PWHL champion Willoughby excited to bring Walter Cup to Sask. for first time

As the first woman from Saskatchewan to win the Walter Cup, Willoughby knows there’s likely going to be a lot of young girls who will be coming out to see the trophy. She holds a lot of pride in being from this province, and she’s excited to show young girls getting into hockey the places they can reach coming from a place like Saskatchewan.

“There’s really no words to even describe that. I know that’s a cliche answer, but that’s truly how I feel,” she said with a laugh before adding, “To be able to bring that cup to Saskatchewan for the first time, I think that’s just one of those accomplishments personally that’s going to stick with me forever and it’s never going to get old. I’m really proud of that accomplishment and I’m really happy to be that person to bring it back to Saskatchewan first.”

Aside from the public appearance, Willoughby plans to use every minute of her 24 hours with the cup. Along with bringing the cup to the two towns she calls home in Canwood and Prince Albert, there’s a third town on the list Willoughby plans to visit first thing in the morning that shares the name of her championship team.

“My grandparents live in a town called Victoire in Saskatchewan, so I thought it’d be really cool to head over there and take a photo too. So we’re going to do that right first thing in the morning, bright and early. We’re going to make the most of our 24 hours, let me tell you.”

That said, because the PWHL is still so new, Willoughby said she didn’t realize initially she’d get to bring the cup home with her. That made for a fun moment during her celebration with her team.

“Once we’re partying as a team and your focus is celebrating it with your teammates for the first few days at least, and then it dawns on you, you’re like, ‘wait, do I get to bring this cup back home?’, and then you start to think about how awesome that would be. When I caught wind of that, we actually do get to bring the cup back home and have a day with it, I got really excited and I started to think about how special it would be to bring it back to my hometown.”

While waiting through June and July for her opportunity with the Walter Cup, Willoughby’s Victoire teammates have been taking their chances to celebrate with their league’s top trophy. Although there’s been a few pictures here and there shared in the group chats, Willoughby said she hasn’t seen much of her teammates’ celebrations.

“I haven’t seen people post about them too much. Just talking with some girls, they had family parties at the lakes that they like to go to, golf courses, so I’ve seen snippets here and there, but nothing posted too much all over the internet.”

She added that having a little separation between the celebration with the team and the celebrations with family makes both of them feel even more special.

“I just think for us as teammates, like the best part was when we celebrated together, and then I think these moments are more so just to have within your family. It makes me so happy to think about that everyone does get their time with it though, and that they get to all enjoy that because everyone deserves it.”

Working in the healthcare field during the offseason, Willoughby said she did feel a little bad taking time away from work while short staffed, but it lead to a funny conversation with her boss.

“It was kind of one of those situations where you don’t ask, you just tell your boss, ‘sorry, I kind of have to take time off’, and they were super good about it.” She added, “Everyone’s been super supportive in that sense.”

Willoughby hopes to see as many people as possible come out to the Art Hauser Centre to join in the celebration from noon until 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com

by Nick Nielsen

PWHL champion Willoughby excited to bring Walter Cup to Sask. for first time

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