It doesn’t get much bigger than the nationals.
And seven hardworking girls from Quesnel will be up there on the big stage representing for the B.C. Northern region in the U19 Ringette national championship. The team will be vying with 18 teams from all over the country in Burnaby next week.
Now the girls are in the midst of preparing, both mentally and
physically for nationals, which poses problems unique to Northern B.C.; the few people sprinkled over a vast area, which makes getting
the team together a challenge.
“It’s hard. It’s very hard,” Melinda Moorhouse, a coach for the team said.
“We haven’t been able to get the whole team together since the ‘AA’ provincials.”
The team has been switching practices back and forth between Quesnel and Prince George,
but with girls from Houston and
Terrace on the team it has been
impossible to bring them all together.
Despite the hardship Moorhouse is confident in her teams ability to gel when they finally do come together in Burnaby.
“The girls have a lot of heart and when they come together as a team they really come together,” Moorhouse said.
The team is very young, with half still eligible to skate in the U16 tournament. As such the week long tournament will be a great learning experience for the team, as many of them have a lot of years of U19 ringette to look forward to. The array of styles the girls will be up against, and the length of the tournament will be experiences that should help the girls to grow said Moorhouse.
But that doesn’t mean that the team isn’t looking to win. Moorhouse is confident that her team is just as good as any other team there and just as able to win.
“We look forward to beating some other province’s butt,” she said.
If you’re interested in the tournament, you can follow the tournament on the national ringette website at www.leaguestat.com/ringettecanada/crc_u19/en/stats/schedule.php. All stats, standing and schedules are on the site and will be updated in real time. The finals will also be webcast at the same site.