Last time a Prince George team competed in the Coastal Insurance provincial open 5-pin bowling championship, it touched off a hometown celebration that literally rocked the house.
The Zone 8 team of Kim Thompson, Kelsy Hogh, Leigh Anne Paull, Mary Ann Sanders, Kayla Clark and Rhonda Meise and coach Ed Stepski took advantage of hometown hardwood at Nechako and Black Diamond lanes and went undefeated to become B.C. champions.
But ever since then Prince George has been notably absent on the open provincial 5-pin scene. Next weekend in Langley that three-year drought comes to an end. Prince George bowlers occupy most of the positions on the Zone 8 women's and men's teams vying for berths in the national championship in Calgary, May 28-31.
"The B.C. Open is the most prestigious tournament 5-pin bowling has, and not having contenders from this area kind of hurts us," said Zone 8 women's team member Salina Kennedy. "We would like to showcase what we can do from this area of the province and try to compete on a national level as well."
The $5,000 entry fee, cost of travel and accommodations, and the timing of the provincial tournament makes it more difficult for teams from the north, which have further distances to travel and fewer high-calibre bowlers from which to choose.
"It's a very expensive tournament, it's Easter weekend if you have family and kids, and it's five days you have to take off work because not everybody works Monday to Friday," said Kennedy. "At the end of the day it's about a $1,000 weekend per person and not everybody can afford that."
Normally, that $5,000 fee is split among 21 people but this year, to reduce organizing costs, the provincial committee has dropped the mixed team tournament. The B.C. Bowlers Association did agree to reduce its registration fee to $4,000 for Zone 8 and Zone 7 (Northwestern B.C.) to encourage their participation. Kennedy and her husband Jason, who moved to Prince George in 2012 from Smithers, where they still own a bowling alley, began a fundraising drive they plan to continue throughout the year in hopes it will cover next year's registration fee.
The Zone 8 women's team also includes Dawn Gunderson, Deanna Montgomery, Morgan Burdoch, two bowlers from the Fraser Valley, and coach Stepski. Iain MacRitchie, Jim Montgomery, Chito Tescon, Jason Kennedy and Aaron Vitaliano make up the Zone 8 men's team, coached by Laurie Houston.
"We have a good chance but it's going to be tough, they have a lot of bowlers to a very strong area to pick from in the Lower Mainland," said Deanna Montgomery. "But we're going to give it our all and hopefully we don't fall on our faces."
Each team will play a 14-game qualifying round over three days. Five of the 10 teams advance to Sunday's stepladder playoffs, which start with the fourth-seeded team against the third seed. The winner advances to play the second seed, and the winner of that goes on to the final against the top finisher in qualifying.
The top three bowlers on each team will also play in the singles tournament. Each will play 10 singles games in two days leading up to the stepladder playoffs on Sunday. Gunderson, Kennedy and Burdock will throw singles games for Zone 8 women, while MacRitchie, Tescon and Vitalianio have been tagged for double-duty on the men's side.
Tecson was a fourth-place finisher in the 2011 provincial singles tournament while MacRitchie was part of the Zone 8 men's team which placed second in the province in 2010.
"I feel terrific about getting back into the game," said MacRitchie, 28, who averages close to 260 per game. "It's all about the friends and camaraderie and the people you meet year-in, year-out. Everybody's there to have a good time and you leave all your problems at home.
"Cost is definitely the reason we haven't been there for three years and on top of that, with considerably fewer bowlers now bowling we don't have the same advantages to compete at provincials."
Stepski says there's no reason why Zone 8 can't repeat the success it had in 2011.
"These guys are all good bowlers and we know we're going to be the underdogs but we'll go and have some fun see what happens," said Stepski. "We've gone before with an underdog team and we ended up winning it."
