Presented by Coverstar Canada

By Bailey Broadbent 

This isn't what Kiki Richardson signed up for, but she's taking it in stride.

A pandemic year wasn't exactly what the Spartan women's hockey captain was expecting for her fifth and final year at Trinity Western University, to say the least. But she's continued to do what she does best.

"If there's one thing about me, I love to work hard," Richardson says over a zoom call between her online classes. "When someone asks me to do something, I'm wired to make sure I do it to the best of my abilities regardless of the circumstances.

"My role is to help shape the culture of the team moving forward, and that's what I will do."

Richardson embodies much of what any team would want in a captain: dedication, resilience and leadership. 

It would be hard to imagine this year's' Spartans without their captain.

Yet, five years ago, it would have been a lot harder for Richardson to imagine herself as a Spartan at all. 

Having just graduated from high school, she faced a lost passion for her sport and a waning relationship with God.

"I was super unmotivated at the time," Richardson says. "I was reluctant to go to university after school and instead I was wanting to take a year off. My dad encouraged me to check out TWU, and after finding out they had a hockey team, he encouraged me to join that, too."

Reluctant but feeling encouraged, Richardson enrolled on the first day of classes. Immediately she was shocked.

TWU was transformative.

"Everyone was so welcoming," she says, reflecting back on her first year. "Whether in my dorm or on my team, I suddenly had so many leaders in my life."

Richardson rekindled her relationship with hockey through Trinity Western's club team. Playing hockey quickly became the best part of her week, but the most transformative of her relationships came off the ice – with Christ.

"I joined two discipleship groups that first year just trying to understand God more, and over time I began to root myself more in Him. I found myself being more intentional in that relationship and began living a life that was honouring to him."

With a firmly rooted relationship in Christ and newfound home at TWU, Richardson became a leader amongst her new teammates. And after being named an assistant captain in both her second and third years, TWU was granted a team within U SPORTS beginning in the 2020-21 season. 

The school hired Jean Laforest to coach the women's hockey team beginning in 2019-20, which would also mark the final season the women's hockey team would play as a club side at TWU. It was a big year, filled with preparations for what was to be the inaugural season in the top level of university hockey in Canada, and Laforest had a request for Richardson.

"Jean asked me at the beginning of the year if I wanted to wear the 'C' in the final season as a club team."
 
Richardson seized the opportunity, taking the important role of leadership for what she was expecting to be her final year of university.

She made a quick impression on her new coach.

"I was new to the school and Kiki played an integral role in getting me acquainted and oriented on campus," Laforest says. "My go-to person became Kiki. She became what felt like an assistant coach. She was so unselfish and plugged in on campus." 

On the ice she found success and continued happiness, but off the ice her new friendship with her head coach quickly made her an integral part of the Spartans recruiting process.

"She was always on call rain or shine, showing recruits and their families around campus with a huge smile on her face," Laforest says. "I can't say enough good things about what she did for me and the program."

Laforest saw the good work his captain was doing and knew he wanted her back for the inaugural season in U SPORTS. "As time went on in that final year as a club team, it became very apparent to me that I didn't need to look very far to who was going to lead our group into U SPORTS."

He made his pitch midway through last season. 

"I wasn't anticipating coming back for a fifth year, but I put in four years of hard work for a club team, so I figured one more year on a U SPORTS team wouldn't hurt," Richardson says.

Eventually Richardson opted to defer her graduation until 2021, take on a double major, and lead as the Spartans captain in their debut season playing amongst some of the nation's best university teams.

"I'm not going to stretch it past this year, though," the 22-year-old says with a smile on her face. 

A lot has happened in the time since Richardson decided to stay back for one more season. An unprecedented year saw the Spartans play just a handful of exhibition games last September and October before being limited to on and off-ice practice sessions.

Yet, that hasn't stopped the Richmond, B.C. native from finding the positives in her experience.

"There's over 20 new girls on our team this year, and we have a unique opportunity to build chemistry and learn from each other before a season starts. Just because the season got cancelled and our goals may have changed doesn't mean we can't keep working towards something."

So what is that something?

For Richardson, there's value to be had in such an unorthodox year.
 

Alongside her growing faith in Christ, she felt compelled to help run a team Bible study alongside the team's administrative assistant Wendy Laforest and assistant coach Sarah Potomak.

"As athletes, a lot of your worth is often found in what we do and what we accomplish," she says. "When you strip away sports and realize so much of your identity is rooted in that, you're faced with a pretty big gap needing to be filled."

Along with the Bible study, she's found time alongside three teammates to volunteer with middle school hockey skills training.

"She is someone that leads by example, whether in faith development, in the gym, on the ice or in the classroom," Jean Laforest says. "Her teammates see that and know what a leader does, and what a Complete Champion really looks like."

Despite the ups and downs the season has had for Richardson, it all comes back to Christ.

"I feel like now the ups and downs of hockey – particularly not being able to play – doesn't affect me as much as it used to," she says. "My relationship with Jesus is stronger and I'm rooted in him, so that's what matters at the end of the day.

"Sometimes when things aren't going smoothly you see who people really are," Laforest says. "Kiki took the opportunity this year to really dig in and be a leader to others. It would have been easy for her to throw up her hands but that's not Kiki's makeup."

With just a few months remaining before graduation, Richardson's time in hockey and school, at least for now, are slowly coming to an end. So what will be her legacy? 

"I want to be able to look back and know I helped shape a certain culture on that team."

In a year without much hockey, Richardson set the bar for what it takes to wear the Captains 'C' on a jersey – both for next year and many years to come.