Maureen Ulrich

Face Off is Maureen Ulrich's second hockey novel for teens. Its prequel, Power Plays, received critical acclaim and was a finalist in the Saskatchewan Book Awards. She is also an avid playwright, having created 26 plays for young people and 4 for adults.
 
Maureen Ulrich was born in Saskatoon in 1958, but grew up in Edmonton and Calgary. She obtained Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education degrees from the University of Saskatchewan, and has taught middle-years students for 23 years, as well as working in the oil-field industry. Maureen currently lives in Lampman, in southeastern Saskatchewan.

From the author:

 
I started writing long fiction around age 11. I was “horse crazy” in those days, and nearly all my novels featured feisty teenage girls, wild stallions and the foothills of Wyoming. Inevitably, the distractions of university, career, and family forced me to put my creative impulses on the back-burner.

About fifteen years ago, I was asked to write a play for the junior high school where I taught.  I had so much fun writing and directing that I began penning one or two student productions a year.  I just kept on writing scripts and eventually stepped into the realm of adult community theatre in my home town of Lampman.

 In 1999, I returned to the long fiction genre when I started writing Power Plays. My teenagers are still feisty, but the horses have been replaced with hockey, and the  Wyoming foothills have given way to the wonderful and windy plains of Saskatchewan. I guess I've come full circle.