NEWS FILE PHOTO
Dunmore product Devyn Amundson played three seasons for the South Alberta Hockey Academy and has committed to play D1 hockey for Post University starting in the 2023-24 season.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Devyn Amundson is ready to continue her hockey career at the next level.
The Dunmore product is committed to play at Post University, suiting up for the Eagles. Post University is located in Waterbury, Conn., and the women’s hockey team plays at the NCAA Div. I level.
“I’m just really excited I got the opportunity to do this and that everything worked out,” Amundson said. “I’m happy that playing at SAHA for three years has led me to be able to go pursue high level post-secondary hockey.”
She was able to tour the campus in late July and says she enjoys the small-town feel of Waterbury, reminding her of home. The 18-year-old says she likes the philosophies shared at Post University and from head coach Gretchen Silverman.
“They’re in a building stage because they were new a few years ago, so they’re building up and they got their new coach last year,” Amundson said. “She played on Team USA in 1998 when they took the gold medal and I really like what she’s trying to build there. The philosophy being, if you’re good, you play, if you work hard, you play and get rewarded for what you put in. So I’m excited because I like to think I work pretty hard and I’d like to be able to be rewarded for that.”
Helping to build a team and set the tone of the culture isn’t new for Amundson as she is one of six players to have represented the South Alberta Hockey Academy women’s U18 team in all three seasons. She says it was the best three years of her life.
“I’ve made my lifelong best friends, they’ve taught me more about how to work hard and how to be a better person and I was really sad to go because it was like family and it’s going to be hard to transition into a new family,” Amundson said. “If I didn’t come to SAHA in the very beginning, I would have never known these people. So I’m hoping I’ll be able to create a new family, just like I did at SAHA, with my new school.”
Her commitment to Post University marks a milestone for SAHA, as she is the second player in the program’s history to commit to an NCAA Div. I school. Defender Kendal Davidson committed to Union College in New York last November. The two won’t face off in regular season action as both schools are in different conferences. Being one of the first from SAHA to commit to the Div. I level isn’t lost on Amundson.
“It was a dream come true. I did imagine, but I never thought it would happen like this,” Amundson said. “I was really excited when the opportunity was there and I was able to take it. When everything just went well it made me really happy and it made the rest of the year quite fun.”
She’ll join her new team in the next week and is excited for the new colours that come with playing for the Eagles. Amundson says a new set of goalie gear will be designed at a goalie shop in Calgary and she’s looking forward to putting together a new mask design.
Amundson says this achievement would not have been possible without her friends and family helping her every step of the way.
“They’ve helped me tremendously to accomplish this, and my parents have been my biggest cheerleaders and my biggest role models,”she said. “This would not have been possible without my mother because she bends over backwards for me and is a lot of the reason why this was able to happen.”
