14-year-old Regina girl the top of her hockey league

Kennedy Bobyck might be years younger than most of the girls she faces on the ice, but the 14-year-old Regina girl is shooting her way to the top of her hockey league.

With 38 points in 28 regular season games, Bobyck is leading the AAA midget girls’ hockey division against girls two and three years her senior.

Bobyck says her love of hockey started with watching her dad play when she was little.

“Hockey has always been such a big, important role in my life and our family’s life,” she said.

She picked up a hockey stick at the age of four.

“My parents (put) me in a class of learn to skate and half the side was hockey and half the side was learn to skate, and I knew after the first class that I wanted to play hockey,” Bobyck commented.

She spent years playing on boys teams, making it to the AAA peewee division. She said the she picked up a lot of skills from playing with the boys, but she values the friends she made even more.

In Grade 8 she knew she would have to play girls’ hockey for a chance at a scholarship, so she left her friends on the boys’ team to play midget AAA hockey against 16 and 17-year-old girls.

“It’s definitely intimidating, but after playing it last year in Grade 8, it’s definitely been nicer and me being five (feet tall) is not good compared to people who are six (feet tall) and stuff, but I definitely use it to my advantage,” Bobyck said.

Bobyck says her dad is her hockey hero, and her skills come from constant practice. She works out every morning at 6 a.m., takes power-skating classes and when she’s not busy at the rink, she’s shooting the puck at home.

“We have a basketball court and I just have pucks on it and I shoot all the time and since I was five my dad has always built in a backyard rink,” she commented.

As for what the future holds, right now she’s shooting for a university scholarship, but her greatest dream would be to play in the Olympics.