Player with hockey ethic can be counted on versus Pali
By Marc Weber
Whitecaps' midfielder Kaylyn Kyle is a soccer player who can't seem to escape hockey.
Her dad, Doug, went to a Memorial Cup with the 1982-83 Lethbridge Broncos and the following season led the Western Hockey League's Saskatoon Blades with 113 points.
He played with Rich and Ron Sutter, with Joey Kocur and Wendel Clark, and had a tryout with the Edmonton Oilers.
Her boyfriend of almost four years, Brad Cole, is a defenceman who spent last season with the Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League.
And even when she went abroad, playing for Swedish first division side Pitea in 2009, it didn't take long to run into former Canucks defenceman Mattias Ohlund at his hometown gym.
Here's the kicker: She can't skate. "Hockey's everywhere in my family," said the 21-year-old from Saskatoon. "Everyone's good at skating, but I'd always opt out. I'd be the goalie. They'd just stick me in net and pad me up."
Perhaps having all those pucks fired at her toughened her up.
She's one of the Whitecaps' top passing threats -- evidenced by two beautiful assists in the season-opener -- but also one of their meanest players in a holding midfield role. She's only played half the season for family reasons, yet could well lead the team in fouls by Saturday's final whistle.
The Whitecaps host California's Pali Blues with a spot in the W-League Final Four on the line.
Kyle, in her fourth year with the Whitecaps, has a different theory about her toughness.
"I think it was everyone thought I was the little blond that was scared to get hurt and I had to show them I wasn't," she said.
That little blond has grown into a lankly blond (5-foot-9) with two FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup stops and 10 caps for Canada, though none since a July 2009 friendly against the U.S.
She'll be a key cog for the Whitecaps against the Blues.
Pali (3-4-3) coach Charlie Naimo said Wednesday his team is better than the one that lost 2-1 and 3-2 to Vancouver this season. The first loss snapped a 33-game unbeaten streak that spanned back-to-back championship seasons.
But the Whitecaps (6-0-4) have potentially improved since those meetings, too. Pali has yet to face Kyle.
"We missed a ball-playing midfield player," said Whitecaps' head coach Hubert Busby Jr. "She can play at both ends, which is very important in the modern game.
"The fouls, it's part of the role and part of the mentality she has. Sometimes they're fouls that aren't needed, but you'd rather have players looking to be aggressive."
"I'd rather foul them than let them get by me," said Kyle, who admits she loves to watch Cole in a hockey fight.
"I'm a tall player, but not a very big player, so I've kind of got to be mean."
Puck drop is 4 p.m. at Swangard Stadium.
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AT A GLANCE
Pali Blues (3-4-3) at Whitecaps (6-0-4) Saturday, 4 p.m., Swangard Stadium The skinny: Winner advances to the W-League final four in Santa Clarita, Calif. ... Caps' F Kara Lang will miss Saturday's game with a stress fracture in her left foot.
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