CALGARY — Meghan Agosta’s favourite Olympic appearance, with three to choose from, is the one in 2010. Which is wholly understandable.
Leading the tournament in scoring, pacing her team to the giddy heights of gold on home soil, she had been named the most valuable player. So it’s also no surprise Agosta remains a recognizable figure in the host city, Vancouver.
Advertisement
Even when her uniform is not red. Even when she is preoccupied by her profession. It happens. Fans, sensing someone famous, approach the hockey hero.
“I’m like, ‘Oh god, this is weird,'” says Agosta. “Some people will be, ‘You look familiar.'”
But, as always, Constable Agosta — a member of Squad 310, Vancouver Police Department — maintains her game face.
“I say, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ and I just move on. I just let it go.”
Which isn’t to say she’s not proud of her hockey achievements, piles of medals and records and awards, but she needs to focus on her work. This is no lark. This is no celebrity ride-along. It’s her chosen field.
Before arriving in Calgary to rejoin the national side in preparing for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, Agosta had spent two and a half years serving as a police officer in Vancouver. She’s taken a leave of absence for a year from the force to train and participate in the Games.
In May 2018 — after making what she dearly hopes is her fourth gold-medal run at the Winter Games – she’ll dust off her badge, gun and handcuffs, and return to the scene of the crimes after a year-long leave of absence from the force.
“It is a challenging job, for sure. Very taxing,” the 30-year-old says after a weekday workout at the WinSport facility. “You’re dealing with people’s problems and their lives. And you always have to be ready for the unexpected. Policing is very dangerous, putting your life on the line every single day, but that’s something I totally take pride in. It’s what we love doing – helping.
“You know what? I’ve had two passions in my life – hockey and policing.”
First came pucks. The little girl, after a year of figure skating, wanted to try hockey. That worried her father Nino, so she convinced her mom Char to lobby on her behalf.
Advertisement
“Mom basically told him, ‘She has a helmet, a neck guard, she has all the protection. Let’s just see if she likes it. And if she doesn’t, we’ll keep her in figure skating.'”
Soon enough, she was skating in AAA boys’ leagues in southern Ontario. But Agosta, even then, possessed more than a one-track mind. Law enforcement, it seemed, appealed to her inquisitive nature.
“I would hear lights and sirens, and I’d be, ‘What are they doing? Where are they going? What’s going on?'” she says. “I wanted to follow them. I was always so curious — and I still am, even going to these calls. I always want to see, I always want to hear about it.
“Policing was always something I wanted to do.”
Her double life began to take shape at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Penn., in 2006. While shredding the NCAA record book — in points (303), goals (157), power-play goals (55), shorthanded goals (20), game-winning goals (39) — Agosta earned a major in criminal justice and a minor in criminal psychology. Degree requirements included a 400-hour police-department internship, which she completed in her hometown of Leamington, Ont.
“My dad thought I would last a week and not like it,” says Agosta, laughing. “I absolutely loved it. That’s when I knew for a fact that this was something I was going to do no matter what.
“It was just a matter of when and where I was going to apply.”
Sorting out that? Her brother Jeric, who, shortly after the 2014 Olympics, arranged an on-ice session with Vancouver’s police team. Post-game, players urged her to sign up: “This is the perfect time. Just do it.'”
So she did. Nearly immediately, she was hired. Now all Agosta had to do was survive the police academy, a 10-month slog.
Physical trials, such as conditioning benchmarks and hand-to-hand combat, were a snap. But there was plenty else to digest. Legal studies and computer seminars and radio protocol. Plus, of course, handgun mastery.
Advertisement
“I was nervous to pull the trigger the first time,” says Agosta. “It was so weird … shooting a hockey puck, you follow through, you flick your wrists. So at the beginning, I would flick my wrist and I wouldn’t hit where I was actually aiming. But after a few rounds, it became so natural. I totally enjoy it.
“If you know me, I love being in pressure situations.”
Good thing because that is the job. Daily, Agosta and her partner rush wherever the dispatcher sends them.
“I’ve literally seen it all,” says Agosta. “Death. Domestics. A lot of gangs. It makes me sad, but it makes me think how lucky I truly am to be able to play a sport that I absolutely love while representing my country.”
Not surprisingly, her parents, Nino and Char, who fretted about their daughter’s entry into minor hockey, are spared the grisly details.
“I don’t tell them everything,” she says. “I remember I went to a homicide — it was a shooting — and I was like, ‘Oh my god.’ I couldn’t believe how violent people could actually be. I just keep those crazy stories to myself.”
It’s fair to say that police work has given her perspective one heck of a wrenching. She remembers when, as a fourth-liner on the 2006 Olympic squad, ice-time concerns consumed her. Not anymore.
“There’s more to life than just worrying about, ‘Oh my god, power play and penalty kill,'” says Agosta. “Now being as old as I am and dealing with people’s lives on a regular basis … there is a lot more to life than just playing a sport.”
Nevertheless, in addition to adjusting to the burdensome existence of a police officer, she needed to maintain her hockey skills and fitness. With no women’s elite league in Vancouver, she practised with the Langley (midget AAA) Hawks and scoured the area for stick-and-puck sessions.
After 12-hour shifts — day or night — she’d drag herself to the handiest weight room. The heavy load, on- and off-shift, had a fortifying effect, and not only physically.
Advertisement
When she returned to Hockey Canada this past May, she had been a pillar of strength, cake-walking the dreaded three-week boot camp.
“Mentally and emotionally,” she says, “it was so easy for me. That was pretty cool.”
Agosta, who turns 31 in PyeongChang, is not ruling out the 2022 Olympics — file that under: wait and see — however, her dedication to law enforcement is already well-rooted.
“It’s something I’ll do for the rest of my life,” she says. “It’s very rewarding to know that when I do retire from hockey, I have career already.”
That makes her a rarity in the dressing room. A picture of post-hockey readiness, she’s a role model for the youngsters.
“To be able to leave that legacy and people know, ‘Hey, if Agosta did it, maybe I can,'” she says. “Whether it’s working part-time or job-shadowing somebody or meeting the right people or getting your feet wet, it’s very important.
“You never know…you might get injured. You might get released. You might have to retire. Then what? You don’t want to be scrambling. You have to look ahead. Have a plan.”
(Photo courtesy of Vancouver Police Department)