B.C. Hockey recently held an Under-16 evaluation camp in Nelson BC, where 13-15 year olds girls from the East and West Kootenays came to impress coaches and scouts for a spot on the roster to compete at the U16 B.C. Cup in April. The top 19 female players chosen during the camp will skate against the best players in their age group from across the province during the tournament. The camp consisted of fitness testing, on ice practices and two inter squad games, but the girls were also evaluated on their overall performance over the weekend.
Brent Weech is the head coach from Fernie and Ray Dube is the manager from Cranbrook. The B.C. Cup attracts teams from Vancouver (2), the North, Okanagan, Kootenays and the Island.
It will be a week long tournament that provides seminars, practices and games. The players eat all meals together and are housed together as though they were a national team member.
“It is a great experience and we are all very proud of the girls that are representing the Kootenays,” said Weech.
The program alternates year by year from the B.C. Cup to the B.C. Winter Games. It was the rotation for the Winter Games last year, and the Fraser Valley team won the first place with a 5-2 win over the Vancouver-Squamish zone.