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Like many Canadian youngsters, Brette Pettet spent most of her childhood inside hockey rinks.

“I started playing because of my brothers, I basically lived at the rinks growing up. I was dragged around everywhere watching them play,” Pettet said, the 17-year-old hockey player from Kentville, Nova Scotia. Tweet This

It didn’t take long for her to get hooked on the sport once she picked up a stick of her own.

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Her early years were spent learning the ropes on teams that were dominated by men.

“I played novice, atom and Peewee AAA with the boys, so I had two years of checking which was kind of fun,” Pettet said.

She has always been a stand-out player in the valley’s tight-knit hockey community, according to Acadia Axemen head coach Dennis Burns.

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“A lot of people from around here are extremely proud that she’s from the valley,” Burns said, adding he’s watched Pettet grow over the 16 years he’s been at Acadia University. Tweet This

Burns said it’s Pettet’s humble attitude and leadership skills that’s always impressed him.

He said she’s also chased her dream of climbing the elite female hockey ranks.

“There was never a big show with her, she just did what she had to do and had to move away from home to play at the high level of female hockey she is now,” Burns said.

Pettet has gone to Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault, Minn. since she was 12-years-old.

The same boarding school that Nova Scotia hockey legends, Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon went to.

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“I had to kind of learn to do some things on my own, like my own laundry,” Pettet said.

The 12th grader is now gearing up for her first international tournament with Team Canada.

Pettet was the only player east of Quebec to be selected for Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team.

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“It’s an honour and a privilege to represent Nova Scotia for sure,” she said.

She’s heading to the 2017 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship in the Czech Republic in January.

READ MORE: Sport Nova Scotia warns parents against pressuring kids to go ‘all in’ too early

A trip she hopes will include a gold medal for her birthday.

“My birthday’s on the finals of worlds, so the championship game,” she said.

Whether Canada places first or not, she’s already golden to the community that adores her.

“We need more Brette Pettet’s in the world especially to be role models for the kids in our community,” Burns said.