Pickering a natural leader

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This article was published 04/01/2024 (858 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Avery Pickering is only 17 years old but she’s very accustomed to the mantle of leadership.

On Saturday afternoon, the blue-liner from St. Adolphe who exudes preternatural calm on the ice, is expected to be wearing a letter when Canada opens defence of its Women’s World U18 Hockey Championship against Germany in Zug, Switzerland.

“She has such an amazing skill set and IQ that allows her to take control of a game from the back end and pick her moments when she gets up in the rush, and not just make the first pass but make a deceptive one that really sets the next player up for success,” said Canadian head coach Tara Watchorn Thursday morning. “And it’s not just on the ice — she’s definitely an amazing leader for us.”

Pickering, who once starred at Balmoral Hall, is taking a break from her first season of NCAA hockey at Colgate University (Hamilton, N.Y.) to play for Canada at the worlds. Her role — she was the national team’s seventh defenceman in its run to a U18 world championship in Sweden a year ago — will be more taxing in 2024.

“There’s still a lot of nerves and a lot of excitement,” said Pickering. “It’s my second time being in Europe — I had never been outside of North America before last year — but stuff like knowing how to deal with the time change and having an idea of what the lead-up to worlds and what the actual competition at worlds looks like, I feel a little bit less sort of disoriented and overwhelmed. I have an idea of what it’ll look like.”

Pickering should be better prepared than most.

By virtue of graduating from high school a year earlier — she skipped Grade 6 — Pickering is the youngest player to ever play for head coach Greg Fargo in his 12 seasons at Colgate. What’s more, she is the only college player suiting up for Canada in Zug.

“We were a little unsure of what that transition would be like for her — first time living away from home, a new team — and obviously you have a lot of changes in your life when you’re going through that transition from high school to college and being a year younger than your peers. But Avery’s exceeded all of our expectations,” Fargo said. “I think she’s really settled in here, academically and on the ice.”

At Colgate, Pickering is playing top-four minutes paired with captain Allyson Simpson, a member of the U.S. senior national team.

“She loves to play a puck possession-style game,” said Fargo of Pickering. “She’s a modern-day defenceman. She can attack down off the blue line in the offensive zone. She’s very much an interchangeable piece amongst our group of five that are on the ice. Sometimes you’ll see her down below the offensive goal line. I think it speaks volumes for her, because sometimes we’ve seen defenceman come in and it takes a couple of years for them to truly get comfortable.”

Pickering, one of nine returnees to the Canadian squad, is eager to test herself against the world’s best.

“I’m really excited to see what the difference will be going into this tournament after a semester of college hockey.”–Avery Pickering

“I’m really excited to see what the difference will be going into this tournament after a semester of college hockey,” said Pickering. “I haven’t had that experience and I don’t think very many people have had the experience of playing college and then coming back to play at the junior level. I think I have grown as a player these past few months. I’m a college freshman now and I’m excited to take the things that I’ve learned and try to apply them to the situation here.”

With Colgate currently on a lengthy semester break, Pickering won’t be skipping class time but will miss seven games with the No. 3-ranked Raiders.

“Honestly, it’ll be harder for us,” said Fargo. “The good thing is, when we talked to Avery long ago about the possibility of this happening, we knew that this very likely to happen. We certainly miss her, but at the same time, to be able to play on the international stage, whether it’s Avery or anyone else, we want our players to have those experiences.”

In Zug, Pickering has been reunited with her former Balmoral Hall teammate, centre Sara Manness, on the national team. The 16-year-old from La Salle is coming off a star turn for Manitoba at the U18 nationals where she led the tournament in scoring and was named MVP.

“There’s no doubt she’s impact player for us,” said Watchorn of Manness. “I think she’s definitely underrated in how much of a 200-foot player she is and still amazingly talented and able to produce offence, strong in the faceoff circle and just a smart player out there. She’s definitely one of our more well-rounded players.”

Manness, who has been skating on a line with wingers Abby Stonehouse and Sienna D’Alessandro, was part of the U18 national team that swept a three-game series with the U.S. last summer.

“We’ve had a chance to get to know each other at the first (summer) camp and I think we’re going to get even more accustomed with each other as we go through some games and develop and find our chemistry,” said Manness.

Manness believes her game has progressed substantially in the last six months.

“I think the biggest thing is confidence and just knowing how hard I’ve worked on every skill,” she said. “I’ve been working on it every single day, especially my speed and getting to power skating every week and working every day to get as good as I can. I knew I needed to improve and I think I really tried to push my limits.”

All of Canada’s tournament games will be carried on TSN. Saturday’s game is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca