McGill hockey grad Clément-Heydra signs pact to play pro in Sweden

MONTREAL -- Katia Clement-Heydra, a graduate of the McGill University women's hockey program, has signed a one-year contract to play with MODO, one of 10 teams in the elite Swedish Women's Hockey League, known in that Scandinavian country as the Svenska Dam Hockey Ligan (SDHL). The 29-year-old native of St. Bruno de Montarville, Que., becomes the first female hockey player from McGill to skate in a pro league outside of North America.

Clément-Heydra was a second-round selection, eighth overall, by Montreal in the 2015 Canadian Women's Hockey League entry draft. She registered a 29-49-78 record in 102 regular season games over her four seasons with the Canadiennes, helping them win the Clarkson Cup national title in 2016-17.

"Here we go!" wrote Clément-Heydra on her Twitter account. "Can't wait to start this next chapter with @MODO_Hockey."

In her five seasons at the university level, from 2010 to 2015, the 5-foot-7 centre was a three-time conference all-star and two-time All-Canadian. She led McGill to three RSEQ conference championships and two national titles. In 2014, she helped Canada win gold at the FISU Winter Games with a tournament-leading 18 points, including five goals in seven games.

Recruited out of College Edouard-Montpetit, Clément-Heydra started off her university career with a bang, earning both McGill Athletics and Quebec conference rookie-of-the-year honours. She didn't miss any league games with the Martlets, playing exactly 100 regular season contests and posting a 75-103-178 record, while collecting only 16 penalty minutes. Clément-Heydra played 206 games overall at McGill and still ranks second on the team's all-time list for most games, fourth in goals (121), second in assists (177) and third in points (298).

Her most productive season with McGill was in 2012-13, her junior year, when she registered a 24-21-45 record in 20 contests. She finished among the conference's top three scoring leaders in each of her five seasons and won the RSEQ scoring title in her senior year with a 13-27-40 record in 20 games.

Clément-Heydra scored a single-game personal best six points, including three goals, in an 8-1 win at Carleton on Nov. 25, 2012 and tallied a career-high four goals in a 10-0 at Carleton on Jan. 28, 2012. She served her final two seasons as the Martlets team captain and graduated in 2015 with an arts degree after majoring in industrial relations.

"(Katia) is a perfect two-way centre that can play aggressively and defensively. She is good in the faceoff circle and is exactly the player we have been looking for," said head coach Björn Edlund, in an article translated from the MODO team website. "Katia comes in with much experience. In addition to scoring a lot of points, she has also won a number of championships, including the CWHL title."

MODA plays their home games in Örnsköldsvik, a town of about 33,000 in the northeastern part of the country, situated about 550 kilometres north of Stockholm. The city is known for being the birthplace of many NHL players, including twin brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Peter Forsberg, Markus Näslund, Niklas Sundström and Victor Hedman.

KATIA CLEMENT-HEYDRA'S CAREER TOTALS WITH McGILL MARTLETS

REG. SEASON	TEAM	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
2010-11 QSSF	McGill	20	11	15	26	2
2011-12 RSEQ	McGill	20	18	14	32	6
2012-13 RSEQ	McGill	20	24	21	45	2
2013-14 RSEQ	McGill	20	13	27	40	2
2014-15 RSEQ	McGill	20	9	26	35	4
	TOTALS:	100	75	103	178	16

OVERALL	TEAM	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
2010-11 QSSF	McGill	42	20	32	52	10
2011-12 RSEQ	McGill	37	21	29	50	8
2012-13 RSEQ	McGill	43	36	38	74	6
2013-14 RSEQ	McGill	44	26	45	71	8
2014-15 RSEQ	McGill	40	18	33	51	6
	TOTALS:	206	121	177	298	38