Game On Magazine 2017 December 2017 | Page 8

M E R I T M WJ H L P L AY E R O F T H E M O N T H L I N D S AY 14 M I C H I E L S HEIGHT 5’5 | W EIGHT 130 | AGE 19 GOALS 6 | ASSISTS 8 | POINTS 14 HOT START MAKES MICHIELS MERIT PLAYER OF THE MONTH She grew up in small-town Holland, Man., southwest of Portage, where the nearby Trappist monastery makes the famous Oka cheese. 2 By the middle of November, Michiels had three two-goal games – one each against Polar Ice, Prairie Blaze and Manitoba Blizzard 15 In 33 games in her final season with the Midget Pembina Valley Hawks, Michiels had six goals and 15 points with plus-minus of plus-nine. From Holland, Manitoba 8 | G AME O N | D EC EM B ER 2017 BY SCOTT TAYLOR Photo by Laurie Anderson Lindsay Michiels really loves to play hockey. She loves it so much, that to play here games in the Manitoba Women’s Junior Hockey League, she drives two hours from Brandon every week just to get 15 minutes of ice time. Of course, it’s worth the drive. As the leading scorer in the MWJHL after the first 12 games of the season, this star of the defending champion Silvertips, is one of the best players in a league loaded with good players. “I wanted to stay competitive so the drive doesn’t bother me,” she said. “This is a good league here. Things are going good so far. The team is really great and it’s a lot of fun.” Lindsay started playing hockey at the age of five in her hometown of Holland, Manitoba. She played with the boys up until Peewee By Scott Taylor and the moved over to girls hockey Photos by Tannis Esquivel – on a team that had to combine three or four small communities and involved a lot of travelling. She’s accustomed to the hike from Brandon. She played Provincial Midget with the always- successful Pembina Valley Hawks and then joined the Assiniboine College Cougars last season. These days, she’s taking Phys Ed at Brandon University and drives to Winnipeg to play in the MWJHL every week. It’s a tough schedule, but with a three-point lead in the scoring race, just ahead of the gifted Renee Stevenson, Mallory Harvey and Whitney Scott, she’s obviously have fun.