Rotade i Mass: Skapandet av Skylar Irving

In the PWHL, everyone is that player. 

“It’s figuring out the other things, too,” says Irving. “You know that you can play at that level, but now you don’t have school, so you have to fill your time elsewhere. It’s never a question of whether you belong. More, like, there are other factors now that you wouldn’t have considered in college. Lineup decisions. Figuring out how to live alone in a new city. Then you start to come to the reality that you travel so much, and there are so many more things that you wouldn’t consider. Just a different experience.”

Throughout Montreal’s playoff run, Irving played in two of the team’s nine games, recording three shots in the process and navigating the different emotions of playing a more limited role.

“I think how I managed it was that the other things I can’t control weren’t going to dictate my confidence or my belief in myself,” she says. “That’s all internal. Nothing can change how I view myself as a player or what I know that I can do. Sometimes, things happen and different lineups need to go out for different situations and different looks. It’s never a reflection of who you are as a player or what you can do, and more that you have to let those things go sometimes so that when you do get the opportunity, you run with it. I’m just focused on the process, especially when it’s your first year in the league.”

More roots, more foundations.

“I got the experience under my belt,” says Irving. “I know I ran with the opportunity when I had it and that I belong there. So it wasn’t about, like, ‘Do you belong?’ It was what happens when you get the chance.”

On May 20, the Victoire topped Ottawa in to win the Walter Cup, and while Irving did not play that game, the lens through which she saw the playoff unfold comes with its own silver lining.

“It was crazy,” Irving says of the championship win in Ottawa. “It was so … I can’t even put it into words. I’m going to probably keep saying it was just so cool. But it was a surreal experience. You’re on the ice with people you’ve gotten so close to all year. And I thought Ottawa was so classy. They all stayed. They all cheered. Even though we beat them they were so classy. To be able to see the Cup come out, arms around each other, it was incredible.”

And, of course, Irving’s dad was there, too.

“Being able to share that experience with him meant everything to me,” says Irving. “Because he has been there from the start. He was the one who gave me my first skates, my first stick, supported me through it all, funded me through it all. Being able to share that experience with someone who loves the game and loves watching me play the game, I think more than he even enjoyed playing the game, I had tears in my eyes.”

Since then, Irving took a couple weeks off and has already started skating again. 

“I have an itch to, either touch my stick or touch my skates and just skate,” she says. “It’s less about conditioning yourself and more that I love to do it. And it keeps me sane.”

This summer, she’ll skate with the guys again, training on the ice just about all over Eastern Massachusetts and looking ahead to her second season.

“I’m no longer a rookie and I’m excited for that,” says Irving. "I have a ring now. Well, not yet, but it’s coming. And now I can just go do my thing next year. I want to be an impact player. Obviously, I would like to play top six minutes, and I want to kind of establish myself in the league as this power forward goal-scorer. Just go out there, prove myself, and score some goals and make a difference.”

And she will be growing more roots while taking a little bit of Mass with her.

“Oh, I always do,” Irving says.