SCI alum Kylie Lesuk looks to lead in 2nd season with Manitoba hockey
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (BVM) — Kylie Lesuk has been skating since she was 3 years old and has been a threat on the ice since she was a tween. This is her second season on the Manitoba Bisons’ forward line after joining the team for the 2020-21 season before the COVID-19 pandemic dashed her debut, and she has a chance to prove her seniority.
The Springfield Collegiate Institute grad played 18 games in his first year with the Bisons and dropped some hints of what can be expected from her: she scored five times (the third largest number on the team) and assisted six more.
But the 20-year-old skater from Oakbank has the pedigree and resume to go further, starting this upcoming U Sports season. As she said to the Bisons Sports website, her cousins all played, as did her parents, and her grandfather Bill was a professional ice winger for 13 years, split between the NHL (he wore five different jerseys, including the one from the Winnipeg Jets) and World Hockey Association.
Lesuk has experience taking on leading roles: before committing to the Herd, she was the captain of the Eastman Selects from the Manitoba Female Hockey League. She also played 215 games as a Selects member and earned 80 goals & 97 assists totaling 177 points.
The 5-foot-6 right-handed center forward has the skills and the deceiving movements on the ice to take the Bisons further this year: they were swept in the quarterfinals by the Saskatchewan Huskies last February.
In 2019, Lesuk was part of the U18 Team Canada selection camp (as one of the top 24 forwards) and the only player invited from Manitoba. She was also the assistant captain of Team Manitoba at the U18 Nationals in 2019. Lesuk played for the Springfield Icehawks Peewee A in 2014.
Starting this fall, the Herd will need the best version of Lesuk now that captain Lauren Warkentin has finished her successful 116-game stint with the team, a mission for which she has ample credentials.
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