Emms-Finnsson grows in role with Cougars

Unlike many of her teammates, and most college hockey players for that matter, Kylee Emms-Finnsson took some time before being thrust into the game.

The Assiniboine College Cougars veteran defender grew up on a small farm just outside of Arborg and was entrenched in a hockey family, yet she was more interested in other sports like soccer, dance and figure skating, which she was ironically doing on hockey skates.

“At the start, it was just anything but hockey,” said Emms-Finnsson. “I don’t know why, but I just never wanted to play when I was younger. Just never really had an interest for it.”

So while most kids were already on the ice with a stick in hand around four or five years old, she had no motivations in sight — but that didn’t last forever. When Emms-Finnsson was nine, she said everything changed, and that’s all in thanks to her mother.

“There was this camp that was being hosted and you were given free equipment and my mom just put me in it and said, ‘Deal with it and if you don’t like it, you don’t ever have to do it again,’ Emms-Finnsson said with a laugh. “I ended up loving it.”

Although a little late to the part, with the love of the game finally coursing through her veins, Emms-Finnsson began playing mixed hockey for the Arborg Falcons for two seasons before transitioning over to girls hockey, when her family would make the hour and 15 minute trek over to Stonewall so she could play for the Blues.

She believes it was a worthwhile time investment.

“That was honestly probably the best decision my mom and my sister could have made for me because back then, it was kind of like girls weren’t equal to the boys and girls shouldn’t have been playing sports and that whole stigmatism,” Emms-Finnsson said. “It was nice to just play with the girls and then after that it just kind of went off from there.”

After capturing a city championship with the U13 A1 Blues, Emms-Finnsson cracked the U15 AAA Interlake Lightning lineup and then was awarded the club’s top defence honours. She carried that success over to U18 competition, where she served as an alternate captain for the Lightning, and notched four goals and eight points in her senior year. During that time, she said she was also emailing coaches across post-secondary institutions for an opportunity to play hockey after graduation.

After some consideration, she realized her new home belonged in Brandon, right with her sister Keely, who joined Assiniboine College one year prior in 2022. Safe to say, she made the right choice.

“Coming from such a small town, Brandon was probably the best city I could ever gone to because it’s not huge and it’s very much a town feel in this city,” said Emms-Finnsson.

Not to mention how much being a Cougar has helped her grow as a person, which is the reason why she’s built so many new relationships over the last three years and will continue to do so moving forward.

“When I came to Brandon in my first year, I was so shy and I was just so scared of everything and the whole big college world, and the more I played hockey and met new people, I’ve come so much out of my shell and it’s helped me a lot. I know I’m going to carry that with me for the rest of my life.

“Even just off the ice, the work ethic, the determination and all that, I carry that just into my everyday life as well.”

Emms-Finnsson has used those learning moments to help be an example for the 13 rookies on this year’s squad, which according to head coach Charles Tweed, Emms-Finnsson and the rest of the group, is more than just a team.

“It’s been awesome, honestly,” Emms-Finnsson said of the team’s chemistry off the ice. “We’re all really close and we’re not just a team, we’re a family. We always have each other’s’s backs, and I think that’s really what drives the whole success of our season, is that we treat each other like we’re family and we all have the same kind of common goal of winning.”

And AC has clearly reached its ambitions so far this season, as for a while now its seemed like they forgot how to lose a hockey game.

Through 19 games, the Cougars have clipped a 17-2 record, winning 13 games in a row to lead the West Region of the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s women’s Division 2 league. Their success is off the backs of their tight-knit locker room and also their shining skill and discipline on the ice, which has somehow managed to allow just 15 goals against in 19 games, while also averaging more than four goals per game.

Tweed has implemented a suffocating, relentless brand of hockey and his team has executed it to perfection. Emms-Finnsson said it’s easy to thanks to the cohesion of the team.

“It’s definitely a whole team effort,” she said. “It starts right from the goalies. We have some of the best goalies in the league and some of the best players in the league. When we get in the offensive zone, it’s really hard for other teams to get out because our forwards are just fore-checking so hard and our forwards are so good and fast and strong, and then in the defensive zone, we always practise D gaps and making a move early just so they don’t get in our zone or get a shot off or anything like that.”

And everyone knows the saying: good defence leads to good offence.

Emms-Finnsson, who plays alongside rookie blue-liner Montana Jubenvill, leads her defence corps in scoring with 19 points, which includes six goals. Last year she had six goals and 14 points in more games with 25, and her freshman year she had 10 points. She’s gotten better every year with experience and a little more courage.

“I’ve never really been one to get many points, but I think definitely being in the league for so many years helps a lot because I know the teams I’m playing against and what kind of to expect,” said Emms-Finnsson. “I think it just comes a lot from being more confident and not panicking with the puck. Just having confidence on the blue line, confidence in my D partner and my forwards that they’ll back me up if I decide to drop down or anything and just make as many good passes and good shots as I can.”

Emms-Finnsson and the Cougars will now look to extend their winning streak to 14 on Saturday when they face the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire in the morning and another team (still to be determined) in the evening. They also play against University of Wisconsin Madison the next day.

Following the three in two stretch, AC will have just three games remaining on its calendar before heading off to Maryland Heights, Mo., for the women’s national tournament from March 15 to 19. The Cougars have fallen in the final the last two years to the three-time defending champion Sault College Cougars, but Emms-Finnsson is hoping the third time will be the charm.

“It would mean the absolute world,” she said. “I don’t even have really words for it. It would just mean the world to be able to get to the final because getting to nationals is an amazing thing in itself, but getting to the final, and even though it didn’t work out the way we hoped the past two years, it’s still been like such an amazing experience and I definitely think it would just make it all that much better if we were able to come out on top this year.”

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com