Dufault
Plays
Her
Final
Game
Just before Christmas,
Meghan Dufault informed
her father, Ken,
that her hockey career
was about to come to
an end.
She was in the
process of finishing her final season
with the University of North Dakota
Fighting Hawks and decided that she
would no longer pursue a spot on the
Canadian Olympic team. In fact, before
she told her dad, she had already
informed Melody Davidson at Hockey
Canada that she had other plans for
her future.
As she confirmed to us during the
Rafter’s Christmas Shinny Game to
raise funds for the seriously injured
Portage Terriers player, Braden Pettinger,
she had decided to write her LSAT
exams and apply to go to law school.
Regardless of her decision, she had
a heck of a career.
In fact, two seasons ago, she won
gold with U-22 Team Canada (Canada’s
National Women’s Development
Team) at the Nations Cup and despite
the fact she’s just 5-foot-3, she had a
point a game in one of the world’s biggest
IIHF development tournaments.
Meanwhile, she just completed her
senior year at the University of North
Dakota and finished second in team
scoring with 12 goals and 35 points in
31 games. She finished her university
career with 54 goals and 135 points in
137 games at the NCAA Division 1 level.
Dufault grew up in East Selkirk and
learned to skate as “a two-year-old in a
big snowsuit, dual-blade skates and a
chair on the backyard rink.”
She played for a number of high-level
A-1 boys teams from Selkirk to St.
Andrews and last played in 2005 for
the Double-A Selkirk Fisherman. As
a nine-year-old, on a team with New
York Islanders’ defenseman Ryan
Pulock, she became the first female
skater ever to suit up in the Brick’s
Super Novice Tournament.
At 12, she moved to Winnipeg and
had a sensational year with the Monarchs,
but at 13, she decided it was
time to play girls hockey.
She played in Grade 8 and Grade
9 at Balmoral Hall and then coach
Dean Rebeck left as head coach and
Meghan’s scholarship was cut in half.
Dave Roy was running the Pursuit of
Excellence program in Kelowna and
had long been interested in having
Meghan head West. So in her Grade 10
year she accepted an offer to play with
POE. That team, which also included
national team stars such as Christine
Bestland, Brigette Lacquette and Jessica
Campbell lost one game in two seasons.
“I thought she’d go back to the POE
for her Grade 12 year, but she told me
she wanted to graduate high school
with her friends and so she returned
to Balmoral,” Ken said. “Gerry Wilson
was now the head coach and she
wanted to play for Gerry.”
After graduating from Balmoral Hall,
she was offered a scholarship at UND
and even though she never had an official
visit to the school, she was sold.
The rest, as they say, is history.
“I’m truly proud and respect the
decision Meghan has made regarding
hockey and her next journey in life,”
her father, Ken, told Game On Magazine.
“She has always challenged
herself to excel in whatever she has
chosen. She has had success both on
and off the ice and as much as I would
have loved to see her continue playing
through to the Olympics – it is not
the goal she has set for herself and I
understand and respect that.”
By Scott Taylor
Photos by James Carey Lauder
Despite the fact she’s just
5-foot-3, she had a point a game
in one of the world’s biggest IIHF
development tournaments.
6 | POWER MAGAZINE