Fort St. James — Carla Goodwin 18, of Fort St. James, is a power storm of blocks and hits. It’s no wonder she was selected for Team BC and will play in the 2015 Canada Winter Games (CWG).
“She plays with a lot of grit and a ton of intensity,” Christina Sharun said, Team BC coach.
Carla plays right-wing forward and was selected in April 2014 as one of 80 top players in the province to try out for Team BC. After a gruelling camp she proved her worth and was chosen as one of 20 players who will represent BC on the U18 women’s hockey team at the CWG in Prince George.
“It was hard competing with all the other players because everyone was giving their 110 per cent. No one was taking a shift off,” Carla said. “But I’m so excited I made it and I get to play in front of my hometown crowd. It’s not something many people say they got to do, play for such a high caliber team in their home province that’s hosting the games.”
Hockey has been Carla’s passion since the age of five when she first started playing with the Fort St. James Stars. She played on the co-ed team as the only girl until her second-year bantam. It’s then she joined the all-girls Prince George Cougar bantam team but still travelled back and forth so she could play on both.
“She practised hitting with the boys and was probably one of the strongest hitters,” Angela Goodwin said, Carla’s mom. “Then we started to drive to PG for her to play with the girls, sometimes four times a week. She still played in Fort St. James on the boys team so almost every night was hockey.”
After two years playing in Fort St. James and PG, Carla decided to move to Kelowna and play for the Pursuit of Excellence hockey academy in hopes of obtaining a scholarship. She achieved her goal and was recently accepted to Lindenwood University in St. Louis Missouri where she will start school this August – full hockey scholarship.
“She is such a strong power forward. Blocks a lot of shots and has a lot of energy every time she goes out on the ice so we always know she will give a positive contribution,” coach Sharun said.
Carla has already felt the reward of being on a winning team bring home gold at provincials 2011-2012, silver at the National Sports Challenge 2013-2014, bronze at the National Sports Challenge 2012-2013 and bronze at the U16 Winter Games 2012.
Her goal for the CWG is to see her team medal but just doing her best has always been a personal motto.
“I was cut my first year trying out for Team BC. You never know what their looking for so I always try my hardest and never give up. Good work ethic and hard work is always your best shot [for anything],” Carla said.
Now that her hard work has paid off, Carla will represent her province on Team BC Feb. 14 – 20.
For full games schedule visit www.canadagames2015.ca.
