Brock University’s lead Sports Performance Coach is the first one to arrive and last to leave.

It’s the way Vicki Bendus is wired.

“Driven doesn’t even begin to describe Vicki’s determination for the field of Strength and Conditioning,” said Steve Lidstone, Brock University’s Associate Director of Performance. “Vicki is the hardest working up-and-coming Strength and Conditioning coach I have had the pleasure of mentoring.”

Bendus recently returned from Japan where she served as Hockey Canada’s strength and conditioning coach for the U18 women’s team where they defeated the United States 3-2 in overtime to win the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship on Jan. 13.

Bendus is one of the first for Canadian women’s hockey to win a World Championship as a staff member and a player (2012). She has worked with Hockey Canada as a strength coach for the past two years.

“Working with the team and representing your country is an honour,” said Bendus. “The players and staff are all humble and hard working to achieve a common goal. It’s rare to be in an environment where there is truly one goal and every decision made or process put into place is to accomplish that goal.”

Making sure a team is performing optimally in a short period of time at international tournaments is no easy task. They often consist of extensive travel, unknown facilities, foreign food, player illness, or injuries.

“They all make for a constant dynamic of decision making to optimize the team to perform in the next game,” said Bendus. “As a coach, you’re constantly evaluating subjectively or objectively the team’s current state and trying to predict how something may positively or negatively impact their performance in the next game.”

Bendus, who hails from Wasaga Beach, comes from a hockey family. Her older brother played while they were growing up and it wasn’t long before Bendus was lacing up a pair of skates.

She credits her work ethic on and off the ice to her parents.

“My parents without a doubt. From them I’ve learned how to work hard for the goals I’m trying to accomplish and to always be a good person in the process,” she said.

As a 16-year-old forward, Bendus joined the Etobicoke Dolphins of the Provincial Women’s Hockey League and led the team in scoring with 27 goals and 49 points in 29 games. The next season, she joined the Aurora Panthers and led them in scoring too.

Bendus was quickly snapped up by Mercyhurst University’s women’s hockey team where she would win the Patty Kazmaier Award as the top player in women’s NCAA hockey in 2010.

She was selected fourth overall in the 2011 CWHL Draft all the while competing for her country.

Bendus helped Team Canada win gold at the 2012 IIHF World Women’s Championships, a total of three medals (two golds and a silver) at the Women’s 4 Nations Cup (2010, ’11 and ’13) and was the leading scorer en route to winning gold at the Women’s MLP Cup in 2011.

After retiring as a player, Bendus was driven to be one of the top strength and conditioning coaches in the country.

While studying at Brock University from 2014-18, Bendus completed her Masters of Science in Applied Health Sciences and completed her education as a registered massage therapist. She is currently working on a doctorate of osteopathy.

“Hockey has given me so much it’s more than I can list: lifelong friends, incredible international experiences, mentors, a career I love, leadership skills, mental resiliency,” said Bendus. “It’s shaped my life and who I am. I try to give back to the game when I can because it has provided so much to me.”