From Minnesota to Connecticut. That’s the next stop in Courtney Vorster’s promising hockey career.
The 18-year-old Richmond blueliner is taking her game to NCAA Division One next fall at Quinnipiac University. She is one of six players in the Bobcats’ 2022 recruiting class and is expected to make an immediate impact for a team that went 16-17-3 this past season and bowed out in the quarter-finals of the East Coast Athletic Conference playoffs.
Vorster had the attention of NCAA scouts long ago and actually made a verbal commitment to Quinnipiac back in 2016.
”Representing her school, province, and country, Courtney has shown an ability to lead, raise her level of play in high pressure situations, and make tremendous contributions to winning teams at both ends of the ice,” said head coach Cassandra Turner. “Her poise with the puck, her ability to think the game, and her growth into an elite level defender have her prepared to immediately succeed at this level.
“Her drive to get better every day, work collaboratively in pursuit of development, and accept nothing less than her best reflect the ideals and highest standards of Bobcat Hockey.”
Vorster recently concluded a three-year stint at Shattuck-St. Mary’s by helping the renowned Minnesota hockey boarding school win its third straight national championship with a 5-1 victory over Detroit’s Bell Tire in the title game.
It was her second season playing on the Sabres’ U19 prep team. She was one of six players to sign her National Letter of Intent back in November. The Sabres also had eight named to U18 national teams, including Vorster and Newfoundland’s Maggie Connors on Team Canada. That stint concluded in January with a bronze medal at the World Championships in Russia.
Vorster won a silver a year before in Canadian colours and was joined by goaltender Kendra Woodland as the lone B.C. players on the 2018 team.
Her journey to becoming one of the country’s top up-and-coming players included a number of years playing for boys teams where she more than held her own.
Vorster was named MVP with the Seafair Islanders Bantam A1 squad during the the 2014-15 season. Two years earlier, she captained Richmond Minor’s top Pee Wee boys rep team. She also spent time in Delta Hockey Academy’s skill development program.
Along the way, she has received tremendous family support, including her older hockey playing brothers Ryan and Devon who just won the Cyclone Taylor Cup as a member of the Richmond Sockeyes.
