Millian commits to Voltigeurs

Zoe Millian couldn’t envision hanging up her skates.

The 17-year-old, Grade 12 student at Saint Michael Catholic High School had planned to give up hockey and concentrate on her studies as she entered her post-secondary studies next year, but after playing for Team France at the IIHF U18 World Championships in Budapest earlier this year, she began to have second thoughts.

“I always thought that after this year it was going to be over and I had to choose between my career and hockey obviously,” she said. “When I was at the world championships my parents were here and they talked with each other and they realized that hockey was so important for me. So then they just convinced me that I should keep playing and I didn’t want to stop anyway.

“It just worked out very good.”

Millian will suit up next year for the Drummondville Voltigeurs, a Division 2 team that plays in Quebec’s CEGEP (General and professional teaching college) collegiate loop, a publicly funded system exclusive to Quebec’s provincial education system. 

Millian is excited to join the Voltigeurs.

“They’ve been winning the past two years so they’re most likely going to go up to Division 1 in the next two years,” she said.

Millian, who will study criminology, then plans to move on to university where she hopes to extend her playing career even further.

Millian was introduced to the school at the world championships.

“There was a head coach of the Olympic team that was there too and this college contacted them asking if they have a forward and they sent my name,” she said. “The college contacted me and then it just worked out.”

Millian plans to visit the school in person in April.

“We had a lot of meetings and they just felt so welcoming to me. I just knew this was where I wanted to go,” she said

Millian, who left her native France when she was two years old, has also lived in Scotland, Thunder Bay, Guelph and near Winnipeg before going back to France and then settling in Niagara two years ago.

Millian, who said her passion for hockey began on a U9 team in Thunder Bay, said playing for Team France was an unforgettable experience.

“Crazy. It was a little bit insane,” she laughed. “It was like so much pressure. It wasn’t very easy mentally, but it was the best experience ever.”

Team France finished fifth, defeating Germany for their lone win.

“We didn’t finish how we wanted,” she said. “We didn’t win a lot. We beat Germany, which was a big thing for us.”

Millian feels the experience of playing at such an advanced level can only help her development.

“When I came back, I definitely felt that I was improving,” she said. “It was a big step. Everyone was super good and it also changed who I am. It gave me a new perspective of life, of hockey. It just made me realize that your dreams can come true and you have to keep fighting for them.”

Millian also plays for the Brock U18 AA Badgers of the Ontario Women’s Hockey League as well as suiting up for the Mustangs, whose season came to an end this week with a 6-4 loss to Blessed Trinity in the Zone 2 AAA final.

“She’s such a great athlete, student, player,” Saint Mike’s coach Craig Bell said. “Brings it every time. She just purely enjoys the game. She’s passionate about it, but to see her excel and pursue her dream is unbelievable. She’s got some amazing moments that she’s celebrated this year. Like you can see, it has been a dream of hers that she’s pursuing and she’s just relentless in her efforts to get there.”

Millian, whose long-range goal is to play in the 2030 Olympics, doesn’t plan to back off now.

“I’m just going to keep working, working out and get my work in and get better.”

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