Hockey moves a new generation of Daniels forward
- Angela Hill | December 29, 2016
A young woman with ties to Mistawasis First Nation is using hockey to pave her way forward and inspiring others to dream big.
“I really wanted to use my opportunity of playing hockey to get an education,” said 21-year-old Sydney Daniels.
She has. Daniels in her fourth year of Harvard and plans to go on to play for the first paid women women’s hockey league in the United States.
While she is the daughter of NHLer Scott Daniels, playing hockey wasn’t a given for her or her sisters.
“My dad actually didn’t want any of us to play hockey,” Daniels said.
“But I begged him and begged him to teach me how to play and slowly broke him down into teaching me … I fell in love with it and it was such a great bond I have with him, learning from him.”
Daniels says she loves everything about the sport – the competition, relying on teammates to accomplish goals, the individual skills required, “and how one sport, a simple sport, can take you so far in your life.”
Harvard came for her hockey talent when Daniels was in Grade 10. She verbally accepted then went through an official application process in Grade 11. Fortunately for Daniels, while her father encouraged her practicing her shot, her mother encouraged good grades. In Grade 12, Daniels found out she was accepted.
That was four years ago, now in her final year, Daniels is excited for the future, but also wishes “I could stay here forever.”
“There is so much diversity among the students and teachers and what you are learning” she said.
“Over the four years I’ve learned so much, but I’ve grown as a person even more.”
Daniels has been drafted to the National Women’s Hockey League, the first American women’s league to pay their players.
“I’m not ready to give up hockey yet,” she said and laughed.
And others are looking up to the example she is setting. Once or twice a year, Daniels travels to Mistawasis First Nation to visit her extended family. It started when she was young, but continues today.
Her relatives see the impact her visits have.
“I would go back and friends and family would you’re a role model to these kids, you’re a role model,” she said.
“It took a while to kind of settle in and fully understand what that meant and the influence I could have on girls and kids around that are younger than me and look up to me.”
Daniels is modest when it comes to the title.
“Over the years, I’ve tried to embrace that role and it helps me … because I try to be a better person for it,” she said.
Now when she plays tournaments in the community, kids tend to flock to her.
“I love taking the time to have the conversation with them to tell them to continue to work hard, keep your grades up, stay in school, things like that,” Daniels said.
“Anytime I get a chance to come back and interact with the youth, it’s one of my favourite things.”