NAME: Kristen Hagg
UNIVERSITY: Alberta
CATEGORY: Student-athlete
SPORT: Women's hockey
HIGHLIGHTS:
Five-time Canada West champion
Four-time CIS national champion
CW Rookie of the Year & Player of the Year
Two-time Clarkson Cup champion
Kathlene Yetman Trophy recipient
BIOGRAPHY:
Defeat was not in Kristen Hagg’s vocabulary. The former University of Alberta Panda hockey player was a leader of the overwhelmingly dominant team that owned Canada West in the early 2000s. Hagg won five straight conference titles and an astounding four CIS National Championships in her five-year career.
Hagg and the Pandas captured each in a domineering fashion. The product of Strathcona High School in Edmonton did not lose a single conference of playoff game in her first three seasons in the evergreen and gold. In fact, of the 165 conference games the Pandas played with Hagg on the roster, the team won 156.
In her quest for victory, Hagg wrote her name in the Canada West record book with statistics that rank high to this day. She sits third all-time in career points with 182 and second in assists with 110.
Hagg’s talents stood out from her first step onto CW ice. She put up 28 points in 16 regular season games her first season, adding four more in the conference playoffs. Hagg’s abilities could not be ignored, as she earned the CW Rookie of the Year award.
She went on to earn three Canada West All-Star selections and the esteemed CW Player of the Year award. After fellow stand-out and linemate Danielle Bourgeois graduated from the program, Hagg ensured the team would not miss a step. Hagg, the team’s captain, went off for a ferocious 33 points in 20 games in her final season, guiding the Pandas to another conference and national title, the latter of which they lost the year prior.
Hagg’s name held holy air at the University of Alberta, and she was selected the school’s top female athlete in 2006.
"(Hagg was) an exceptional model of the student-athlete commitment to excellence. In many ways, she demonstrated a maturity that superseded her young age. She was the picture of poise and control in stressful times and for these reasons, her teammates held her in high regard. The level of hockey intelligence that she brought to our team was matched with a dogged determination and work ethic that contributed to helping define the 'Pandas' way of playing the game for years to come," said Pandas head coach Howie Draper.
Hagg’s winning ways didn’t upon graduation. She went on to play professional hockey in Austria and Canada. She captured the 2016 Clarkson Cup as a member of the Calgary Inferno. She scooped up another title in 2019, this time as the team’s general manager.
Hagg was a truly special student-athlete, one whose athletic accolades towered above the crowd, and yet they were matched by her academic accomplishments.
Hagg was a five-time Academic All-Canadian and Kathlene Yetman Trophy recipient (given to the University of Alberta's top female Academic All-Canadian).
Hagg earned a law degree before being called to the Alberta Bar in 2013.
Her community contributions cannot be forgotten. She worked to raise money for female hockey players who cannot afford to play through her involvement with the Grindstone Award Foundation. She also volunteered as legal counsel with members of the Canadian national team.
She is now a partner at her legal firm.