Attached to a bungee, Mary Claire Geneau spends her Tuesday afternoon performing wind sprints behind Lambrick Park high school.

The 17-year-old St. Andrews regional high school student is in peak condition, having led the Pacific Steelers Junior Women’s Hockey League team in nearly every fitness test she performed this month.

Geneau is a defender who, along with Langford’s Kayla Natarelli (forward), are two of three players making the commute to Vancouver each weekend as part of the Steelers high performance program.

“This is a showcase team, we play against some of the top academic girls teams (in North America),” said first-year Steelers coach Bob Atchison. The goal is to expose players to scouts from university programs, particularly the NCAA, as well as CIS.

“The games can get pretty intense, and quite rough sometimes,” said Geneau, who enjoys the intensity of battling on the wall.

Because the team is based out of Vancouver, and is outside the B.C. Hockey umbrella, Geneau spends her time away from the team off of the ice, unable to skate with any other teams. In its place she’s scheduled a demanding dry land routine during the week with local trainer Scott Blewett.

Geneau uses her powerful skating to jump into the play offensive, and is a regular on the powerplay. “Mary Claire’s an exceptional hockey player, she’s definitely in our top pairing defensively,” said Atchison, of the former midget AAA South Island Breaker. Atchison joined the Steelers after working with female high performance hockey for the past two years, and credits Geneau, “as one of, if not the hardest working athletes I’ve incurred this year.”

With such a wide geographical base, the JWHL holds “game weekends” to accommodate the travel. The first stop was in Calgary last weekend where the Steelers played five games against East and West division teams between Friday and Sunday, while writing their SAT’s on Saturday, a component of the JWHL.

The weekend stops are heavily scouted by the NCAA, especially those in Boston and Minneapolis. It’s a demanding lifestyle and it doesn't come cheap, but its an investment Geneau and her family believe in. Geneau has been approached by NCAA Div. 1 and Div. 3 schools. She's hoping to land a scholarship deal to play varsity while completing an undergrad tailored to law school.

Come Nov. 4 to 8, Geneau and Natarelli will be scouted again, this time as part of B.C.’s Under-18 team, hosting the National Women’s U-18 Championship in Surrey.

Playing for the national team is something she’s definitely dreamed about, Geneau said, but she’s not about to get caught up on it.

As one of the top players in B.C. for her age, Geneau is on Hockey Canada’s radar. “Players are scouted at 14, 15 years old,” said Atchison. “Though there are very few players from B.C. who make it to the national team.”

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