Kaitlyn Slator ends NAIT hockey career in style

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This article was published 27/04/2024 (614 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kaitlyn Slator apparently has a flair for storybook endings.

The graduating goaltender with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) Ooks helped her team win its first championship since 2015 in her final post-secondary game last month and was recently named most valuable player in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference women’s hockey playoffs.

“I don’t think it’s totally hit me yet and I don’t think it will until the team’s season starts new year,” the Brandonite said. “I’ve had a great career and it’s over now, but I worked hard for six years to get to where I was and it was great to come with all these titles at the end.”

Slator certainly had a career of sustained success. This season, she became the ACAC’s all-time leader in wins with 50 and minutes played with 4,239:41. She also tied for the shutout record with 12.

During the season, the Edmonton-based team went 17-8 and finished third, behind the first-place Lakeland College Rustlers (21-4) and Red Deer Polytechnic Queens (19-6). While the Ooks dropped three of their final four outings in the regular season after a six-game winning streak was snapped, Slator thought her team was in a good place.

“We were all super happy with how we were playing before the playoffs,” Slator said. “I think we kind of peaked at the right moment. Some of the games before playoffs didn’t go our way, but the way we were playing as a team, we knew we had a good shot at winning.

“We were all super excited to see what we could do.”

Slator made 10 appearances in the regular season, with a 1.58 goals-against average and .924 save percentage, and took over as starter when the playoffs began.

As NAIT began the playoffs, a pair of formidable challenges lay ahead in Red Deer and Lakeland College.

“Red Deer was for sure the biggest obstacle in the way,” Slator said. “They were the defending champs and beat us in the finals last year so we all had that chip on our shoulder a little bit.”

However NAIT had drawn up its playoff plans, they quickly went sideways. In Game 1 of the best-of-three semifinal on March 1, the host Queens earned a 3-2 victory.

But the Ooks dressing room wasn’t rattled.

“Playing games with your back against the wall is the best way to play,” the Vincent Massey graduate said. “You don’t have anything to lose so you can just leave everything on the ice. It was a good way for us to be desperate and come out with those desperate wins.

“We needed that rather than winning and taking it easy. It’s nice to be the underdog in those games.”

The Ooks responded a night later in Game 2 as Slator made 28 saves in a 2-1 victory, sending the series to a deciding Game 3.

On March 3 back in Red Deer, Slator earned a 25-save shutout in a 2-0 victory and the Ooks booked a spot in the final against Lakeland College.

“We really focused on our defensive zone come playoffs this year,” Slator said. “As long as we’re good in the defensive zone, the offence will come. We really focused on shutting down their high-scoring opportunities and that helped me succeed in the games, and I helped the defence succeed in their game plan. That worked out for us.”

Lakeland beat NAIT twice in a regular season-ending series, so the Ooks went in as underdogs again.

In Game 1 of the final on March 8 in Lloydminster, Alta., Lakeland was only able to beat Slator with a power-play goal in the third period as NAIT took the series lead with a 3-1 win.

Back in Edmonton the next night, Lakeland led 1-0 and 2-1 but Slator shut the door for the second half of the game, making 23 saves as NAIT earned a 3-2 victory.

“It was super key to gain that confidence but we still knew how to play that desperate hockey from the first round, so we always kept that feeling in the back of our mind and played like it was out last game every game,” Slator said of the two-game lead. “I think that really helped us with the heart and passion to come out with those wins in Game 1 and 2.”

With their backs against the wall, the Rustlers won 4-2 on March 15 back in Lloydminster.

That sent the series back to Edmonton on March 16 for Game 4, and what proved to be the final night of Slator’s collegiate career. She turned aside all 27 shots in a 2-0 victory and capped her career with a championship.

“It was amazing,” Slator said of the celebration. “We had lots of friends, family and fans in the crowd. It was a blessing in disguise not winning in Game 3 but being able to win the championship at home. It made it that much sweeter for us in the end. It couldn’t have been a better game.”

She certainly did her part for the Ooks.

In the playoffs, Slator allowed just 11 goals in seven outings, and earned shutouts in the two clinching games.

“I was super happy,” Slator said. “I’ve wanted to win for six years so I was doing everything in my power to come out with those wins. Things just went my way. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Slator, who was named rookie of the year to start her career during the 2018-19 season, was able to have a sixth year because the 2020-21 season was wiped out due to the pandemic.

On April 11, the league announced Slator has been chosen as the post-season’s most valuable player after posting a 1.58 goals-against average and gaudy .940 save percentage in her seven appearances.

“That was super cool,” Slator said. “I didn’t find out for a while and then saw it on Instagram. I was super happy. It’s exciting to be able to win that award. It makes it a little easier to leave hockey knowing I ended on the highest note I could.”

Slator, who spent five years in the Westman Wildcats program in the under-15 and U18 levels, isn’t sure yet if she has more hockey in her future or if she’ll be hanging up the pads. “I’m kind of ready to start my real life and move into that career part of my life,” Slator said. “I never know what will happen in the future.”

After earning a personal fitness training diploma in her first two years, she took a medical radiology technology diploma, which includes X-ray, mammography and CT scans. Now she’s finishing up a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology diploma.

Slator was an unusual college student for one big reason. She worked twice a week as an X-ray technologist and bought a home in Edmonton last year, but is returning to Brandon in September to do her clinical work.

Slator’s final career mark is a 1.74 goals-against average in 70 appearances with a .924 save percentage. While that’s nice, she’s hopeful the team success she helped achieve will carry forward at NAIT.

“It was awesome,” Slator said. “It paid tribute to my six years of hard work and being able to end on the highest note that you could was great. It sets the team up for next year and years to come. Now they know what it’s like to win and what it takes to win.

“They can show all the new players, and the returning players will have that sense of let’s get another championship and keep it rolling.”

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