February 24, 2009
By Dave McMahon
Special to USAHockey.com
Growing up in Sudbury, Ont., Rebecca Johnston spent many winter days playing on outdoor rinks to hone her hockey skills.
But when the weather broke, Johnston shelved the hockey equipment and performed in track and field. It’s a decision that has made life chaotic for defenseman trying to stop her in her tracks on the ice.
Known for her quick first couple of strides, Johnston admits that the time and energy she spent as a track standout during high school is continuing to pay dividends on the ice.
 A two-time member of the Canadian Under-22 team, Johnston began her career at Cornell University by becoming the first player in school history to be named either Rookie of the Year or First-Team All-Conference in the ECAC.
Her sophomore season with the Big Red has been equally impressive, and earlier this month she became a nominated for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, which is given to the most outstanding player in women’s college hockey.
Johnston, a forward who has 45 points (25 goals, 20 assists) in 24 games, has been on the fast track almost since she first laced up the skates.
“I did a lot of track and field—the 100 [meters], 200 and 400,” she said. “I won the provincial championships a few times. When I was 16 came in third in the 400 meters at the national meet in the Under-20 division.”
An injury forced her to sit out the 200 meters in the same meet. Even so, Johnston found running track to be a boost.
“I think that track has helped me a lot with my skating,” she said. “I was always running pretty fast when I younger, so I decided to take up track. I always focused on the first three strides coming out of the blocks. That gives you a lot of speed and power.”
It’s hard to argue with the results. Johnston comes from an active family that includes two sisters—Sarah and Kathleen— and three brothers—Jacob, Ryan and Steven.
“I was born into playing hockey,” she joked. “I started playing when I was 4. When I was little I was on a playground team with my sisters and brothers. We’d play in an outdoor rink or on the pond, then it would be road hockey in the summer. I really looked up to my siblings, so it was always fun for me to be around them. I was always competitive with my older sisters.”
Kathleen (Harvard) and Sarah (Cornell) both played college hockey, which spurred Rebecca to do the same.
“I came down to Cornell a couple of times to visit my sister and I really liked it,” Rebecca said.
Her father, Robert, coached Rebecca for most of her youth playing days. She didn’t begin playing girls’ hockey until 10th grade.
“I really liked playing with the boys,” she said. “It helped me develop as a player.”
Johnston got her first call from Team Canada as a 10th grader. That summer, she attended a conditioning camp in Calgary, but was too young to skate with the Under-22 team. By the time she reached 12th grade, Johnston had made the Under-22 team.
As a member of the Canadian national team, Johnston has her sights set on making the Vancouver 2010 Olympic team.
“I’m just trying to focus on playing my best to be centralized for next year,” Johnston said. “They’ll pick 28 players to be centralized. You move to Calgary and train there leading into the Olympics. I’d miss a whole year of school. They’ll cut five players and that will be the team. Right now I’m focused on making the roster to be centralized, and I’ll work my way from there.”
In the meantime, she’ll work her way up the scoring charts. Johnston chalked up 32 points (16 goals, 16 assists) in a freshman campaign that was shortened by a broken L5 vertebrae.
“It was supposedly caused from a few things over a few years, and then I crashed into the boards weird one day and broke it off totally,” Johnston said. “I couldn’t walk at all for a couple of days. I was back playing within about four weeks.”
Johnston limited her offseason training runs to short sprints.
“I would do 60 meters, 30 meters—just enough to get those fast first strides,” she said. “I would also do weight training and focused on the legs and cardio.”
The injury didn’t keep her out of the family snow football game over Christmas break. Johnston, naturally, ran in the game-winning touchdown.
The natural scorer knows that being affiliated with the Patty Kazmaier Award brings a sense of achievement.
“It’s an honor even to be nominated,” she said. “It’s a great accomplishment for whoever wins it. It’s a big deal for me, anyway.”
Johnston and her teammates get involved in the Ithaca, N.Y., community by host local girls’ hockey teams at home games.
“We get pretty close to them, enough so that their parents invite us over to their house for dinner,” Johnston said. “They come into the locker room after games and see what college hockey is all about. You can tell they really love it.”
Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc. |