There’s at least one group of people thankful for the brief respite the storms allowed them.
The Correlieu Clan Soccer team headed into zones with an injured team member in goal, while Coach Rob McGregor tried to find a plug for the injured player’s spot as striker.
The team, as it looked going into the provincials, looked nothing like the team McGregor usually fielded.
“It was a whole different team,” McGregor said.
Their first game, against the P.G.S.S. crew, ended up looking really bad for the team, as they went down to the Prince George team, 4-0.
Between the injured tender, who was reluctant to kick the ball due to his leg injury, and a P.G.S.S. player who seemed to be able to score at will netting the P.G.S.S. boys three points in the game, the Clan couldn’t manage to do anything in the Prince George end.
The Dawson Creek team was easier, though the Correlieu boys were still in emergency set up.
Despite the unorthodox set up, the Clan beat Dawson Creek 4-2.
So, with P.G.S.S. sitting at two wins, Correlieu with a split win and a loss and Dawson Creek sitting at two losses, the snow hit Prince George on Oct. 28 and the city closed down the soccer fields and the teams retreated to their respective cities to regroup and let Prince George plan the next step of the tournament.
After the fallout, P.G.S.S. found an indoor pitch, at U.N.B.C. for the teams to continue the tournament on.
Dawson Creek decided to forfeit to save on expenses.
Correlieu, however, came back with almost their whole usual team in action.
Levi Glover, who was playing at a hockey tournament during the previous games, had hurt his shoulder in the tournament and was unable to play.
Wyllie Mednis, who had been playing goal injured previously, had healed enough to play in his usual striker position, so Konrad Teetzen had been cycled to goal keeping duties.
Knowing he had an edge with his new set up of players, McGregor went into the game with high hopes.
Teetzen opened up The Clan’s scoring in his new position in goal.
The game stayed close through the first half but began to open up in the second, with the Clan scoring two back-to-back, which discouraged the P.G.S.S. team, who had expected an easy win like last time.
After a second half heavy with scoring, the score sat at 8-7 in favour of the Quesnel boys, upsetting the strong P.G.S.S. team.
The Correlieu Clan next takes on 16 teams from the Lower Mainland in provincials.
McGregor is optimistic his team will stand their ground against the Lower Mainland squads.
“We’ve played four or five Lower Mainland teams and have been competitive every time,” he said.
They will, however, come up against the number one ranked team early in the tournament, as they will be seeded in the lower half of the positions not being a in the Lower Mainland ranking system.
The team is back on the pitch Nov. 22-24 in Burnaby.