The words drive, determination and commitment all come to mind when discussing the athletic ventures of Bisons women's hockey and golf commit Kate Gregoire.

A native of St. Anne, located roughly 40 minutes southeast of Winnipeg, she's been grinding on the ice for as long as she can remember. Her dad Phil, a former high-level goalie, flooded the family's backyard rink to encourage more reps. The Gregoire's house was also very close to the local rink, which helped.

Competitive golf began a little later down the line.

"I started golfing when I was young, just going out with my dad and playing maybe six or nine holes and going to the driving range," Gregoire says. "But competitively 14, because that's when I figured I was actually good at golf and I wanted to continue in the sport, go to tournaments and maybe have a career in it."

With hockey being a winter sport and golf a summer venture, Gregoire has been able to balance both of her passions quite well over the years. While they are two completely different areas of specialization, she added that there are some parallels.

"I think with golf you have to be focused a lot more with every shot, and I think that helps with hockey because you always have to stay focused throughout the whole game and during intermissions."

As Gregoire got older, her skills in both sports began to turn heads.

On the green, she made two trips to the Canadian Junior Women's Championship while also winning the 2019 Provincial Junior Women's Golf Championship. Her final score at the event was stellar, as she finished a full 13 shots ahead of the runner up. She also helped her school make it to three straight provincial golf championships while earning a bronze medal at the 2016 Manitoba Games.

Over the years, Gregoire had the chance to interact with various members of the Bisons women's golf team, along with head coach Bri-Ann Tokariwski who along with Gregoire is a St. Mary's Academy graduate and took notice of her skills.

"When I go into women's tournaments I play a lot against the Bisons team, and through that I met Bri, the women's coach and we started talking last year. She asked me if I wanted to join the team and I said yeah."

Gregoire noted that her ability to drive the ball far off the tee has been a strength. As she moves into the university ranks, her focus is on the smaller details of the game. 

"Lately I've really been focusing on my short game, so putting, chipping and 100 yards in. That's really where you score the most in golf, so I've been focusing on that."

On the hockey side, Gregoire's list of accomplishments is long and impressive. She was the 2014-15 Eastman AAA Bantam Selects Rookie of the Year, a multiple-time member of the Team Manitoba U18, as well as being an assistant captain and first-team all-star for St. Mary's at the 2019 Female World Sport School Challenge, where the team won a silver medal a year after claiming gold.

"The school really prepared us for university. We were away almost every weekend, so it helped us with school and doing our homework on the road," Gregoire says of her time with the Flames, where she was the team's leading scorer in 2018 while also recording 52 points in 47 games a year later.

"The competitiveness of hockey was also higher, so it helps with the transition to university. Obviously, university hockey is more competitive but it still helped towards that."

The versatile player who can suit up at centre or wing committed to the women's hockey program at the U of M prior to the start of her grade 12 season and is eager for the start of her U SPORTS career.

"I think [I committed early] because I didn't want to have stress on my shoulders for where I wanted to go, and the Bisons — they're a great team with a great coaching staff. I knew I really wanted to come here and I didn't want to pass up that opportunity."

Gregoire is as humble as they come when discussing her accolades. Consistently striving to get better, she simply puts her head down and gets to work. 

"I'm more of a quiet person in the dressing room. I don't really like to speak out in front of a lot of people. I think my leadership is more on the ice and working hard and just being a good teammate."