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| New Zealand Under 18 team. Gabby Smyth is front row, third from the right. |
It’s been an all all-star performance for both Leaside’s Gabby Smyth and the New Zealand U18 squad in their series with Australia in New Zealand this past week. With 15-year-old Gabby scoring a total of six goals and five assists, the team swept the four-game series. The young Canadian was a clear star and a huge asset to the NZ girls who netted a total of 13 goals against the Aussies. In each of two games Gabby scored two goals. A fifth game was cancelled because of Australian injuries. The Randolph Road family of Andrew and June Smyth, with Gabby’s siblings Rachel 17 and Harley, 13, has been hanging on each bit of mail as they follow Gabby’s adventure. Gabby is no stranger to New Zealand. In fact Canadian-born Gabby, a student at Leaside High, is also a New Zealand citizen thanks to her dad, who came to Canada 20 years ago and subsequently married Gabby’s mom. Rachel and Harley also own the Kiwi passport. What a nice extra for three young Canadians. As it was planned, Gabby temporarily put away her Leaside Wildcats jersey and suited up with the New Zealand U18 team for their face-off with the Australians. Mr Smyth is quoted in a hometown NZ online publication Dannivirke.net.nz as saying: “Three years ago I found out that New Zealand has ice hockey teams and that the Men’s and Women’s National teams ranked 35th and 25th in the world respectively. This really intrigued me, and got me to wondering……..could Gabby one day play for N.Z.”. Dannivirke goes on to report that Gabby and Leaside Wildcat teammate Riley Smith competed earlier this year in the New Zealand Women’s Nationals, which took place in Queenstown. They both played for the Dunedin (NZ) based team Southern Knights, Riley and Gabby, both getting “Player Of Game” Awards. Now its time for Gabby to fly home. But she will have the company on the trip of two lucky NZ pals who will train here with the Wildcats for a while. Facebook
Series Stats:
- NZ 3 wins
- Australia 0 wins
- Game 1: 2-2 tie
- Game 2: 3-1
- Game 3: 3-0
- Game 4: 5-1
- Game 5: Abandoned
