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RODE: Red Deer Minor Hockey's Lucia Luptakova set to represent Slovakia

The 14-year-old native of Slovakia moved to Red Deer on August 22 and easily fit right in
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Danny Rode is a former Red Deer Advocate sports reporter.

Lucia Luptakova is a quick learner. 

The 14-year-old native of Slovakia moved to Red Deer on August 22 and easily fit right in when came to learning the language and playing hockey with the powerhouse Red Deer U15AA Topco Oilsite Products Chiefs. 

While she comfortably did her interview in her second language, the hockey part was even easier. 

Lucia has been playing hockey since she was four and came up playing with the boys. 

She did play some soccer when she was younger and took up tennis last summer. 

“But I’m not as good, not like this level (of hockey),” she said. 

Lucia has already played with the youth national team program three times and will make an appearance for the Slovakian U16 squad at the European Youth Olympic Festival in early February in Georgia. 

“I’m looking forward to it,” she said. ”The last time I played it was in the Czech Republic.” 

“We have a small group to select from over there, so most of us have played together.” 

Last season, Luptakova played with the boys and in a women’s League where she played seven games, scoring twice and finishing with five points and a plus 8. 

But Lucia, who is in Grade 9 at Lindsay Thurber, moved to Red Deer with her family for a couple of reasons. 

“We moved for hockey and to learn English,” she said. 

“Hockey here is great in that I’m playing with my age group and we play a lot more games than they do in Slovakia. At home I was the youngest player in the women’s league, so a little age difference, but I learned a lot.” 

Lucia played on defence at home, but has moved to the wing with the Chiefs. 

“It doesn’t matter where I play. It’s fun to play at this level,” she added. 

Lucia’s sister, Adela, plays at the U13AA level and is an affiliate with the Topco Chiefs. “She doesn’t get to play here, but we do do some one-on-one.” 

Once Lucia arrived in Red Deer, it didn’t take long for her future teammates to be impressed, said first-year head coach Mark Hammer of Olds. 

“My daughter (Kendall) was skating at a camp in Sylvan Lake and she saw this girl from Slovakia and the rumours started about her coming in and they all were excited to have her,” he said. 

Lucia has five goals and six assists in 21 games this season, but has impressed Hammer. 

“It’s a jump coming in here,” he said. “She played defence at home and we have her on the wing. Plus, it’s a jump as everything is different from on the ice to how we communicate on the bench. 

“It’s different in drawing up plays and with it being her second language, but she’s great.” 

On the ice, she’s an excellent skater and doesn’t back down when it comes to play along the boards. 

“You can see she played with the boys as she likes to be more physical,” he said. “She’s strong and has good body position, has good edges and a good shot.” 

She’s becoming more comfortable as she’s on a five-game point streak with two goals and three assists. 

Luptakova is just a part of the Chiefs, who are the top team in the Alberta Female Hockey League U15AA with an 18-1-1-1 record. 

They have the league’s top scorer in Reece Lucina, who has 26 goals and 43 points in 21 games. 

They also have the top goaltender in 13-year-old Gracie Hughes, who has a 9-0-0 record with a sparkling 1.38 goals-against-average and .944 save percentage. 

Charles Munro is 10th in the league with a 2.35 GAA and a .905 save percentage. 

Coming into this season, Hammer wasn’t sure what kind of team he would have. 

“My daughter played here last year so I did know the five girls coming back, but we got a strong group of second-year girls moving up from the A division and even rookies. A lot of the girls have played boys hockey. 

“Plus we bonded real fast. 

“We also have a real good group of parents.” 

Red Deer has one of the top girl’s programs in the province, led by the U18AAA and AA teams. 

“It’s a strong area that produces girls,” added Hammer. “We have Red Deer, but we draw a lot of players from central Alberta.” 

The Chiefs were at home Friday against the Calgary Fire Black, who sit second in the South Division to the Chiefs. The Fire are eight points back with Red Deer having three games in hand. 

The Chiefs visit the Rocky Mountain Raiders on Sunday to finish their January schedule. 

Luptakova will miss a portion of the February schedule as the Slovakian team gets together on February 4 and arrives in Georgia Feb. 8. 

Danny Rode is a retired Advocate reporter and member of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame who can be reached at danrode@:shaw.ca