Golden Raider
Caileigh Tiller was the centre of attention Thursday morning at Holy Cross Secondary School.
Tiller was greeted by the student body and several staff members wearing red Team Canada shirts near the front office as the Grade 11 St. Catharines native returned to school for the first time since scoring the winning goal as Team Canada defeated Team USA at the 2025 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship last week in Finland.
Tiller pulled on Team Canada T-shirt and posed for pictures with her gold medal before addressing the media about her experience.
“It was awesome,” Tiller said. “Everyone supported me.”
The original plan was to surprise Tiller, but the news leaked out ahead of time.
“I kind of heard things were happening, and then, yeah, I was surprised that the whole school was here,” she said.
Holy Cross principal Adele Filice said the school simply couldn’t let such a meaningful accomplishment go without some type of formal acknowledgment.
“We’re obviously very proud of her and we wanted to honour her win,” Filice said. “So I basically reached out to a small team of my colleagues here. We know Caileigh’s shy and quiet and reserved. So we had to honour her somehow, but we wanted to also respect her wishes.”
It was a double celebration for Tiller, who turned 17 Thursday.
“We’ve got cake for her, so it’s a double whammy, and had some staff members make the shirts for us,” Filice said.
Filice said 68 staff members wore shirts with Tiller’s name and number 16 on the back.
Tiller said the experience of playing for Team Canada was memorable.
“It was great, just getting to travel to Europe and play was awesome,” she said. “We got the job done, which is even better.
“(The competition) was really good. It’s the best players in the world competing.”
Tiller had an exceptional tournament with four goals and 10 points in five games.
“It was awesome. I couldn’t have done it without the help of my teammates,” she said.
Tiller’s winner came on the power play eight minutes into the the second period and broke a scoreless deadlock as Canada captured their eighth goal medal at the U-18 tournament.
“It was a great pass from my D and then seeing the U.S. defender back I thought I’d shoot it and it went in,” she recalled.
Tiller said hearing the Canadian national anthem being played with a gold medal around her neck was dreamlike.
“It was so surreal. I still can’t believe it,” she said.
Tiller, who also with her twin sister Chelsea accepted full athletic scholarships to the University of Connecticut beginning in the fall of 2026, kept in contact with sister.
“We FaceTimed every single day. She always texts me before and after the game. I definitely missed her,” Caileigh Tiller said.
Both girls play for the Burlington Barracudas of the Ontario Women’s Hockey League where they will celebrate their birthdays with a game tonight.
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