UPEI goaltender honours family with mask dedication

Erin Cabaday and her family may be separated by more than 1,700 kilometres, but they’re never far apart when the UPEI goalie steps on the ice.

The 22-year-old Cabaday, from Oakville, Ont., is honouring those closest to her with a meaningful dedication for the 2026-27 AUS Women’s Hockey Conference season.

“That’s actually new artwork done on my mask this year,” Cabaday told The Guardian in a recent phone interview. “My grandpa (Ron Joyce) passed away last winter, and I wanted to have something for him on the mask. But then I was like, ‘OK, well, I want something for all of my family, too.’

“My family’s done a lot to support me all the way growing up and they’ve made so many sacrifices for me to be able to play hockey and to be out here in Prince Edward Island.”

• Mom – Catherine Cabaday.
• Dad – Brian Cabaday.
• Lauren – sister.
• Audrey – sister.
• Nana – Valerie Joyce (grandmother).
• Grandpa – the late Ron Joyce (grandfather).
  
• Oma – Maria Cabaday (grandmother).
• Opa – Jan Cabaday (grandfather).

“I see their names and it’s a reminder of the people that I have behind me supporting me and who I’m playing for at the same time, too,” said Erin, who is especially close to Lauren, 24, and Audrey, 18.

“My older sister, she’s the one who got me into hockey because, as a little sister, you look up to what your big sister’s doing,” said Erin. “Then my little sister, too, she started playing and she’s also a goalie.”

Erin described Audrey as one of the hardest workers she has seen on the ice.

“Even though she’s younger than me, she still inspired me in a way to be working just as hard as she was,” said Erin. “There was not a puck she didn’t think she could stop.

“Then my mom, my dad, they’ve just done everything for me to be able to play hockey… We had all three girls in rep hockey at one point. I don’t know how they did it, but they made it possible.”

And Erin’s grandparents never miss watching the Panthers online.

“Even when my grandpa was in the hospital, they would still have the games going,” said Erin. “It means a lot to have them watch and they’ll send me emails after the game, too, just saying, ‘Oh, great game.’

“It’s just really nice to have that support from home.”

Panthers head coach Sean Fisher praised Erin’s strong family support and the role it has played.

“She didn’t have the easiest journey,” said Fisher. “The first couple of years, she had to really grind through it, and I know her family and support system are really important to her.”

Erin, who stands five foot seven, was named to the AUS all-rookie team after posting a 2.58 goals-against average (GAA) and a .905 save percentage in eight starts in the 2023-24 season. Erin followed that up with a 1.94 GAA and .910 save percentage in nine games, including eight starts, in Year 2 (2024-25). But despite impressive numbers, Erin did not play as much as she hoped in her sophomore season so she used the situation as motivation.

“I started treating every single practice like it was a game. Kept a positive mindset, and then took that into the off-season, too, and trained really hard coming into my third year,” said Erin.

That hard work paid off.

Erin posted a 2.03 GAA and .916 save percentage in 17 regular-season games at UPEI in the 2025-26 campaign. Erin was even more impressive in the playoffs, recording a 1.81 GAA and a .937 save percentage in seven games while backstopping UPEI to within one win of the AUS Women’s Hockey Conference final.

She has not missed a beat transitioning into the 2026-27 regular season, backstopping the Panthers to a 3-0 start and first place while sporting a 1.62 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage.

Erin, who has played every minute of the regular season so far, has not allowed more than two goals in a game and has only been beaten five times in 185 minutes of action.

“My third year is where I felt like I did probably the biggest jump,” said Erin. “I started to play a lot more and it was our first year making the playoffs (since I joined the Panthers).

“That was a huge jump, too, being able to play in the playoffs and get that kind of experience. The feedback that I was getting here was put in the work off the ice, and you’ll see it translate on the ice. I definitely see that being true.”

Panthers goaltending coach Nelson MacAulay has played a big role in Erin’s development into the Panthers’ undisputed No. 1 goaltender.

“He does video with us, too, which is super helpful and what I like is that he doesn’t try to change our game too much because we come from 10, 12 years of hockey and working with a different goalie coach at home,” said Erin. “But he does changes that really do help your game without changing too much about the style of goalie you are.”

Fisher said balancing the development and the layering of the eligibility with young players is tricky. The head coach praised Erin for how she handled her situation in Year 2.

“In her first year, she probably got the number of starts that she should get,” said Fisher. “In her second year, I probably dropped the ball a little bit – she should have gotten more starts than she did.

“But you saw last year, in her third year, we started passing the torch to her, and she was more than ready.

“She was probably ready earlier, and I should have started passing the torch earlier, but she’s just a great person and she forgave me for my mistakes as a coach.”

On top of starring between the pipes, Fisher described Erin as a great leader who is part of the team’s leadership group.

“She knows that as she continues on this path, at some point, she’s going to have to start passing the torch to the next goalie behind her and she’s accepted that and is willing to do that,” said Fisher. “She wants to leave the program in a better place than she found it and that’ll be her way of doing that.”

Fisher said Erin’s best asset as a goaltender is her work ethic in preparation.

“She works so hard to make sure that she is ready to go for every given Friday night or Saturday afternoon,” said Fisher. “Before every practice, she goes through her warm-up. She never misses that.

“Her game-day routine is as detail oriented as I’ve ever seen from a player at this level… She never wants to give up the net. She competes on every puck.”

Erin ended up at Charlottetown-based UPEI after being scouted by Panthers assistant coach Lance Jones at a showcase tournament in Stoney Creek, Ont.

Erin recalled talking to Jones after a game and him passing along Fisher’s contact information.

“So, I connected with Sean over a call, and I came out for a tour,” said Erin. “It was my first time ever being in P.E.I., and I immediately fell in love with it.

“The people here are so nice; the campus was great; all the coaching staff here was just super friendly and you could tell that they were super knowledgeable and would definitely help a player develop.

“I knew right away this would be the fit for me.”

• It’s an AUS hockey doubleheader at MacLauchlan Arena on the UPEI campus in Charlottetown this weekend.
• The UPEI women’s hockey team, which is off to a perfect 3-0-0-0 (won-lost-overtime losses-shootout losses) start, hosts the Moncton Blue Eagles in the back end of a home-and-home series on Oct. 23 at 7 p.m.
• The Panthers defeated the Blue Eagles 3-2 in Moncton, N.B., on Oct. 21. The Blue Eagles are 1-2-0-0.
• The UPEI men’s team hosts the Dalhousie Tigers (1-3-0-0) on Oct. 24 at 7 p.m.
• The Panthers are coming off a 3-2 loss in a shootout to the first-place St. Francis Xavier X-Men (4-0-1-0) at MacLauchlan Arena on Oct. 21. The X-Men outscored the Panthers 3-2 in the shootout.
• The Panthers (2-2-0-1) earned a point on Elias Cohen’s goal with 1:05 remaining in regulation time to force a scoreless five-minute overtime period.

Jason Simmonds is a sports reporter at The Guardian in Prince Edward Island. He can be reached at jsimmonds@postmedia.com and followed on X @JpsportsJason.