After being told they weren't good enough to play hockey for Team B.C. in February at the 2015 Canada Winter Games, three players from the first-place Northland Dodge Northern Cougars were asked to practice with the team over the weekend in Richmond.
Injuries have crept up on the provincial under-18 team, picked in August, and with less than two months to go before the Games begin in Prince George, Hockey BC sent out an invitation asking Cougars forwards Ava Keis and Madison Fjellstrom and goalie Kelsey Roberts to audition for the team at the Richmond Oval.
All three declined. They decided they would rather remain with their Cougar teammates and play the three-game B.C. Female Midget Triple-A Hockey League weekend series at the Kin Centre against the Vancouver Island Hurricanes. The Cougars won all three games to improve their season record to 21-3-0.
For Keis, the Cougars captain and leading scorer, choosing not to go was show of solidarity as well as a slap in the face of the provincial team coaches for their earlier decision to slam the door on her one and only chance to play in the Canada Winter Games. All three Cougars shared the same sentiments.
"I think they missed their opportunity, we all knew we were good enough and should have been there right from the beginning and when they asked us we kind of said, it's too late," said Keis.
"They said they have some injuries and we could be there for them if their players didn't return but it just wasn't for us. My heart is with this team and I wouldn't trade that for anything else."
Keis, 17, a native of Quesnel, leads the league in scoring with 15 goals and 36 points in 24 games. Last week she signed a scholarship commitment to attend Nipissing University in North Bay, Ont., beginning in September. She remains bitter about the process used to pick the provincial team but is using the Cougars' snub as inspiration to lead the team to the Esso Cup national championship in April in Red Deer.
"I worked my hardest to get on that team, it was my goal," said Keis. "When they shut me down they did it really poorly. They told me no reason why I shouldn't be on that team, they just cut me. Ever since then I've wanted to be the best player I've ever been just to show them they missed out on having me and my teammates as part of their team and they should feel kind of guilty about that."
Of the 20 players originally picked for Team B.C., 14 play for private hockey academies, including forward Carla Goodwin of Fort St. James, the only player from north central B.C. on the Canada Games roster.
Cougar head coach Mario Desjardins would like to see his team represented on the U-18 team but the understood the reasoning behind his players' decision not to report to the camp.
"They had some tough decisions to make and they decided to stay here and support their team and get ready for the Mac's tournament, so they kindly declined, but they are definitely appreciated of being recognized to go down there," said Desjardins, whose Cougars went 4-1-1 and finished fifth last weekend at the prestigious Mandi Schwartz Memorial tournament in Saskatchewan.
"I would say they should be there but it is what it is and we're over it, and we're going to have a great season. It's not a fluke that we've only lost three games all season. it shows how talented the girls are and good things will come of it."
