Tehnille Gard faced more shots than any goaltender in the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey during the 2009-10 season, her first and only season with the Battlefords Sharks. Gard faced 775 shots while appearing in 21 games and recording a 2-14-0-0 record in the Battlefords.
This season, Gard was once again a rookie, but as the shot totals went down and her confidence went up, she became one of the elite goalies in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference.
The goalie from Yellowknife, N.W.T. was recruited and suited up with the SAIT Trojans this season and split time during the regular season with another rookie goaltender. Gard was 5-3-1-1 during the regular season with an impressive .918 save percentage and 2.28 goals against average. Come playoff time the 12-8-2-2 Trojans, who finished second in the standings, turned the reins over to Gard and she didn't disappoint.
NAIT surprised SAIT with a game one win in the first round, but after that game, Gard was on patrol around the Trojans' net and was nearly perfect for the remainder of the playoffs. The Trojans went on a five-game winning streak and eventually won the ACAC Championship. The Trojans swept Mount Royal, who finished the regular season with a 21-1-2-0 record and carried an 11-0-2 record in their past 13 games against SAIT into the final.
"Our players had so much firepower," Trojans head coach Terry Larson told an ACAC website journalist. "Every one of our lines could score. We had such great goaltending. We stepped up our play, and we believed in ourselves."
Gard earned two playoff shutouts with a 1.65 GAA and a .939 save percentage while going 6-1 and capturing the championship.
"Oh my gosh, this is amazing," Gard told the ACAC reporter. "We came out so hard. It was great. There was a lot of reassurance when we scored, and my team really helped me out (March 18). It's great to be here right now. If it wasn't for how close we are, we wouldn't be standing here right now."
Gard was more or less recruited after stealing a tournament game in Saskatoon where she faced a ton of shots. Larson was at the game and was greatly impressed. The coach's comments to a Yellowknifer reporter at the beginning of this season were, "She took about 60 shots in that game and came out with the win and that's absolutely phenomenal. If she takes 20 shots, she can win a lot of games for us."
It showed in Gard's first season, as she had to balance nearly four hours of hockey per day with practice and workouts and four college classes, as she strives for a two-year business administration diploma. If things work out, Gard was hopeful SAIT would eventually offer a degree program in her course and she could play all five years of her eligibility at SAIT.
