Kiara McGregor wins ACHA D-1 hockey championship

St. Marys native Kiara McGregor celebrates after helping Midland University of Fremont, Neb. win their first-ever women’s hockey title at the ACHA Division-One National Championship.

By Spencer Seymour

St. Marys native Kiara McGregor helped Midland University in Fremont, Neb., capture their first-ever women’s hockey title at the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division-One National Championship held March 16-22 in St. Louis, Miss.

McGregor, part of Midland’s strong, first-year contingent, told the Independent the team grew steadily as the season progressed.

“Basically, at the start of the year, we had lots of games where we were trying to build as a team,” said McGregor. “There were lots of freshmen coming in, and we started to build and started to get better and better. Then we started getting into more competitive games and that’s when we started to dial in and make sure that we were focused and making sure that practices and everything were good.”

McGregor added she has also developed individually over the course of her first season of university hockey.

“I can see myself getting better through adapting and learning how to play up to the pace. Going from minor hockey to college hockey, it’s a bit different. I definitely grew as a player both physically and mentally. The coaches definitely pushed me to my limits in making sure that I could succeed in every way possible, making sure that I had the best chances and best opportunities to showcase my skills, and giving me the chance that not many freshmen get in their first year.”

McGregor’s team also featured Victoria Campbell and Jaden Greenlee, who McGregor grew up playing minor hockey with as part of the Stratford Aces program.

“To me, it was a really cool experience,” McGregor said of playing with her lifelong friends and teammates. “They’re two of my best friends, and being able to be with them and play with them and win the national championship with them was pretty cool, especially since we played all through minor hockey together. Going out to school together and continuing to play together was just such a cool experience.”

McGregor described the experience of competing at the national championship.

“When we went to the national tournament, we just knew we had to have fun and see what we could do, and we ended up winning,” said McGregor. “The atmosphere is what stands out most to me. Some of our men’s team came down to support us, and all the parents who were there and fans everywhere and interviews going on, in addition to such good hockey, it just made it an even better experience.”

As much as McGregor was excited just to be at the national championship, there was also a great deal of pressure and intensity to perform as the second-ranked team in the nation.

“I knew that we had to win every game,” McGregor said. “We couldn’t lose. We couldn’t take our foot off the pedal and just had to keep our heads focused. Being a freshman, I wanted to take in the experience as well, and our team made that happen for us. Just being able to have fun, and we made sure that we just focused on the games, but then also got to enjoy it after, which made it a less stressful experience.”

Midland met the first-place team in the country, Liberty University, in the championship final, which ended up going into triple overtime before Midland fired home the game-winning tally to claim their first-ever women’s hockey title. McGregor said the lengthy final battle was an exhausting yet thrilling experience.

“It was definitely a mental battle making sure that we were able to get pucks deep, and Liberty (University) being very experienced and winning. We knew that we had to take the chances where we got them and not waste too much of our energy, especially in the first and second overtime. We were trying to cycle pucks and use each other and pass as much as we could, so we weren’t wasting as much energy as needed.

“There were a lot of nerves,” McGregor continued. “Everyone was just trying to support each other and have each other’s backs. We definitely tried to ease the nerves as much as possible, but obviously, in those situations, you can’t really, so you’ve just got to try to play through it.”

McGregor described a surreal feeling when the overtime winning goal was scored.

“In the moment, it was crazy since it was our captain. It was our senior teammate who led us through the whole year and scored our goal. No one could really believe it. I don’t even think it’s hit me now, but just being able to win and do it with such an amazing team was great. No one could believe that it actually happened.”

McGregor credited her older teammates with instilling key mental pillars for the younger players to carry with them in the years to come.

“I feel like we had such a great senior corps where they had worked so hard for four years, and they’d put in everything they could, that we just wanted to really do it for them as well and make sure that they could experience it just as much as we could. They’ve helped us freshmen to never give up and make sure that we’re always supporting each other and having each other’s back, as no one should ever stand alone.”