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Steve Kindel and Sara Maglio’s kids Ben and Lacey are at the Hlinka Gretzky in Edmonton and Concacaf Under-15 in Costa Rica, respectively
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Published Aug 05, 2024 • 4 minute read
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Calgary Hitmen Ben Kindel battles Swift Current Broncos goalie Matthew Kieper at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary last December. Photo by Darren Makowichuk /DARREN MAKOWICHUK/Postmedia
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Coquitlam siblings Ben and Lacey Kindel both pull on Team Canada jerseys and compete internationally for the first time this week.
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It would be a little easier on their family if they weren’t doing it 7,000 kilometres apart.
Dad Steve Kindel is with Ben, 17, in Edmonton for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, the Under-18 hockey tournament. Canada begins action Monday night at Rogers Place, taking on the Swiss. The eight-team event has its final on Saturday.
Lacey, 14, has mom Sara Maglio with her in Alajuela, Costa Rica, for the Concacaf Under-15 soccer championship. Canada opened the tournament Monday with a 1-0 win over Puerto Rico, and Lacey was a second-half substitute. That eight-team tournament decides its champion on Sunday.
The parents are both former Vancouver Whitecaps standouts. Steve and Sara met when they were playing with their respective SFU teams. They both suited up internationally for Canada, with Steve totalling 28 caps over three levels and Sara playing in the 1999 Women’s World Cup.
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They each remain firmly entrenched in youth soccer in the province as well, with Steve, 47, as senior technical director of the North Vancouver Football Club, and Sara, 46, as executive director of the Coquitlam Metro-Ford Soccer Club.
“It’s very surreal for us, with the coincidence of the timing of the tournaments,” Sara said late last week, before departing for Costa Rica. “We wish that we could both be there (for each tournament), but we’re going to divide and conquer.
“We’re obviously really proud of both of them. But both the kids and Steve and I are all pretty grounded. This is an important moment for each of them, but they both want to do so much more, too. This is hopefully one step on their way to everything they want to do.”
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Steve added: “The fact they’re going to be putting on a Canada jersey for a real game for the first time probably eight hours apart is pretty cool.”
Ben is a right-handed shooting forward who finished third in scoring for the Calgary Hitmen and fourth amongst all rookies in the WHL last season after amassing 15 goals and 60 points in 68 games. He was a second-round pick by Calgary in the 2022 WHL Draft out of the Burnaby Winter Club program.
He played soccer as well until he was 15, but stopped to focus on hockey.
There is hockey in the family roots. Sara’s cousin, Adam Maglio, is an associate coach with the Vancouver Giants, a rival of the Hitmen.
And, oddly enough, just days before Ben was born in April 2007, Steve did a Q&A with Postmedia and was asked what he would want to be doing if he wasn’t playing for the Whitecaps. Steve replied: “A rock star. Or maybe a hockey player.”
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Coquitlam’s Lacey Kindel, 14, (front, in the blue jersey) plays with the Canadian under-15 soccer team. Photo credit: Dixon Tam. Photo by Handout /prv
Lacey, meanwhile, is a forward, and her Coquitlam Metro-Ford teams have won provincials the past three years. She is also a member of the Whitecaps Girls Elite Academy. She’s one of four players from that program on the team in Costa Rica, joined by goalkeeper Samantha Powell, fullback Racquel Partovi, and centre back Myla Ewasiuk.
“Both of our kids have been very lucky with the environments they’ve been in,” Steve said. “Every player goes through ups and downs. There are great season and not-so-great seasons. But Ben and Lacey have had strong player groups and strong parent groups with their teams.
“It was very hard for both Sara and I to have Ben go away to Calgary last season, but the people he was surrounded by were phenomenal and that is easily as important as wins and losses.”
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Ben, who’s 5-foot-10 and 177 pounds, is eligible for next year’s NHL Draft and pundits are already starting to put out their rankings for that. Draft Prospects Hockey, for one, has Kindel at No. 48, which would make him a second-round selection.
There is bound to be hype and hoopla coming. Steve and Sara have had to help other families’ navigate it in the roles helping run youth soccer associations.
“This is just one small step,” Steve said of this week for his kids. “The averages and the numbers aren’t in your favour of making a living out of sport or living the big shiny dream. There’s a lot of players who make something like the Hlinka Gretzky who don’t go on to play pro hockey.
“It takes a bit of keeping level to remind yourself that this is a good acknowledgement right now, but both Ben and Lacey are still playing youth sport. That’s what they’re doing.
“I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had conversations with families of eight, nine, 10 year olds and had to tell them to relax. Making this team or not making this other one is not the be-all, end-all. We’d be hypocritical if we didn’t walk the walk because we’ve definitely had to have that talk with many families along the way.”
sewen@postmedia.com
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Courtesy : https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/son-daughter-former-vancouver-whitecaps-standouts-represent-canada-hlinka-gretzky-cup-concacaf