Quinn Saint-Willes, Junior Review

[Squids McKenzie 51]

 

 Fresh Cut Magazine, ‘Gamechangers’ Profile

QUINN SAINT-WILLES

Brighton, England

#8, Defence || Mexico City Kings

 

Fresh Cut Mag: Sitting down with us today we have Sussex County Sea Devils Defender and Elite Ice Hockey League Champion, Quinn Saint-Willes. Thanks so much for chatting with us!

 

Quinn Saint-Willes: Of course, the pleasure’s all mine! Elated to have this chance. It’s been a truly incredible season. 

 

FCM: To say the least! [laughs] You set the EIHL on fire in your first full season… And you are just age 20. 30 regular season matches — 8 goals and 59 assists as a defender. 8 playoff contests — 1 goal and 22 assists. That’s an absolutely torrid run!

 

QSW: [laughs] It was a lot of work! With the first round bye, we managed to sweep Cardiff in the semis after they went all 5 matches with Belfast in the quarters. Our finals with Sheffield were incredible. Watch out for them next season! But really, I’m out here to be the best. Alex [Nolan, Sussex County 1C] and I are out here to prove we can do more than just “hang” with the boys. We can beat them. Handily [laughs].

 

FCM: That’s a great segue into the deeper talking points. You and Alex have known each other for years. Rumor has it, she’s the one that got you into hockey. Tell us about that.

 

QSW: Oh yeah! She’s been my best friend since we were kids. Our dads are still in the transit workers’ union together. Even with an ocean between them, Alex’s uncle [ex-NHL and Olympic ice hockey player Owen Nolan] always kept in touch with his brother. Her family was always into Sea Devils matches. I even went with them a few times… But I was always more into footy, myself. Y’know, as most English kids tend to [laughs]. Brighton lass, here. [laughs] 

 

I played football since I was able to walk. Played on bags of community squads as a central midfielder. I loved being able to play the field. I could defend and I could score. I was there to captain the team in transition. What sucks is that recruiting for women’s teams wasn’t what it is today, even three or four years ago… By the time I started to get a scout coming to my games, Alex had pretty much worn me down.

 

FCM: What do you mean by “worn you down”?

 

QSW: [laughs] Get ready for another roundabout. Like I said, I caught some Sea Devils matches with her and she’d also come with my family to the Amex to catch the Seagulls. Funny enough, we never caught a lot of each other’s matches. Didn’t get to support each other in the stands. A lot of times, they overlapped. It wasn’t until we were getting ready to finish up Secondary that we’d caught each other’s games. I loved what Alex did; she forced her way onto that team. She was the only girl at Falmer Freeze H.C. She played harder and better than anyone else on the ice. 

 

From the jump, her parents were huge advocates. They were supportive and had to fight the gaffer to get her a try-out, even. At least U17 football had girls’ squads. She never squandered her chance. It drove her. She played with a chip on her shoulder. Look at me, all this fawning! [laughs]

 

Anyway, we’d skated together with our families and I was quite good, not to brag [laughs]. She caught me on the pitch and said something along the lines of “that’s the kind of command you need on the power play” and “you can skate… you have the eye for the field, you know exactly when to play selflessly and when you can take the shot.” She kept prodding and told me to come with her to training. They were down a defender, the “1D” and power play captain. She said the pairs were getting shuffled and I had a real chance. At least she thought so. We were 17 [laughs]. I’d finally had a scout at my last football match, but it wouldn’t hurt to try out for hockey. Turns out it definitely didn’t hurt!

 

FCM: So she wore you down and got you to show up. Tell us what that training was like.

 

QSW: It was the most “feel-good sports movie” thing... Alex and I practiced the basics at the rink for a week or two before I went with her and her mum to training. Somehow, the coach [now, former coach] still didn’t have solid pairings. Alex told him she brought a solution to the problem. He was an ass. He laughed at us. Given, this was early 2019, and god forbid one girl play hockey, let alone two. At the same time, he gave an exasperated, “Well, dress. Show me what you got.” I did some pretty simple stick handling and skating exercises. Weaved through some cones and took some shots. He told me to stick around. By the end of practice, I had some of the guys coming after me like they were trying to play enforcer. It felt very old school. I wasn’t about it. Why get blood on the ice when I could trip them up? I could skate better, poke check the puck away, and get possession quicker than any of them could’ve spelled “fight”. Alex was class. There’s a reason she was their first-line center at 17. The guy they had between the pipes in training had no solution to her backhanders and wrist shots. Gaffer had me slide directly into that 1D spot. It was pretty surreal. Like I said, real “sports movie”.

 

FCM: Ironically, you weren’t with Falmer Freeze H.C. long enough to truly solve their problem. You and Alex were a class above and both received contracts and call ups to the English National League’s Brighton Whitecaps. They were toward the backend of the table and needed an injection of new life.

 

QSW: Exactly. We just took the piss out of the league and Whitecaps couldn’t watch us dominate as they floundered. They didn’t care what our gender was, we got results. Right before the regular season wrapped, we were hit with the COVID-19 pandemic. It was horrifying and dreadful. So much loss and despair. I was able to keep up my conditioning and in the backyard, I’d done up some makeshift, bastardized field hockey set up. Something for a semblance of reps. As 2020 progressed, later in the year I was able to skate on ponds, which wasn’t really all that safe and the ice wasn’t the same. It was something though! I’d YouTube old Stanley Cup games, EIHL games, and then I’d even caught onto the Victory Hockey League. That was incredible! It was totally normal to see non-men players on a team with men. Everyone was class, too!

 

FCM: With that, the ENL resumed play with a tournament, best-of-3 series, at the start of 2021. Whitecaps made a surprise run, falling in the semi-finals to the Cardiff Fire, who ultimately won the league. 

 

QSW: Yeah! It was a pretty magical run. Everyone came back reinvigorated. We had been through a traumatic event together and had renewed outlooks on life. I’d only fallen more in love with the sport. Wish we could’ve gone all the way, though.

 

FCM: To start the 2021/22 season, you thought you’d be back with Brighton?

 

QSW: Yep! We were ready to challenge for the championship.

 

FCM: Instead, you and Alex both got the call to EIHL parent club, Sussex County Sea Devils. Your top pairing defence partner, Trent Arnold, also got the call.

 

QSW: Yeah! That’s right. It was mental! We were all 19 and already in the English top flight — an aside, Trent could be paired with a bag of toffee this upcoming season and they’d still be the best pairing in the league. No way he doesn’t crack the NHL soon... But it was all so surreal. I’d started playing at 17!

 

FCM: Sussex County had been a bang average, mid-table team since their championship in 2012. As we talked about earlier, you had a miraculous run. What’s next?

 

QSW: Of course, I have to talk about my best friend [laughs]. Alex is returning to Sea Devils as the odds-on 1C. She’s the best in the league, bar none. She’s also started some organizations looking to get more girls and non-binary kids involved in hockey. A team is a great way to build leaders and share ideas and perspectives. We want England to have a women’s team that gets mentioned in the same breath as Canada or Sweden or Finland.

 

I have decided not to return to Sussex County. I’m making a run at the VHL. I want to show the girls and enbies here that they can go play at the world’s largest stage. These are the best of the best. I want to take this challenge. I declared for the VHLM draft as a virtual unknown. GM Cole took a big chance selecting me 17th overall to the Kings. I’m ecstatic to hit the ice in Mexico City. Let’s see what this footballing girl from Brighton can do!