Thirty-six of the best female hockey players north of 100 Mile House converged at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex last weekend in an effort to be named to Team North for this year’s B.C. Winter Games.
The camp, hosted by BC Hockey and North District co-ordinator Troy Weil and emulated to follow Hockey Canada’s high performance program, saw participants spend three days putting it all on the line in on- and off-ice drills Friday through Sunday while being evaluated throughout the weekend.
Williams Lake hockey coach Roy Call, who will lead up the head coaching duties of Team North at this year’s Games in Mission, said the camp was a gruelling three days of intense competition.
“We had 30 skaters and six goaltenders from as far away as Fort St. John to the north and from 100 Mile House to the south,” Call said. “I saw a really good array of talent and it’s amazing to see how this program – the high performance program — has produced such quality of players. There are some real strengths on this team.”
From the 36 girls who attended seven evaluators selected 12 forwards, six defencemen and two goaltenders who will make up Team North at the B.C. Winter Games.
Williams Lake hockey players Sarah Hermsen, Laine Grace, Faith Outhouse and Grace Outhouse, along with their Williams Lake Bantam Timberwolves teammates from 100 Mile House, Cailey Mellott and Anya Levermann, were selected to the team.
Hermsen, Faith, Grace, Cailey and Anya will comprise part of the forward core, while Grace will play defence.
“The thing that really helped the girls that made the team is that they are girls that are very good skaters and they all work very hard,” Call said. “That’s one of the things playing at a rep level gives them the chance to do. The girls who played from here understood how well you had to skate and how hard they had to play to make the team and they all worked really hard and did what they had to do.”
He said making the final cuts was extremely difficult, as multiple players were around the same skill level.
Additionally, Call noted several of the players who tried out this year were first-year players in the division, and added the camp is a phenomenal opportunity for the players.
“It’s great for the kids whether they make the team or don’t make the team,” he said. “It’s primarily a second-year tournament — only four or five first years made it. But for the first-year players who were released it’s a great opportunity to compare themselves and get some good feedback from quality evaluators and plan things to work on for next year. Hopefully they can use it as a positive.”
Proud grandparent of Hermsen, Jack Watson, said he was overwhelmed to see the amount of work all the girls put in at the camp.
“I’m so excited, not just for my grandaughter, but for all the girls who made the team,” Watson said. “They work so hard. They give up all their nights and weekends for something they love and believe in. It’s amazing.”
This year will be the last year BC Hockey will participate in the B.C. Winter Games. In the past BC Hockey has alternated between competing at the Games every second year and at its own sanctioned event, the BC Cup.
This year’s B.C. Winter Games run Feb. 20-23 in Mission.
