Who is Gabrielle Smith you might be asking? Smith is the new starting goalie for the McGill Marlets women’s hockey team. The 22-year-old from Ottawa has taken over for Olympic gold medalist Charline Labonte, who along with Kim St. Pierre (another former Marlet) are the two starting goalies for Canada’s 2010 Olympic women’s hockey team.
Besides replacing Labonte, Smith also faces the difficult task of not only continuing the Marlets three-year undefeated streak in Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS) play, but also helping her team win its third consecutive national championship.
For some people that type of pressure would be too much to handle. Not Smith, she not only expects it, she thrives under it.
“As a goalie you always fill pressure because you know what your performance entails. You need to turn the pressure from something that could rattle you, into something drives you and causes you to focus even harder. Over the course of my career, I’ve learned how to do that. Now my frame of mind is: the bigger the game the bigger my performance.”
So far this year, Smith’s statistics back up her claim. In her four victories this season, she has already posted two shutouts.
Smith’s athletic abilities should come as no surprise considering her pedigree. Smith’s mother was a member of the University of Ottawa’s rowing team.
Despite her mom’s athletic accomplishments, Smith’s biggest hero is her grandfather, who more than 60 years ago started his own car company (Turbin Pontiac Buick GMC) from scratch.
“He’s an amazing person who isn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty. At a very young age he taught me values, beliefs, the importance of supporting your community, and hard work.”
The lessons seemed to have rubbed off on Smith. While most of her teammates use the off-season to relax, Smith spends it in northern B.C. tree planting.
“I’ve been doing it for the last four years. It’s an incredible lifestyle. You get to meet fun and interesting people and you get rewarded for how hard you work, while helping out the earth at the same time.”
Dedicated is one word that forth year defensemen Jasmine Sheehan uses to describe her teammate.
“She’s a ‘team first’ player. For the first two years she was here, she was the third string goalie, which meant that for most games she’d be sitting in the stands as a healthy scratch. That shows what type of player and person she is because most people could not handle doing that for two months let alone two years. That’s dedication.”
Besides hockey, Smith’s other passion is music. It is Smith’s love of music that has led her to Montreal West. Smith, who is in her final year in McGill’s music program, is currently doing a stage as a music teacher at Elizabeth Ballantyne elementary school.
“She’s been great with the kids. She constantly introduces them to new instruments and different types of music, while also teaching them that music can be used as a form of expression. You can tell by the smiles on their faces that the kids love going to music class,” said the school’s principal Katherine Snow.
Despite the fact that she has only been in the West End for less than six months, Smith has become fond of the area.
“I like this community. It has really grown on me. It feels a lot like back home, in that it’s very quiet, the people are friendly, and it’s safe. This seems like the type of place where you wouldn’t have to worry if you stepped out and left your front door unlocked.”
As for what the future holds for Smith, no one knows for sure. While becoming a teacher and having a chance to play for her country in the 2014 games are goals of hers, Smith’s sole focus for now is on improving her game, and helping her team win another national championship.
If everything goes according to plan, eventually we will be hearing about the next Marlet goalie that will be facing the near impossible task of replacing her.
