During her time with the Manitoba Bisons, former defenceman Erica Rieder amassed an impressive resume. She tallied more than 80 points in the regular season and playoffs combined and served as one of the team's alternate captains through four campaigns.
Rieder helped the team to a historic national championship in 2017-18, earned U SPORTS All-Canadian honours that same year and was named to Team Canada's roster for the 2017 FISU World University Games in Kazakhstan.
"I've always said the best decision I ever made was to commit to the Bisons," Reider expressed. "I came out of AAA hockey and I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to pursue university hockey. (Head coach) Jon (Rempel) gave me a really good offer so I moved six hours down the highway to Winnipeg. It turned out to be such a good decision."
After three seasons playing pro in Europe, Rieder has traded in her blades for a bike to pursue a lifelong dream.
"I always had the dream of going to the Olympics," said Reider. "And over the years through my hockey career, I figured that it probably wouldn't work out with hockey but to still become an Olympian was the dream. I participated in the RBC Training Ground program, which is basically a talent identification program that identifies athletes with Olympic potential. I went through that whole program, got connected with Cycling Canada and this summer, as of June 1st, I've moved up to Edmonton and started training for track cycling."
Starting in 2019 after graduating from UM, Rieder moved to Sweden where she played for MoDo in the Swedish Women's Hockey League, the SDHL. During her three seasons in Europe, the former Bison blueliner played alongside many Olympic-caliber players, further igniting her desire to pursue her Olympic dream.
"Sweden was also such a great experience. It was awesome to be able to play at that caliber. Definitely a step up in terms of speed and skills than what I was used to since there are so many European national team players who play out there. I was a little bit reluctant to leave but since the age bracket for the RBC Training Ground program is 14-25, I thought this is my last chance. It's now or never. The key thing for me was because I was 25, I knew there was only so much time left for me to transition to a new sport," she noted.
"Sweden, that was very eye-opening to me because I went there and played alongside many national team players that went to play in the most recent winter Olympics. I felt as an athlete I was on the same level as them so when you are playing alongside teammates that just went to the Olympics I thought, well if she can do it, maybe I can too."
After competing in more than four different RBC Training Ground events including the Top 100 Finals last year in Saskatoon (where she broke every record in her age group), Reider finally made a connection with Cycling Canada before getting the chance to visit their High-Performance Centre in Milton, Ontario.
There, she had the opportunity to try the track and given her history of being an avid cyclist growing up, Reider felt it was the natural choice to pursue the sport.
"I've been a cyclist my whole life, always riding my bike to school. If you asked my past teammates, they would tell you I even liked biking in the winter. So it has always been part of my life. It seemed very natural. Now, let me tell you, it's not natural when you get out on the track," laughed Reider. "It's not just like riding a bike but I dove right into it and here we are."
Now residing in Edmonton, Alberta, Reider is gearing up for the Canadian Track Championships to be hosted by Cycling Canada at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, Ontario from January 6-8 2023.
"Usually, our sessions are two hours and we'll be on a stationary bike or we'll be riding rollers. Then we will have a weight session three times a week. It's just a lot of riding your bike and getting stronger and faster. In terms of the actual training part, that was a big transition because with hockey you get on the ice and it's cardio based so you feel like your heart rate is up the whole time. I am in the discipline of track cycling, track sprinting where it's all about getting faster and we don't need to necessarily get more fit while we're out there."
With her mind fixed on Paris in 2024, Reider has a few more boxes to check before she can live out her Olympic dream.
"The goal is Paris 2024, which when I say that out loud, sounds freaking insane," chuckled Reider. "Now, I am not even on the national team yet so essentially, I need to be good enough to make that team, which is the first step. The Canadian Track Championships are coming up in January so I think if I can go there and place well in one of the races or do well in terms of time trials then maybe have a good shot of getting noticed and making the national team. From there, essentially you just train like crazy and try to get faster and faster."
