Four Cochrane lacrosse players have returned with medals from Team Alberta at the national lacrosse championships in Halifax, which wrapped up on Aug. 15.
Veteran Cochrane goalie Kaylee McKay and team rookies Tessa Bates and Hannah Dick helped lead the U22 women’s team to their third consecutive national championship, going undefeated in all six of their games. The team has now gone two years without losing a game at nationals.
In the semifinal, Alberta beat Ontario for a second time before facing British Columbia in a rematch for gold.
In U15, Amelia Bates earned her first national medal, a bronze with Alberta’s U15 team.
Alberta’s U22 women’s lacrosse team has won the national championship every year since the tournament returned in 2023. It is especially meaningful for McKay, who played between the posts in all three championships.
“It was amazing,” she said. “It was such an incredible experience. It sucks that I'm sick and I'm sleeping so much right now because all I want to do is jump up and down, but it still feels like a dream.”
She said the team dominated their opponents this year, winning all their games by at least five or six goals.
“Three times in a row is unheard of, let alone from Alberta. Every time that we go to one of these national events, it’s always B.C. or Ontario that are first and second, so to be able to do it for three years in a row is just incredible. We walked into that place and everyone knew we were the team to beat.”
Having now aged out of U22, McKay will likely remain involved in lacrosse, possibly as a coach, but definitely as a mentor for her sister Reese, who just won silver at the Canada Summer Games and was named game MVP three times for her play in goal.
Both the nationals and summer games ran almost concurrently, but McKay watched all of her sister’s games.
“I take a lot of pride in her because I feel I have coached her along the way,” she said. “She looks a lot like me, not only in the net but out of the net, so it’s incredible for her to go out there and do what she did.”
She spoke highly of both Bates and Dick.
She said Bates’ nickname is “Baby,” but added she is far from it on the floor.
“She’s feisty. In an Ontario game, she had blown up one of the biggest girls on the floor and it was awesome. She’s a force on the floor.”
She praised Dick for her scoring ability.
“She scored a few goals, which is awesome for her, because it’s hard to be a rookie on the forward end. We had a lot of fifth years on the offense and she looked incredible. When she scored, the bench lit up.”
“Both excelled this tournament, and it sucks that I only got one year with them, but they’ll also end up playing with my sister in a few years. The three of them have so much room to grow, and they’re already incredible lacrosse players. They’re going to be forces to reckon with.
“It’s nice to say that I played with girls like them because once they get older and they’re superstars, I can say I played with them, too. They were all incredible.”
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Dick is still absorbing the magnitude of the win.
“It feels very unreal,” she said. “It hasn’t really hit me yet, and I don’t think it will for a while because it’s such a big accomplishment.”
She won silver with Alberta’s U17 team last year and said it was a big jump playing U22 this season. She adjusted to the higher calibre through the season with the Silvertips, and especially at nationals with Team Alberta.
“We were 16-0 in the regular season, and we only lost one game out of 19, including provincials, so it was pretty exciting.”
Tessa Bates, also a provincial champion with the Silvertips, was making her first appearance with Team Alberta.
“It was really incredible. It was awesome to play with such a great group of girls along with a great coaching staff. I think I learned a lot from the players and coaches.”
In an interview earlier this summer, Silvertips and Team Alberta head coach Robin Finley called Bates, a defender and transitional player, “the greatest find” in this year’s draft.
Both Dick and Bates are also passionate about ringette.