World gold-medalist Lexi Bertelsen aims for professional hockey career

Lexi Bertelsen, 17, of Belmont has determinedly pursued a career in professional women’s hockey for much of her life, including moving away from home and friends, but she’s also glad to be coming back starting next week so she can graduate from East Elgin Secondary School.
Lexi, who went to South Dorchester and Davenport public schools and Grade 9 at EESS, got her first start on an ice rink not as a hockey player, but as a figure skater.
In an interview, Lexi, who was part of the gold medal team that won the World Under 18 Women’s hockey championship in Finland over the holidays, said she participated in a CanSkate program at Belmont Arena, but quickly found, “I don’t want to do this at all. I want to play hockey.”
Her older brother Eric was a hockey player, and when she saw how much fun he and his friends had just playing on the street in front of their home, she knew that was for her.
So, she told her parents Danielle and Eric (Sr.) that she wanted to be a hockey player, and “It kind of all started from there.”

For full details, see the Jan. 29 edition of The Aylmer Express. (AE/Rob Perry)