It’s seventh heaven for the Okanagan Hockey Academy Female Prep team.
Seven members from the team have been selected to represent B.C. in the 2015 National Women’s U18 Championship Nov. 4-8 in Huntsville, Ont. Goaltender Alex Gulstene, defenceman Chloe Cook, Olivia Knowles, along with forwards Miranda Gaudet, Alyssa MacMillan, Alexandra Rempe and Cyan Roepcke.
“It’s good to see all their hard work throughout the summer pay off,” said OHA Female Prep head coach Jim Fetter in a team statement. “The girls worked hard at it and we are glad they see the benefits of that. We want to wish our seven players along with everyone else who made it all the best at Nationals this year.”
MacMillan, who played with Team B.C. in the Canada Winter Games last February in Prince George, is honoured by the chance to play for her province again. Through the different stages of camp, MacMillan said she was nervous in what was a long journey.
“It’s exciting now that it’s over,” she said, adding she is also excited to have six teammates join her on the team.
Along with the hope of earning a medal, MacMillan wants to use the championship to help her grow as a person, especially with the chance to fill different roles. She wants to gain different perspectives and build her game more.
Roepcke’s selection fullfills a long-time goal to make Team B.C.
“It means a lot,” she said. “It’s going to be really fun and it’s going to be a great opportunity to be seen by scouts.”
Roepcke is also looking forward to meeting new players and facing the best players. She also said it will be nice having her OHA teammates because of the chemistry factor.
The seven OHA players began the process of making the team in an 80-player camp. The roster was decided following the last camp from Sept.24-27 in which they played two exhibition games against the UBC Thunderbirds women’s team and South Delta bantam A1 team.
BC Hockey’s Female Under 18 level is the third and final stage of the High Performance Program. It is an opportunity for the top players in the province to train and compete at an elite level and is meant to introduce players to the beginning of the Hockey Canada Program of Excellence.
In other OHA news, BC Hockey announced its 20-man roster for the BC Male U16 team that will compete at the 2015 Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup. Among the OHA players on the team are Seth Bafaro (Revelstoke), Keltie Jeri-Leon (West Kelowna), Riley Krane (Dawson Creek) and Tyler Popowich (Surrey).
The 2015 Western Canada U-16 Challenge Cup will take place at the Markin MacPhail Centre-Winsport in Calgary from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1.
