Carleton University has featured over 16,000 student athletes in its 75-year history.
The Charlatan got in touch with four former Ravens athletes to talk about where their athletic careers have taken them since leaving the nest.
Each of the four athletes represents a different Carleton team, but they have all found success in their respective sports since their time as Ravens.
Emma Miskew (Women’s curling, 2007-2012)
Emma Miskew is a curler on Team Homan, led by fellow Ottawa native Rachel Homan.
This year, they won the Women’s World Championships of Curling in Beijing, China. While filling the role of a third on the team, Miskew has also won three Canadian championships.
“Being a three-time Canadian champion makes me feel incredibly proud. This year was especially amazing as the final was so intense and close, that when we won, it was extremely emotional for all of us,” Miskew said.
“Winning the Worlds was and is still extremely surreal. I still can’t believe it, and still get goosebumps thinking about it. It’s an amazing feeling knowing all the hard work and hours training paid off.”
Miskew spent little time on the Carleton curling team because Carleton’s curling program had not quite been established yet when she attended the school.
However, during her time at Carleton, she qualified for a spot at the then-Canadian Interuniversity Sport (now U Sports) national championships with the team.
Miskew is currently training for next year’s curling competition circuit and said she hopes her team can be a contender for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“I’m training hard leading into next season. I don’t know what my future curling plans are yet. It depends how this Olympic year plays out,” Miskew said.
Erin Beaver (Women’s hockey, 2009-2014)
Erin Beaver spent a full five years manning the blue line for the Ravens women’s hockey team, but has since taken her talents down under.
Beaver now plays professional hockey in Australia.
This past year, while playing with the Sydney Sirens, the team won the league’s national championship for the very first time in team history.
“The championship weekend is a time I will never forget. Being able to come back and win the finals in a shootout to complete the undefeated season and win the championship for the first time in Sirens history was an amazing experience,” Beaver said.
“The Sydney Sirens is truly a family and it was great to have all our time, effort and hard work pay off and be able to call ourselves champions.”
Beaver said once her playing career has come to an end, she plans on turning to coaching, because she really enjoys that aspect of the sport.
“My future goals for hockey would be to help coach and [help] with the development of kids just starting out,” she said. “I’ve worked at hockey camps in the past and enjoyed being on the ice in that role.”
Kelleigh Ryan (Women’s fencing, 2009-2011)
Kelleigh Ryan spent two years on Carleton’s fencing team.
Ryan specializes in foil fencing, which is one of three weapons used in competitions.
In 2015, Ryan was a member of the Team Canada fencing team, which beat the United States at the Pan American games in Toronto, capturing the gold medal for the first time on home soil.
During her time at Carleton, Ryan won an individual title at the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championships, while the Ravens were named champions of the overall event twice.
“In my first year at Carleton we actually won both the men’s and women’s OUA championships, so we had an amazing first OUA when I was there,” Ryan said.
“My team brought home the gold and I actually think we won every single gold medal that year in the women’s event. We had a really good team feeling and I also really enjoyed working with the athletic trainers.”
Currently, Ryan said she is setting her sights on making the 2020 Summer Olympics fencing team.
“I’m currently competing at about eight World Cups a year, Pan Am championships and World Championships,” Ryan said.
“My main goal is to just keep on improving my results at those tournaments in order to secure myself a spot at the Olympics.”
Joe Rocca (Men’s basketball, 2015-17)
Joe Rocca spent the last two seasons as a guard for the Ravens men’s basketball team, before graduating earlier this summer.
Since then, Rocca and his brother, Mike, have started up a basketball academy camp for kids called the Rocca Elite Basketball Academy.
“My brother and I were talking about this for probably three years, but we were just so busy in the summer, always training with our university teams,” Rocca said.
“We could never really get back to Sarnia and start it. So this year I finished and my brother Mike has one more year left, so we said we might as well start it now and see where it can take us.”
Rocca said that the camp’s inaugural year will focus on teaching kids of all ages and levels the basics of basketball, and will grow from there.
“Right now, we want kids from all skill levels coming in with us this year and then as they get older, we obviously want to inspire them to try and play at a high level,” Rocca said.
“We’re trying to give them a gateway into the sport that me and my brother both love and have put a lot of hours and years into.”
In his two seasons at Carleton, Rocca averaged 10 points per game while shooting 45 per cent from three-point range, the latter being the third-best average in the OUA over that timespan.
Rocca said that he considers being a part of the Ravens family as one of the best experiences of his life.
“It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had personally. I learned a ton, so I credit that a lot to the coaching staff and my teammates,” Rocca said.
Graphic by Manoj Thayalan
