StFX head athletic therapist Tara Sutherland recently enjoyed a weekend celebrating with the best in Canadian women’s hockey.

Sutherland was the athletic therapist for the 1992 Canadian women’s hockey team and attended a reunion in Ottawa at the recent IIHF Women’s World Championship. Players, coaches and staff members from the 1992 team, along with the 1994 and 1997 teams gathered in Ottawa for a weekend of sharing stories and memories and cheering on the current Canadian squads.

The 1992 Canadian team won the world championship, following up on their inaugural international win in 1990. Sutherland travelled with the ’92 squad to Tampere, Finland for the championship which saw the Canadians go 3-0 in pool play, followed by a 6-2 win over Finland in the semi-finals and a convincing 8-0 win over the Americans in the gold medal match.

Team members on the 1992 team included such women’s hockey legends like Danielle Goyette, Geraldine Heaney, Angela James, France St. Louis and goaltender Manon Rheaume.

Sutherland was contacted earlier this year by Hockey Canada and informed of the planned reunions in conjunction with the 2013 world championship. It had been over 21 years since she had seen the majority of individuals from that ’92 team, and commented that it was an exciting weekend, as over 30 players and 15 staff members from the three Canadian teams returned for the reunion.

The head athletic therapist at StFX for the past 17 years, Sutherland commented, “It was fun to tell old stories with people that you become very close to in a short time, as well meet other players and staff of the other two teams.” 

“It was a great weekend featuring a lot of events and great times, and it very exciting to see and hear what many of these former players and staff are now doing. I am pleased to witness the success of women’s hockey and see how it has grown in Canada, due in many ways to the dedication of these young ladies that I worked with many years ago.”

Sutherland and her teammates received VIP treatment from Hockey Canada at the Canada-Finland game at Ottawa’s ScotiaBank Place and were able to snap a reunion picture and receive recognition at the Canadian bench during one of the intermissions. The game was attended by over 15,000 people, including a lot of minor hockey players, and Sutherland mentioned it was great to be honored in front of such a large crowd.

In addition to her full-time work as head athletic therapist at StFX, Sutherland teaches three courses in the Human Kinetics Department and served as assistant coach of the StFX women’s rugby team from 1998-2011. She was the co-chairperson of the host organizing committee for the 2012 CIS women’s rugby national championship. Sutherland helped establish the Antigonish Concussion Clinic alongside of StFX team doctor Dr. David Cudmore five years ago, and still plays an active role in treating local community members and athletes at that clinic, in addition to conducting presentations with Dr. Cudmore to both the general community and medical community on concussions.