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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 2 9, 2 01 8 | § 5 HOCKEY Playing outside the box Karyn Stepien photo Oakville's Claire Merrick was named the OUA's most sportsmanlike player, taking just two penalties all season while finishing in the top 10 in league scoring. HERB GARBUTT hgarbutt@burlingtonpost.com Claire M errick put up some impressive numbers this season for the Guelph Gryphons. She had the second most assists in the league (15) and her 22 points ranked seventh overall. So it's not surprising that she earned a year-end Ontario Univer­ sity Athletics (OUA) award. Look close enough, though, and there's one number that really stands out. Seven. That's the number o f penalty minutes the third- year winger had this sea­ son. Now that's only unusu­ al because M errick was the league's most sportsman­ like player. And there's only one way to end up with an odd number o f penalty min­ utes. "It was an accident," she says o f the major penalty in Guelph's final playoff game. Now most hockey play­ ers are bound to skew their stories to absolve them­ selves o f blame and pin it on their opponent or a referee. But in Merrick's case, you're a little more willing to believe her version o f events. In 90 previous games with Guelph, M errick had taken just five minor penal­ ties. Then midway through the second period o f the OUA semifinal, after Guelph had just tied West­ ern 2-2, M errick found her­ self racing a Mustang oppo­ nent for the puck. "We were both going for the puck and she interfered with me," she recalls. "I lost my balance and we both went into the boards." The Western player took the brunt o f the collision and before she knew it, M errick was being as­ sessed a m ajor (described only as miscellaneous in the game summary). She would have spent longer sitting in the penalty box than she did all season, ex­ cept to make matters worse, she was ejected from the game. Guelph killed the penal­ ty, but M errick could only watch as the Gryphons' bid for a third straight OUA ti­ tle ended with a Western goal in double overtime. She would have traded her individual honour for another Guelph champion­ ship, but she also realizes her good fortune in having competed at two national championships in three years. M errick had solid hock­ ey credentials before arriv­ ing in Guelph, including a silver medal at the Ontario Winter Games and a fourth-place finish with Stoney Creek at the Esso Cup, the national midget championship. But she didn't go seeking a power­ house hockey program. Instead, she landed at one o f the few schools in the country to offer the pro­ gram she wanted to study, landscape architecture. This season she found herself playing the setup role for veteran Kelly Grib- bons, one o f the league's top goal scorers. "We had some really tal­ ented hockey players," M errick said. "I like setting up the play. Nine times out o f 10, if I see a player open, I'm going to pass." The Oakville Trafalgar grad didn't waste any time sitting in the penalty box when she could be setting up Gryphon goals. Of the OUA's top 10 scorers, there was only one other player with a single-digit penalty minute total - and Ryer- son's Ailish Forfar still took four times as many penal­ ties as Merrick. "Even in m inor hockey I didn't take a lot," she said. "It's a fine line between be­ ing too physical and not ag­ gressive enough. I try to straddle that line." With just three graduat­ ing players, Guelph has a good chance o f contending for another OUA title after a second-place finish this year. And chances are Mer­ rick will be maximizing her time on the ice to make that happen. ° w c v REGISTER NOW AT ICESPORTS.COM CANLAN ICE SPORTS OAKVILLE 1905.845.6989 To le a rn m o re p le a s e v is it bluedevilsacadem y.com /trials otoei/-,. V / COMPLETE PLAYER PATHWAY FROM U8 TO LEAGUE 1 ONTARIO mailto:hgarbutt@burlingtonpost.com