monika cormier

From blue-line to behind the bench…to back to Esso?

Five years after competing at the Esso Cup as a player, Monika Cormier is looking to lead the Moncton Rockets back as their coach

Wendy Graves
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April 2, 2015
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The record book shows the Moncton Rockets finished fifth at the 2010 Esso Cup. But five years later Monika Cormier doesn’t measure the experience of competing at Canada’s National Female Midget Championship in stats and standings.

“It’s probably one of my most cherished memories as a hockey player,” says Cormier, then a defenceman and alternate captain with the Rockets. Now, Cormier is the team’s coach and looking to take the Rockets to the 2015 Esso Cup.

Nine current players were part of last year’s Atlantic Region champions and already have one Esso Cup experience of their own. They, like Cormier, know that representing your part of the country on the national stage can leave a lasting impression.

In 2010, the Rockets won only once in five games, with one loss coming in overtime and another in a shootout in the team’s preliminary finale against the Edmonton Thunder.

“By the end of the game coach kept putting me on the ice and I ended up being named Player of the Game,” says Cormier. “I still have that trophy on my desk.”

Cormier came home with more than just physical memories; that week opened her eyes to a bigger hockey world.

“It humbled me as a player,” she says. “You win the Atlantic championship and you think you’re the best in Atlantic Canada.” Then, she says, you get a glimpse of what else is out there. “And you realize there’s much more work to do as a player. You never really stop working.”

Representing a larger team was nothing new to Cormier, who played for New Brunswick at the under-15 and under-18 levels. Throughout her Midget days with the Rockets, Cormier had also played on her high school team. After she graduated her coach asked her to help out with the team. One season as an assistant coach had her hooked.

“(Coaching) kind of fell in my lap,” she says. Cormier had continued her playing career at the Université de Moncton, where she’s now finishing her bachelor’s degree in social work. After she was done playing there she wanted to give back what was given to her. “I was fortunate to have a great experience growing up in my hockey career with my competitive teams. I want those girls to have that same experience and create some of those same memories that you never forget in a lifetime."

Last season Cormier coached at the Bantam AAA level.  When the opportunity to move up – and with it the chance to return to the Rockets – came in the form of a newspaper ad, she knew she had to answer it. A couple weeks later the job was hers.

“We were just so excited for a new challenge,” says Cormier about her and her coaching staff, “and to be able to help these girls as this age and maybe help get them to the CIS level as well.”

So in addition to being part of Hockey New Brunswick’s female under-15 coaching staff this past season, Cormier guided the Rockets to both the regular season title in the New Brunswick Female Midget AAA Hockey League and the provincial championship.

A few more wins this weekend at the Atlantic Region championship and the team will head to Red Deer, Alta., for the 2015 Esso Cup. That trip has been an open topic of discussion all season.

Those who were part of the team that went 1-4 in Stoney Creek, Ont., last year have been open with their coach about what they felt when wrong.

“The one thing they shared with me about nationals was that they wish they would’ve come out with more confidence,” says Cormier. “They were so nervous coming in that they thought already in their minds they were underdogs and they wouldn’t be able to do it just because of where they came from.”

The players learned their lesson, says Cormier. And thriving in a steady stream of high-pressure situations throughout the season has shown that.

“You can only help guide the players toward the right direction,” she says. “I think that’s why our nerves kick in. But as soon as that first puck drops the nerves go away and we never end up worrying by the end of the third period, as long as they know and we know they showed up to play that day.”

It’s that kind of hard work that Cormier would love to see rewarded with a return trip the Esso Cup.

“The feeling of going back is not about me it’s about them,” she says. “I would just be so happy that they’re able to live that experience like I lived before, especially with a group I strongly believe deserves to go there again.”

For more information:

Esther Madziya
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 284-6484 

[email protected] 

Spencer Sharkey
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 777-4567

[email protected]

Jeremy Knight
Manager, Corporate Communications
Hockey Canada

(647) 251-9738

[email protected]

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