VANCOUVER - Playing in your hometown is special for any athlete.
 
Playing there for the national championship – well, that's on an entirely different level.
 
Three Albertan members of the UBC Thunderbirds – Kathleen Cahoon (Calgary), Kaylin Snodgrass (Lakeview, Alta.), and Kelly Murray (Medicine Hat, Alta.), and their head coach Graham Thomas, will have a chance to live out that dream later this week, as they travel to Calgary for the 2016 CIS Women's Hockey Championship.
 


For Thomas, who grew up in a his grandfather's village on the outskirts of Calgary, going home is a unique experience for a few reasons, not the least of which is getting to coach, again, in front of his family.
 
"It's pretty special for me, especially because my grandparents – who are 90 and 91, or 90 and 90, I better not get that wrong – are going to be in the stands. For them to get to see me coach and see us play in the final, it's a great thing for me personally."
 
However, in his fourth season at the helm of the T-Birds, Thomas also alluded to a more hockey-related reason why playing for a title in Calgary, a women's hockey hotbed, could prove invaluable – it's one of the best recruiting tools in a coach's arsenal.
 
"It's exciting. In my first year here, we got to play in the Canada West final in Calgary, who had [Canadian Olympic legend Haley] Wickenheiser at the time. They were the defending national champions, and it was pretty neat to beat them.  Cahoon was in the stands, I think, and she signed or something at that point – she wasn't here yet. It's neat to have the chance to do something like that again, except on an even bigger stage."
 
As for Cahoon herself, the 6-foot-1 winger contests that she had already signed on with the program at the time, but the T-Birds 2012-13 Canada West championship still confirmed that she was making the right call with her future.
 
"I actually didn't watch the game they won, but I watched the second game of the series. I think I was already committed by then, but it was definitely a great thing to see, and it was definitely a big thing for me."
 
As for the aspect of playing in her hometown, Cahoon, who tied with Rebecca Unrau (Humboldt, Sask.) for the team lead with 12 goals during the regular season, echoes her coach.
 
"It's really exciting to see my family and friends out there. It's going to be a great experience, I think. Really excited about that."
 
Unlike Thomas and Cahoon, Snodgrass isn't from Calgary itself. The second-year defender hails from the tiny town of Lakeview, about an hour south of the big city.
 
For "Snoddy", as she's affectionately called by her teammates, the fact that nearly her whole family – including her parents, brother, grandparents, and a couple uncles and aunts - are making the trek to Calgary should give her "a little backbone on the ice."
 
"It's going to be crazy," admitted the sophomore.
 
Murray was raised in Medicine Hat, but her parents currently reside in Calgary, and her whole family will be coming out to watch the 'Birds hunt for the program's first national title.
 
Still, the defender, who led the 'Birds and finished second amongst Canada West defender, isn't going to let the extra excitement that comes with playing in front of your family affect the way she goes about her business.
 
"The best way to prepare is just to imagine it as another game, but you do have to accept the fact that it is a little more pressure because you are in front of all those family members. I just have to make sure that I prepare properly."
 
The 'Birds will all need to be at their best, their chase for the program's first Golden Path trophy begins with a 2:00 p.m. (PT) matchup with the McGill Martlets, the most storied program in the history of CIS women's hockey.
 
Winning the national title would be historic for the Thunderbirds program, and every player and coach involved.
 
It might just be a touch more special for a few of them.