Hockey is one of those all-Canadian things. Over the last few decades, hockey has become an even wider part of all of our lives and nowhere can this be seen more readily than the growth of popularity of women’s hockey.
What was once seen as a boys’ and men’s activity has become a sport that increasingly includes girls and women. Girls are often a part of minor hockey programs for youngsters in most communities but we often don’t think so much of women’s hockey.
Here in Smithers, a corps of women has steadily increased their numbers and are enjoying our national sport (sorry lacrosse!) with a range of women developing skills and continuing to help develop its popularity at the recreational level.
Coming up soon will be the Smithers Prowlers 2018 Women’s Hockey Tournament which will feature seven teams from the B.C. northwest including three local squads: the Prowlers, the Road Warriors and the RW2 teams.
Other regional teams will include Prince Rupert, Terrace, Kitimat and Burns Lake.
All games in the tournament will be held in the New Arena this weekend. Saturday’s games will run from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. while Sunday will run from 8 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Each team will play three or four games.
“Each year there is a women’s tournament hosted locally; we rotate the event with the other women’s team Road Warriors,” said Lee Storie of the Prowlers.
Storie also noted that this year Subway would be the main sponsor of the event.
“We welcome people to come out and cheer. Our fan base is limited usually to the odd husband, boyfriend, grandparent or team members kids … who generally are dragged there!” joked Storie.
“We are also grateful for the support from The Prestige and Don Cherry’s for working with us offering a fun night on Saturday for our participating teams,” she said.
Smithers Prowlers 2018 Women’s Hockey Tournament
Main Sponsor Smithers Subway
Saturday December 1st 2018
8:45–10:00 am Road Warriors vs Terrace
10:15–11:30 am Sm Prowlers vs Burns Lake
11:45–1:00 pm RW2 vs Prince Rupert
1:15–2:30 pm Kitimat vs Road Warriors
2:45–4:00 pm Terrace vs Sm Prowlers
4:15–5:30 pm Burns Lake vs Prince Rupert
5:45–7:00 pm RW2 vs Kitimat
Sunday December 2nd 2018
8:00–9:15 am Burns Lake vs Kitimat
9:30–10:45 am Prince Rupert vs Prowlers
11:00–12:15 pm Terrace vs RW2
12:30–1:45 pm Prowlers vs Road Warriors
