Canadians of all stripes are rallying around their Olympic hockey teams as they battle for the gold and this includes six members of the Alcorn State University softball team.

Unfortunately for Alcorn’s Canadian contingent, keeping up with their fellow countrymen has proven difficult.

&#8220We’re all going through hockey withdrawl, because we’re not getting to see it,” said Lady Braves second baseman Amber Steeves of her attempts to follow the Canadian national teams on TV.

&#8220It’s been really hard,” added Becky Mason, a sophomore catcher from Millbrook, Ontario. &#8220We’re hoping both our men’s and women’s teams make it to the gold medal game against the U.S. Then, maybe we can watch the game.

&#8220The Olympic coverage, especially of the Canadian teams and athletes, has not been very good,” Mason said. &#8220It’s all about the U.S.”

Steeves, a sophomore from Cannington, Ontario, and Mason are two of the six Alcorn State players from Canada. The other four are Mason’s older sister, Melissa, junior outfielder Michelle Obront, freshman catcher Heather Pecore and senior pitcher Krista Mueller.

They were all in Vicksburg Wednesday afternoon as Alcorn State played a doubleheader with Louisiana-Monroe at Bazinsky Park.

All six are big National Hockey League fans, which is supplying almost all of the talent for this year’s games in Torino.

&#8220I grew up rooting for the (Toronto) Maple Leafs and so did Melissa,” Mason added. &#8220Krista, Heather and Amber all are from Ontario as well, so we all like the Leafs. Michelle is from around Montreal, so she likes the Canadiens.”

Obront, who ironcially played hockey in high school, is the reason all of them have landed in Mississippi. The junior outfielder, who came to the &#8220Reservation” out of Oshawa, Ontario, has played two seasons for the Lady Braves, making second-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference both years. Her success and connections with others back in Canada, helped the Alcorn staff set up a pipeline. She is out this season with a knee injury.

Mueller has had the biggest impact after transferring from North Florida Community College. Last year, Mueller was named first team All-SWAC, leading the Lady Braves with a 10-11 record and a 2.95 earned run average.

On Wednesday, she pitched all seven innings in both games. Monroe, however, swept the twinbill, 8-3 and 3-1. Mueller’s highlight was blasting a solo home run.

Besides the lack of hockey coverage, both Olympic and the NHL, the weather in Mississippi has been the other big adjustment for the Canadians.

&#8220It was so bad when we came here in August,” Steeves said.