Soyko takes long and winding road back to hockey

P.A. Bears all-time great makes strong comeback with Pandas

Abby Soyko is putting up points with the Pandas.

Abby Soyko was never going to give into the setbacks in her hockey career even when they came in bunches and were often out of her control.

The 21-year-old alumna of the Prince Albert Northern Bears under-18 AAA female hockey team experienced enough downs over a two-year period that would have knocked most out of the sport and into another stage of their lives. The string of adversity for Soyko started in earnest in April of 2020.

Having finished playing one season with the Northern Alberta Xtreme under-18 female prep team in Edmonton, Soyko was finishing up her Grade 12 studies in high school and looking forward to joining the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns Women’s Hockey Team in September of 2020 along with one of her triplet sisters in Alli. The two sisters had played together on the Xtreme and the Bears.

On April 20, 2020, the University of Lethbridge axed the Pronghorns Men’s and Women’s Hockey team’s due to budget cuts. On May 28, 2020, Abby found a new team and she officially joined the storied University of Alberta Pandas Women’s Hockey Team.

Abby Soyko went over two years between competitive games.

With the world in the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Pandas weren’t able to take the ice for game action in 2020-21 due to the Canada West Conference cancelling its season and U Sports cancelling all its national championships.

 In June of 2021, Soyko tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her knee and had to undergo reconstructive surgery. Due to the one year long rehabilitation to it took to comeback from that injury, Soyko was forced to miss the 2021-22 campaign, when all leagues under the U Sports umbrella returned to action.

Even during the worst of the down times, Soyko was not going to give up on playing hockey.

“I just always knew that hockey is what I wanted to do,” said Soyko, who also took part in lacrosse and track and field growing up in P.A. “I just kind of looked at this as more opportunity to just focus on my school and just rebuild myself kind of from the ground up.

Abby Soyko missed the 2021-22 season rehabbing a knee injury.

“I just kind of changed from how I was from (under-18 hockey) to how I am now, because in my opinion, I think I’m a more well-rounded player than I was in (under-18). I just kind of tried to rejuvenate myself.”

These days, Soyko is well into her first season playing full-time with the Pandas. In 20 regular season games with the Pandas, the power forward sits fifth in team scoring with seven goals and six assists for 13 points.

Taking up position on the right wing, Soyko had a goal Saturday helping her Pandas down the host University of Saskatchewan Huskies 3-1 in a U Sports regular season game played before 626 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place. In skating through her first campaign with the Pandas, Soyko is focused on improving and admits she still had to go through her on-ice growing pains with regards to adjusting to the game at the university level.

“I feel like I’ve had my ups and downs,” said Soyko, who stands 5-foot-4. “I expected that completely.

The first U Sports team Abby Soyko committed to folded.

“My coach Howie (Draper) has been really understanding and just really pushing me to be better. That has been really helpful in my mental block. He made it kind of easy for me actually.”

Draper, who has been the Pandas head coach since U Sports started awarding national titles for women’s hockey in the 1997-98 campaign, said one of Soyko’s biggest moments this season was when she scored in the team’s first regular season game back on September 30, 2022. Soyko netted the Pandas first goal of a 3-2 overtime victory over the Mount Royal University Cougars at the Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton.

The tally was a nice one too. Soyko took a drop pass from linemate Megan Wilson at the top of the left faceoff circle in the offensive zone, passed the puck to herself around a Cougars checker and roofed home a shot short side to the top left corner of the Mount Royal goal.

Soyko came to the Pandas with a reputation for putting up points. She is the all-time leading scorer with her hometown Bears piling up 128 points on 65 goals and 63 assists in 136 career regular season games played over five seasons from 2014 to 2019. Soyko is still the ninth all-time leading scorer in the history of the Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League.

Abby Soyko scored a goal in her first U Sports game.

During her one season with the Xtreme, Soyko topped her team in scoring posting 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points in 23 games.

When Soyko scored her first goal with the Pandas, she had gone over two-and-a-half years without playing in a competitive regular season or post-season contest. Draper said you could tell it meant a lot for Soyko to get that first goal after all that she had been through.

“It was great to see her score the goal,” said Draper, who has guided the Pandas to all eight of their U Sports national championship wins. “She hadn’t done it in a while.

“She kind of mimicked pulling the monkey off her back. That is the kind of person she is. She got really excited, and we all got excited for her.

“She is going to have a great career here.”

