Three members of the Northern Capitals midget female hockey team have landed athletic scholarships to major Canadian universities for next season.
Goaltender Kelsey Roberts and forward Sage Desjardins have committed to the University of Calgary Dinos, while forward Hunter Mosher will skate for the Nipissing University Lakers of North Bay, Ont. The teams all compete at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport level.
"Three girls, CIS, it's a phenomenal accomplishment for our team," said Northern Capitals head coach Mario Desjardins, who also happens to be the "relieved" father of Sage.
"We had two girls go to CIS last year and three or four went to the ACAC college league (in Alberta), which is awesome. And then this year, three more girls to CIS."
Coach Desjardins said defenceman Victoria Byer is almost ready to commit to a CIS program as well.
"That one is definitely in the works," he said. "She has some interest from some CIS teams, she just needs to decide which courses best fit her future. So we should have a total of four girls (going to CIS schools) and I know some other girls are also getting interest from CIS and the ACAC league. (Forwards) Taylor Beck and Marissa Nichol are two that I can think of off the top of my head. It's pretty exciting stuff for our program, that's for sure. Renzo Berra runs our hockey academy out of PGSS and I know he's quite excited to see these girls go through. He's spent years with them now."
In the case of the Northern Capitals, team success has been a big part of individual success. Last year, the club claimed league and playoff titles in the B.C. Hockey Female Midget AAA League. This year, the Capitals sit second in the league (16-5-3 record) and were crowned female division champions at the prestigious Mac's Midget Tournament in Calgary during the Christmas break.
The Capitals are a regional rep team based in Prince George. Roberts is from Kitimat and Sage Desjardins is originally from Terrace but now lives here. Mosher is a product of Chetwynd and Byer - the B.C. league's player of the month for December - hails from Williams Lake. Beck is from Houston and Nichol calls Chetwynd home.
Last weekend, the Northern Capitals hosted the Thompson Okanagan Lakers in three league games and came away with five of a possible six points. The Capitals won by scores of 1-0 and 4-0 before the teams wrapped things up on Sunday with a 1-1 tie.
"We'll take the five points for sure to keep us in a solid second position ahead of the Lakers (12-7-5)," Mario Desjardins said.
The Capitals are off this weekend. They'll resume league play Jan. 22-24 in the Lower Mainland against the Fraser Valley Rush, the team they beat 4-0 in the semifinal of the Mac's tournament.
