By John DeCoste
A move to a prep school in Minnesota, has helped a 14-year-old Kings County girl earn a national medal.
Kentville’s Brette Pettet made the decision last summer to continue her education and hockey career at Shattuck St. Mary’s, following in the steps of hockey players like Sidney Crosby.
“The school work was tough at the start, and trying to spend my time on homework, hockey and everything else has been a little hard to get used to,” Pettet said in an email last week.
She seems to have gotten her feet under her - Pettet was a big part of the school’s U.S. national U-16 Tier 1 girls’ hockey championship win April 7.
Shattuck St. Mary’s edged Assabet Valley Red from Massachusetts in the final played in San Jose, CA.
The team was trailing 3-2 going into the third period, but rallied to 4-3 win and the school‘s second Tier 1 girls’ U-16 title. Pettet, the first-year forward and youngest player on the team, was right in the middle of things scoring both the tying marker and the winner.
Pettet, the only Grade 8 student on a team made up mostly of Grade 9 to 11s, had been her team’s second leading scorer in the round robin with six points on a goal and five assists, but she saved her best for the final.
At 9:57 of the third period, she scored unassisted on a slap shot to tie the game and then, less than three minutes later at t 12:26, she struck again, stealing the puck from an Assabet defenseman and scoring on a wraparound.
“She stepped up so much,” teammate (and Shattuck St. Mary’s starting goalie) Megan DuBois told the Faribault Daily News of Pettet’s third-period performance.
“We were hoping something was going to happen, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, she got a goal, and then another, and we were back in the game. She really put the team on her back.”
The championship was “a great way to end the season,” Pettet said.
“Our coach told us all season our team was like a chain, with everyone a link in the chain,” she added. “I was one of those links, and I’m really pleased to be part of it, and really excited we were able to win the championship.”
She said she enjoyed her year so far and feels fortunate to be part of Shattuck St. Mary’s.
“(I’ve) met many new friends from different countries, and the team has travelled to a lot of places I’ve never been before,” Pettet said.
Asked if she has any regrets about going so far away from home to attend school, she said, “I miss my family and friends, but with Facetime and texting, I’m able to be in touch a lot.”
Her new school, “is a really great place,” Pettet added. “Everyone makes you feel at home, and part of the school. I love it here, and I have no regrets at all.”
