Bethan and Megan Wilson grew up near Calgary learning to skate and play hockey after watching their older brother Connor lace up the skates. They then made their way down to Ottawa where they are currently playing on the Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team. Bethan is currently in her third year with the team, while Megan has just joined the team for her first season.
Bethan and Megan both attended the Edge School, a private school located in the Rocky View County which is just west of Calgary. While at the Edge School, they played for the hockey team as part of the Junior Women’s Hockey League (JWHL) and the Canadian Sport School Hockey League (CSSHL)
“That was where I got to play with Bethan for the first time, cause we’re two years apart, so every year of hockey its always been she moves on and I move up, but Midget, having the three years, that’s when I actually got to play with her and we’ve met lifelong friends that we still keep in touch with,” Megan said.
While playing hockey has been fun, it has also come with a few trials and tribulations down the road which have helped the sisters’ grow stronger.
“It was tenth grade and I ended up getting a really bad concussion playing hockey, and it was my first one, and I think it’s a really tough obstacle for anyone to overcome, especially everything that comes along with it, so for me to be able to get through that and everything that came with it, it kind of just makes you realize how much you actually love the game and how much sitting out makes you miss it even more,” Bethan said.
From the Edge School, Bethan eventually went off to Carleton University while Megan later transferred to the Okanagan Hockey Academy located in British Columbia.
“It was because of the coaching staff and the girls that I had met on the team when I came and visited. I liked the vision that the coaches had for the future team and of course I liked what the school had to offer,” Bethan said about her decision to come to Carleton.
From her time at the Okanagan Hockey Academy, Megan completed her grade 12 year while also wracking up four goals and four assists in nineteen games played.
“It was really nice to get a good change, because I’d been at Edge for three years and I just kind of felt like I was a little stuck there, it was still a lot like the Edge because it was a sports school and it was in the same league as Edge, but it was just really nice to see a new coaching staff and new faces on the team where I could just start again almost,” Megan said.
Finishing her year at the Okanagan Hockey Academy, Megan made the decision to also come to Carleton, and in the process, joining a team to once again play with her sister.
“I was really excited. She had said she kind of wanted to, but didn’t really tell me that she was necessarily going to, but it was really exciting, I mean, we’re so close and we get to be reunited and we get to hang out all the time again and I can’t see anything wrong with that,” Bethan said.
Since coming to Carleton, Megan has scored one goal and gotten two assists in nine games played, while Bethan has wracked up five assists in 47 games played while on the team.
“It’s really nice, and it’s so easy transitioning here with Bethan, and then living with some of the girls on the team, it’s just really easy to get along with everyone and feel like a part of the team, and school is so much easier having people around you to help you and have you figure things out,” Megan said.
While being on the same team together, they’re teammates have noticed how Bethan has grown as a player on and off the ice and have also noticed how similar Bethan and Megan really are.
“Megan and Bethan are very similar people, it’s like they are the same person, so they feed off each other, they’re really funny together, and Megan being here I think just brings out the best in Bethan and same for Megan,” teammate Leah Scott said.
“So, Bethan being there, Megan right away was part of the team and even in her first year she’s playing amazing and having her sister there makes her more comfortable and confident in her abilities, so it’s nice to see that she has that support no matter what,” Scott added.
The teammates have also noticed Megan’s personality and have voiced the pleasure of her fitting into the locker room so well.
“She’s a pretty funny kid, actually, she’s quite talkative and she’s open with everyone so its been nice,” teammate Rachel Knee said.
When asked about what they hope for themselves in the future, the sisters voiced the same idea.
“Well, I think women’s hockey can only take you so far, but I absolutely love playing it so I want to play it for four or five years here for sure, and just let myself take it as far as I can, but I would rather focus on education after an undergrad degree so we’ll see after these years here,” Megan said.
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