Mia Miller: An Introduction

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MIA MILLER: AN INTRODUCTION

 

Making her debut to the VHLM let me introduce you to Mia Miller, the twenty year old female that transcended all borders in the Ontario Hockey League, this past season.  Miller was one of the first female hockey players to not just play in junior hockey, but to uactually excel.  In fact, it wasn’t more than a couple years before she was the best player on the Kitchener Rangers, a team that she spent four seasons on before declaring for the VHLM earlier today.  Miller will now go into free agency where she can pick her team to play on for the remainder of the season and playoffs if her team were to make it. What will she bring to the table? Let's look at this description from a rival coach from the OHL:

 

“She’s an absolute firecracker.  An explosive skater, she never once looked out of place, even as a young seventeen year old rookie.  A great puck mover with an excellent shot, she patrolls the blueline confidently, although we did find she was a tad bit too aggressive at times.  She made a ton of highlight reels, but that wasn’t without the odd gaff.  Something she will have to improve at the next level.  She didn’t shy away from anyone and threw her weight around quite a bit; and that isn’t a small frame either.  A leader one-hundred percent and someone that I honestly will not miss coaching against.  She will be a force at the next level I believe, especially if he she can iron out her areas that need improvement.”

 

Mia played in 58 games in her rookie season, but still showed off a lot of impressive offensive potential.  She racked up 9 goals and 28 assists for 37 points, while leading all defenders on her team with 176 hits.  Her physicality is unsurprising with an early interview from her showing her philosophy: “I am a woman playing in a man’s sport.  If I can’t stand up to them and put them on their ass…they won’t respect me.  That has always been my mentality.”

 

Her second season saw the defender improve slightly, tallying 13 goals and 37 assists over 64 games of the regular season. She also led the Rangers with 221 hits and was second on the team in plus/minus.  There were still some struggles defensively with the odd gaff, generally from pinching in too deep or getting too fancy on the line.  With that being said, she definitely looked far more improved with the puck and showed improved chemistry over the course of the season.  However, it was her third and fourth season’s that truly showed her potential.  Miller had 20 goals and 83 points in her third season while adding 25 goals and 95 points in her fourth and final season in the OHL.  Both seasons saw the defender record north of 200 hits and ultimately she was named the league’s best defender in her last season. 

 

Her accomplishments in the Ontario Hockey League were quite impressive, especially considering that she did improve defensively during her time in the league.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that her transition to the VHLM will be easy though.  Stars of junior hockey have failed many times over on their quest to make it to the Victory Hockey League, and Miller may not be the exception.  She will have to continue to improve and really prove all her doubters wrong, for she will have many along the way.  We will be cheering her on the entire way though.