Anyone who thought Sabrina Harbec’s hockey skills were good should watch her play hacky sack before a big game. The junior forward from St. Hubert, Que., kicks the footbag around as part of her pre-game routine before every SLU NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey contest.

“Hockey is fun,” she says. “But I don’t like to stress out before a game, so we play hacky sack.”

Perhaps Sabrina’s success on the ice can be attributed to her easy-going nature. Through January she led the NCAA in scoring, although she would not have known it if her father had not brought it to her attention. One of three finalists for the 2006 Patty Kazmaier Award, she does not get caught up in her individual accolades.

The 2006 ECAC Player of the Year and first team All-American lists being a member of back-to-back Frozen Four teams and of a perennial top-ten team in the country as two of her best achievements.

That is not to say she does not have individual goals. A three-time member of the gold-medal winning U-22 Canadian National team, she has her sights set on making the National Team and playing in the 2010 Olympics, an aspiration that does not seem too far out of reach. In the fall, she was invited to attend the 60-player camp from which the Canadian National Team selects their squad, putting her on the team’s radar. She also traveled to Germany over the Christmas break to compete for the Air-Canada Cup.

The math major hopes to attend medical school after she wraps up her hockey career. For now however, her focus is on finishing the season strong and leading the Saints to the Frozen Four for the third straight year.