Abby Soyko is the P.A. Northern Bears all-time leading scorer.

When Soyko was dealing with her two-year stretch of multiple adversities, Draper was certain she would be playing full time for the Pandas one day. Draper said Soyko’s passion for the game is too strong to give up on it.

Last season when she was rehabbing her knee, Draper said Soyko was as locked into the game as the players that were on the ice for the Pandas were. The legendary Pandas bench boss said he could feel Soyko’s energy coming from the stands.

Draper said Soyko helped out with statistics and gave good feedback to her teammates trying to help guide them towards a win.

Now that Soyko is on the ice playing for the Pandas, Draper said she aids the team in so many ways.

The Pandas celebrate Abby Soyko’s first period goal on Saturday.

“I think one of the things that we were missing last year was just an extra threat offensively, and she provides that threat,” said Draper. “You can see how she can drive the puck to the net.

“She has tremendous power and the ability to explode just from a standstill and get around the corner. She has a great shot. She is tough and rugged.

“When she plays the game, she doesn’t play it in a dirty way by any stretch. It wasn’t lucky what happened down in Lethbridge with them losing their program, but we were extremely lucky to have her come to us.”

Soyko is happy she has landed on her skates with the Pandas. The opportunity to join U of A’s perennial powerhouse women’s hockey squad kind of came out of the blue.

After the Pronghorns folded, Soyko said things were quiet on the hockey front as restrictions to combat the COVID-19 pandemic had shut down large aspects of life in North American and the world. One day, Soyko got a call from her head coach with the Xtreme in Tyrel Spitzer asking if she wanted to go to the U of A and play for the Pandas.

Abby Soyko has seven goals and six assists in 20 games this season.

The wheels were put in motion from there, and Soyko officially joined the Pandas about a couple of days later. She said it meant a tonne to have her teammates around when she was coming back from her knee injury.

“Everyone was there for me when I was struggling with just not being on the ice,” said Soyko, who is an arts major looking to get into the education at U of A. “They didn’t treat me any different from any other player.

“I was just as included as everyone else. My coach made sure that I knew I was still part of everything. We’re a really tight knit group.

“I live with a couple of girls on the team. I didn’t feel left out at all, and they just made me feel really a part of the team still.”

Abby Soyko aims to keep improving her game with the Pandas.

In Saturday’s game with the Huskies, Soyko opened the scoring in the first period and a single from second-year centre Jadynn Morden allowed the Pandas to exit the opening 20 minutes with a 2-0 edge.

Second-year defender Emily Holmes scored on the power play for the Huskies at the 4:48 mark of the second to cut the Pandas lead to 2-1. Before the second period ended, Pandas second-year right-winger Kallie Clouston netted a single to put the visitors ahead of what would be the 3-1 final score.

Halle Oswald stopped 16 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Pandas, who improved to 18-5-1 with their ninth straight win. Colby Wilson turned away 22 shots to take the setback in net for the Huskies, who fell to 12-9-3.

The Pandas return to action this coming Friday, when they travel to Regina to take on the University of Regina Cougars at 7 p.m. at the Co-operators Centre.

Abby Soyko loves how her Pandas are playing overall.

The Huskies are off until Saturday, February 4, when they host U of R at 5 p.m. at Merlis Belsher Place.

Soyko said she loves how the Pandas are playing overall as a team and is pumped for what the rest of the season has in store for her squad.

“Coming back from Christmas break, I can say we’re definitely a different team,” said Soyko. “Everyone is on the same page.

“Everyone knows their roles. Everyone has bought in. We’re just kind of flowing right now.

“Everyone is just super excited.”

When her playing days with the Pandas are done, Draper believes Soyko will continue to be in hockey in some capacity.

That led to asking Soyko if she could see herself returning to Prince Albert one day to coach her old Bears team she won a SFU18AAAHL title and earned an appearance at the Esso Cup national female under-18 AAA championship tournament with in the 2016-17 campaign. Soyko enjoyed playing for long time former Bears head coach Jeff Willoughby, and the idea taking on his former role has crossed her mind.

Abby Soyko hugs Huskies centre Kate Ball.

“I don’t know, maybe,” said Soyko with a chuckle. “I have definitely thought about coaching.

“I’m not sure if I’ll go back to P.A., but if need be, I know I could probably make that happen. I have started doing some coaching and on-ice instructing in Edmonton. I definitely could see myself coaching in the future.”

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