You don’t always get to choose your role, but you always get to choose how you play it.” – Sami Jo Small

Everyone who is a fan of women’s hockey knows who Jamie Lee Rattray is and anyone who watched the 2021 Women’s Hockey World Championships knows why Rattray is a master of owning her role.

At the 2021 World Championships, Rattray started the tournament as the 13th forward for Canada. She saw very limited ice time in most of the games. Like most players, she probably wanted to play a lot more, but had little control over where she landed on the depth chart. But instead of sulking, she scored a lot of goals in big moments throughout the tournament that helped lead Canada to its gold medal victory. She owned her role and she made an impact.

She is an amazing role model that all players can learn from and that coaches should point to when they need an example of perseverance and rising to the occasion.

MAKING THE MOST OF HER OPPORTUNITY

Rattray exploded onto the scene at the 2021 Worlds by making the most of an opportunity. With captain Marie-Philip Poulin out of the line-up in the preliminary round match-up against the USA, Rattray got a little more ice in the top 6 and scored two goals in a 5-1 win. Keep in mind that she did this with only 9:36 of ice time out of a 60 minute game (which was the third least of any forward in the game). She continued to be the 13th forward up for Canada up until the gold medal game – and still managed to finish the tournament with four goals, one assist and a plus/minus of plus-8 after seven games. I don’t have the time-on-ice stats for the tournament, but there is no question in my mind that she produced the most points per minute played in the tournament by a landslide.

Watch three of her four goals from the tournament below that showcase her commitment to the 200 foot game and her tremendous around the net play.

OFF THE REBOUND

Every coach who watches this replay LOVES this goal by Rattray. On the finish, we see her drive the net hard for a potential rebound off of Jenner’s shot. Stick on the ice, right place, right time, seemingly simple shot for a goal.

What you’ll love even more is the play she makes back in her own end that starts the entire offensive attack for her team. She back-checks into perfect position as Team USA enters the zone and gets stick on puck beautifully to steal the puck. She then makes a lightning quick decision to chip that puck off the wall to beat pressure and touches the puck past the defender into open space. She moves it to Jenner in the middle as they enter the neutral zone and then sprints FLAT OUT to her eventual goal scoring position off the rebound.  If you need a great example of a 200 foot play that showcases simple, smart, and fast hockey, this is your clip.

WRAPAROUND GOAL

Not to be outdone, Rattray’s next goal less than three minutes later in the period, showcases her incredible around the net play. She gets a great tip on the initial shot (note the great net front positioning 6 feet in front of the goalie so that the puck has time to change direction significantly before reaching the goalie).  She immediately reacts to the save and is first in to hunt the rebound. She does a great job of disrupting the defender’s stick in the board battle so that her teammate can win possession. The puck pinballs behind the net for a moment but Rattray tracks it perfectly, and makes a laser quick read that the goalie is on the far post and stuffs it in short side from below the goalline before the goalie can react.

SCREEN & TIP

Say what you want about the lack of defensive coverage off this offensive zone face-off, but Rattray’s screen and tip are as good as it gets on her final goal of the tournament in the gold medal game.

Rattray made a significant impact every single time she touched the ice in this tournament. She made the most of what she was given and was a big reason Canada won gold. And even more importantly, she continues to be a phenomenal role model for all players at all levels of hockey who may not be given the role they want but make the most of the role anyways. This is especially critical during playoffs - you can’t always be on for the last shift of the game or get the start in the must win game. But no matter what role you find yourself in, you can choose to play it to the best of your ability and make a positive impact on your team and the game overall.