{"id":37408,"date":"2016-01-27T12:51:51","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T16:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=37408"},"modified":"2016-01-28T11:43:19","modified_gmt":"2016-01-28T15:43:19","slug":"team-canada-hockey-star-passes-on-ncaa-to-study-and-skate-at-brock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2016\/01\/team-canada-hockey-star-passes-on-ncaa-to-study-and-skate-at-brock\/","title":{"rendered":"Team Canada hockey star passes on NCAA to study and skate at Brock"},"content":{"rendered":"

A campus tour of Brock University turned out to be a game changer for Team Canada hockey player Annie Berg.<\/p>\n

It was during the recent IIHF Under-18 Women\u2019s World Championships in St. Catharines that the 17-year-old rising star of Canadian women\u2019s hockey decided to leave a Division 1 NCAA scholarship behind and instead start her collegiate hockey career with the Brock Badgers.<\/p>\n

Berg, the daughter of former Toronto Maple Leaf and NHL veteran Bill Berg, sealed the deal Wednesday night (Jan. 27) in a ceremony during halftime of the Brock Badgers men\u2019s basketball game.<\/p>\n

The Grade 12 student at Beamsville and District Secondary School had a scholarship lined up with St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., but had a change of heart while wearing the Team Canada jersey and playing in front of cheering sellout crowds at the Meridian Centre during the World Championships held Jan. 8-15.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a lot of thinking to do during that week,\u201d said Berg. \u201cIt was coming close to exam time and I was really focusing on school and that\u2019s when I decided.\u201d<\/p>\n

A tour of the Brock University campus with her family made her realize Brock was the right choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a tough decision because there are a lot of opportunities for hockey in the States, but I really value the Canadian university education and when I got to campus it reminded me of home. It\u2019s a great school,\u201d said Berg, who plans to take Concurrent Education at Brock.<\/p>\n

Berg will suit up in the 2016-17 season for Brock Badgers coaches Margot Page and Sara Bauer, who look forward to having the talented forward on the roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very excited to have Annie joining us at Brock next year,\u201d said Bauer. \u201cShe is both an excellent student and a talented athlete, who is passionate, competitive and driven. Annie is well-prepared for success at the CIS level, and she will be a strong part of the core of our team moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berg is anticipating getting to play in front of boisterous Badgers crowds that will cheer her on next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to know there\u2019s going to be that support every time you\u2019re playing at home,\u201d she said. \u201cIt really helps the atmosphere. Going in there and feeding off that energy really gets you going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brock President Jack Lightstone, who met with Berg\u2019s parents during the campus tour, applauded her decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so pleased that Annie is joining Brock,\u201d said Lightstone. \u201cI know she will find at Brock the opportunity to grow intellectually, socially, and emotionally in a welcoming community, typical of the Brock student experience, while continuing to advance as an elite athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Beamsville's

Beamsville’s Annie Berg skates with the puck during one of Canada’s games in the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship in St. Catharines. Berg will play for the Brock Badgers next year. (Photo by Jana Chytilova\/HHOF-IIHF Images)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A campus tour of Brock University turned out to be a game changer for Team Canada hockey player Annie Berg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":37409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3319,1,4],"tags":[3761,256,3762,3763,668],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37408"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37408"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37425,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37408\/revisions\/37425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}