Manitoba hockey family goes distance for teen's budding career

The odometer on the Bunn family's Toyota is pushing more than 900,000 kilometres.

While it's not uncommon for hockey families to log a lot of mileage, this family of four is logging a lot of cross-border clicks to get to and from hockey games. According to dad Gabriel Bunn, it can be a bit of a juggling act crossing back and forth from Manitoba to Minnesota.

"It's kind of hard to balance our hockey [and] schooling but we do a lot of catch up in our little car going to either practice or coming back from practice and then in between," he said.

Growing up in the small community of Wampum, in Manitoba's southeast corner, the options for competitive girls' hockey are limited. So Bunn's 14-year old-daughter Trechelle looked south to Warroad, Minnesota.

The family now makes the 50-kilometre drive each way multiple times a day.

"It is hockey town, USA, [with] all the opportunities that you get, like unlimited ice time any time you want, open hockey every single day," said Trechelle.

Drawn to Warroad for its highly-regarded hockey program, Trechelle is taking advantage of her dual citizenship and has transferred into Warroad high school and now plays for the girls' high school team.

"It's a very good hockey family atmosphere and they just took us in. The kids loved playing there," Bunn said, adding, "the name itself, the Warriors, with the native logo, I take pride in that because my daughter is half native American. So I take pride that they wear that logo with pride."

Trechelle is one of the younger defensive players in the program but she can clock a lot of ice time.

In Minnesota, there is a rule in hockey that kids can play four periods of hockey on game days so Trechelle will sometimes play the third period with the junior varsity and then play the entire game with the older varsity girls.

It's a challenge and rare opportunity that says a lot about Trechelle, said coach Son Shaugabay​.

"Honestly, right now, this year, it says a lot because this year we have a lot of girls. This is the most girls we've had in the 15-year history of girls' hockey here," Shaugabay said.

"For her youth, and some of the other kids that we have, to be cracking into the varsity lineup says quite a bit because we have a really big junior class."

Setting the bar

There is inspiration in every corner of the Warroad Arena.

Pictures of successful players that spent time here, like TJ Oshie, Gigi Marvin, Lisa Marvin, Holly Roberts, Karley Sylvester and more hang on the walls of the storied rink.

"I think the girls that are really driven, they see the other people that have had success and they are saying, 'why not me?' Which is quite a motivating factor," said Shaugabay.

Trechelle echoes that sentiment.

"When you see how many Olympians come out of here it makes you think that you have the better chance you could become one of those, too, one day," she said.

"I definitely want to play university hockey. The ultimate goal is to play in the Olympics, so however long that takes me, hopefully I get there one day."

With goals of university and beyond, Trechelle focuses on hitting the books just as hard as the puck.

"I definitely have a lot more academic opportunity here because I got put into advanced classes, where in Sprague, where I was going to school before, there were no opportunities like that," she said.

"So now I'm in Grade 9 but I can take Grade 10 math, which will help me in my senior year. I'll be able to take university classes and get ahead for that."

It's that drive, Shaugabay says, that could take Trechelle a long way.

"For some of these girls that are here, that will work hard and that will commit themselves to both in-season and off-season training, the sky's the limit, I truly believe that. There are some of these girls — and Trechelle is one of them — that if they commit … she has a chance to play university hockey which is a big deal."

Click and watch the story to see Trechelle and her team as they travel 32 kilometres to Roseau to face their biggest rivals in the last game of the regular season.