In minor hockey circles, finding competition at the peewee girls level isn't easy. So, even though they'll only have two other girls clubs to play against, the Scotiabank Cougars are just happy they'll be on the ice.
Today through Sunday, the Cougars will be hosting a tournament at CN Centre and the Kin Centre. Squads from Kamloops and Williams Lake will be here, and a local boys team -- the Leafs from the atom house division -- will round out the field.
"It was difficult to get teams and we're lucky Kamloops agreed to come up and Williams Lake agreed to come up," said Cougars head coach Brett Hickey. "We really didn't want to give up the ice time, and we've got to start somewhere."
The Cougars are formed by 11- and 12-year-olds. Their first game is at 10:45 a.m. today (CN Centre) against the Leafs. Later today, at 3:15 p.m., the Cats will face Williams Lake at Kin 3. On Saturday, they'll finish round-robin play with a 7:30 a.m. game (Kin 2) against Kamloops.
Semifinals are set for Saturday at 4:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at Kin 2. On Sunday, medal games will also be held at Kin 2. The clash for bronze will start at 7:30 a.m. and the gold-medal final will face off at 9:45 a.m.
The tournament is being held in conjunction with a bantam girls event.
The peewee Cougars have played in two other tournaments so far this season, one in Jasper and one in Kamloops. According to Hickey, they are developing well as a team.
"We played a game last weekend against a local atom [boys] team and I thought it was the best game of the year so far for the girls," he said. "They were moving the puck around and we kind of started to play a system and we played really, really well."
Team members are Braxtyn Shawara, Hannah Cockle, Christy King, Mishayla Christensen, Malena Pilipow, Katy Wendling, Emmelin Leclerc, Jessica Herdman, Justine Guillet, Miranda Lutes, Rylei Blacker, Aspen Vassallo, Jadyn Hickey, Olivia Delisle, Camryn Scully, Colby Wilson and Tessa Sturgeon.
