) Best Defenceman title, along with All-Conference First Team honors. Over the years at Syracuse she was a member of the athletic director’s honour roll and was named to conference and tournament all-star teams, in addition to her other achievements on the ice.
In her 2018-2019 senior year, when she was co-captain of her team, she was named CHA Best Defenceman for the second time in her career and was also an All-CHA First Team selection. Munroe says she had a great experience at Syracuse.
“It was unbelievable. Winning our league in my last year, it was awesome. It was the first time in 11 years, first time in history, so that was pretty special. But I’m ready to move onto the pro ranks and I’m really excited for it.”
Munroe leaves for Sweden at the end of July.
“I’m really excited. There’s quite a few North Americans in the league this year and there’s a lot of talented Europeans,” she says, referring next to her overall goal.
“The ultimate goal is to make the Olympic team in 2022. I take it month by month, day by day even. I’m trying to make each senior team and there’s a couple of tournaments next year, the world championship next year is actually being held in Halifax in April,” says Munroe, who has taken part in the selection camp process for the Canadian National Women’s Development Team in the past, in addition to also playing on provincial teams.
She would love to be a member of the Canadian team playing at the Olympics one day.
“That’s the goal for me. That’s a long time away and a lot of stuff can happen, but I’ll just continue training each and every day and see what happens,” she says.
In July, Munroe assisted fellow Yarmouth hockey player Ryan Graves at his hockey school in Yarmouth.
“I’m so happy he brought me onboard and I could help out with his camp. Just to see all of the youth and how excited they are to be here and how they’re working so hard was great,” she says.
Graves has played in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche, but he never got to play minor hockey with Munroe due to their age difference. He’s happy she could be a part of his hockey school and is excited to see her continuing with the pro route.
“She’s taking steps in the right direction and taking steps towards the Olympic team. I hope she cracks the roster. She’s still young. If not this one, maybe the next one,” he says.
Meanwhile, asked what advice she would offer other young players who want to pursue their love of hockey at a higher level, Munroe says, “Keep working hard. If someone is better than you, strive to be better than them. Make friends along the way and be kind to everyone. And use your support system.
“Some people think just because you’re in a small town you can’t go anywhere,” but that’s not true, she says. “The biggest message is never giving up. I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Five things to know about Allie Munroe
1. In 2016 she was one of 47 female hockey top prospect candidates selected to attend a strength and conditioning camp for Canada’s National Women’s Hockey Team.
2. In 2015 she was captain of the Nova Scotia team that competed at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in British Columbia.
3. After playing minor hockey at the highest rep levels in Yarmouth, and then playing bantam major, during her midget-aged years she played hockey at a prep school in New Hampshire.
4. She was awarded a four-year, full athletic scholarship to play Division 1 NCAA women’s hockey at Syracuse University in the state of New York.
5. In 2015, when asked about coming from a small town and trying to make it big in hockey, she said, “From a small town it’s maybe not as easy to get noticed so you can’t give up. Hard work is what’s going to get you to where you want to be at the end of the day, with anything in life, not just hockey.”
