Sadie St-Louis - Biography

[sadie 591]

Sadie was born in the town of Trois-Rivières, located on the St. Lawrence River about halfway between Montréal and Québec City. Her parents, Iris and Alex St-Louis, were kind and raised her very well. From a young age, her favorite things to do were skate and play soccer. She had one sibling, a sister named Nina; she was 2 years older than Sadie and a role model to look up to. They did practically everything together and had a surprisingly friendly relationship for siblings. Jordan, one of Sadie's best friends, said that they were like twins born 2 years apart. Sadie was an avid fan of both hockey and soccer, supporting the Vancouver Wolves of the VHL above all other teams (her dad was from Vancouver and passed his love of that team onto his kids). Her dream had always been to play professional hockey, but her journey there was less than smooth. 

 

Trois-Rivières, QC

 

As high school started, Sadie wasn't able to make the team and hockey was really difficult mentally and physically as she just wasn't prepared to play at a high level. In school, she focused a lot on studying science and planned to attend college and afterward become an environmental scientist. She did not have a lot of friends- rather only a few she spent a lot of time with. Hobbies outside of school included reading, playing the clarinet, and going on runs. Her high school life was a pretty good one without many of the twists and turns one might typically expect academically or socially. 

Not making the team in freshman year had set a desire in St-Louis to improve as much as she could and it worked. After working on her shot and her pass thoroughly during that season, the team gave her a chance in playoffs and she delivered with a lot of point production despite not winning the championship and coming up short in the final. Sophomore year brought even more improvement and in junior year she was named captain of the team, but at the conclusion of the season, she found herself still without a championship after falling in another final to the lowest seeded team in the tournament. Her senior year saw her grades and attention span in school drop a bit from their usual high standard as a result of the amount of time and space hockey was taking up in her schedule and in her mind. What she was focused on was winning a championship and after a hard fought tournament, she scored the championship-winning goal in double overtime. Going down as one of the best players for years, she left high school with her sights no longer on college and a scientific career, but on playing pro hockey at the highest level.

 

Sadie's championship-winning goal in senior year

 

The summer after senior year was one of the best of Sadie's life to that point. She stayed with cousins who were living in Sweden that summer and although she tried, she was awful at learning the language. She met her girlfriend Addie Berggren in Stockholm and got a job working as an administrative assistant temporarily. When San Diego offered her a VHLM contract, she jumped at the opportunity to work her way up to the VHL. When flying into San Diego she was super nervous and before she showed up to the training facility for the first time she was incredibly nervous because she couldn't believe she was actually getting the opportunity to play pro hockey. She met with the Marlins GM, Jacob and signed her contract. Quickly she settled into things with the great team she had around her, instantly bonding with two of the players, John Richards and Lachlan Summers. Although she had joined for just the end of the season, she had amazing fun there and made friendships that will last for years to come. The next VHLM season with Ottawa passed, and her parents were able to attend a lot more games being so close to home. 

 

Sadie and her girlfriend Addie

 

As the VHLE and VHL drafts approached, Sadie began to think about the increasingly real possibility that she could make it in the VHL. Sure, she had been getting paid and having success already in the M, but being drafted to the biggest league on the planet made it seem a lot more real. At the VHLE draft, when her name was called, she was ecstatic because she would be able to play in the same city as a lot of family and her girlfriend and her excitement multiplied when her counterparts John Richards and Lachlan Summers were brought onto Stockholm as well. Although the season may have ended in disappointment with a playoff miss, playing in Stockholm was probably the best case scenario for Sadie and she was very happy staying there for the year. Now she is ready to play for the Riga Reign in the VHL and although she won't have Lachlan and John beside her there, Addie will be moving to Latvia along with her. As she prepares to make her VHL debut, she looks back at how far she has come to get here and is determined to go even further.

 

Next stop: Riga (@kirbithan)