Name: Meaghan Mikkelson Reid
Sport: Hockey
Hometown: St.Albert, AB
Nickname: Mikk
Favourite Sports Memory: Winning a gold medal at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
How you got involved in your sport: Hockey runs in my family. My great uncle Jim McFadden won a Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 1950 and also won the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year in the NHL in 1948. My father played in the NHL for approximately 3 years and my younger brother Brendan also plays hockey in the Tampa Bay Lightning system. I started skating when I was 4 years old, started playing ringette when I was 5, then started playing hockey when I was 7 years old. My brother, who is two years younger than me, started playing hockey that year. I saw him playing and decided that it was something I wanted to try as well!
The moment you knew you wanted to represent Canada: When I saw the first Canadian National Women’s Team play in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
Favourite Quote: “Every accomplishment starts with the decision to begin. If you believe, you can achieve. Follow your dreams and never, never, NEVER give up!”
CAN Fund Testimonial: I am so fortunate and thankful to have the amazing support of CAN Fund as I worked towards achieving my goal of representing Canada and winning gold at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang. As a mother to my two year old son, and a full-time athlete. CAN Fund is supporting me and my family so that I can continue to train to be the best athlete that I can be, while still supporting my family. Thank you CAN Fund for your commitment and passion in supporting Canada’s athletes! You are truly amazing.
Best Result:
2014 Olympic Gold
-2010 Olympic Gold
-2012 World Champion
-2008, 2009, 2001, 2013, 2016 & 2017 Silver medalist IIHF World Women’s Championships
Share one valuable tool that you use on a daily basis that helps you to be the best athlete you can be: The most valuable tool that I use on a daily basis is the idea of gradual improvement. If you focus each day on improving, even if it is just a little bit, those small amounts will add up to great strides and leaps over a longer period of time, and will ultimately help you reach your goal.
Who is one person in your life that has impacted your career and what was it that they taught you: My parents! There is no way that I would be where I am today without my parents. I cannot imagine what my athletic life would be like, but I attribute so much of what I have accomplished to the sacrifices they made for me growing up. From the countless hours they spent driving me to practices, games, training, the number of hockey camps they enrolled me in and paid for, the tough times they helped me through, to the continued support and guidance, I can’t imagine having achieved my goals and dreams without them.
Having a father that played in the NHL was a huge advantage for me growing up as a minor hockey player, and still is to this day as I continue to pursue my goals. He was always there to offer guidance and advice on anything hockey related, whether it was about the tangible skills it took to be a great hockey player or the intangible skills it took to be a great person and a great teammate. The advice he offers me from his experiences as a professional hockey player has been invaluable throughout my career, and I attribute a great amount of my success to the countless hours he spent with me on my development.
My mother did not play hockey but was a swimmer at Towson State University, and is one of the strongest people I know. Where my father taught me about developing as a hockey player, my mom taught me about the strength, determination, and courage it took to pursue your dreams, and to never give up on them no matter what. She always offered me endless emotional support and taught me the importance of mental strength. Having lost her father suddenly from a heart attack at the age of 24 and helping her mother to survive a brain tumor, she learned through her own experiences what it meant to be a strong person. My mom was the ultimate support system for me when it came to anything mental or emotional.
Have you read any articles or books or watched any videos or movies recently that really inspired you: The one event that has most recently inspired me the most is the Boston Marathon bombing that occurred on April 15th, 2013. I cannot narrow down to one story in particular that has inspired me, but have spent a great deal of time thinking about this tragedy. It has made me reflect on life and on what true heroism is all about. It served as a jolt of perspective that we should not take any day in our lives for granted. An 8 year old boy was killed, and will now never get to experience the things in life that we are fortunate enough to experience. Just as we should not take any day for granted, we should not take any one person in our life for granted either, because we do not know for certain how long they will be around. What also inspired me were the many acts of heroism that occurred in the face of this tragedy.
Fun Facts: I got married in July 2011 to a former professional hockey player, goaltender, Scott Ried. Scott played 12 seasons in various leagues including the CHL, ECHL, AHL and UK Elite Hockey League. After undergoing 4 hip surgeries in 5 years, he retired and now lives with me in Calgary.
My dad played about 4 seasons in the NHL and holds the all-time record for the worst plus/minus in one NHL season at -82!
I love the outdoors and going to yoga.
I am secretly a math nerd…
I worked full-time at a marketing agency in 2008-2009 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in business, majoring in Marketing, prior to playing for the Senior Canadian National Team for the first time in 2008.
Website: www.meaghanmikkelson.com
