They got a sample of ringette at the highest level. The players who formed Team B.C. for the Tim Hortons national championships managed to keep stride with their talent-rich opponents.
At nationals, which ended on the weekend in Cambridge, Ont., B.C. skated to a 3-5 record and finished seventh out of nine teams.
"I think we played well as a team," said Justine Lamothe, one of three Prince George players on the club. "We all worked together really well and we never really gave up."
Competing in the Under-16 division, B.C. defeated Nova Scotia 5-4, slipped past Saskatchewan 6-5 and downed New Brunswick 4-3. Losses came against Ontario (5-3), host Cambridge (5-1), Quebec (6-3), Manitoba (4-1) and Alberta (4-0).
In the championship game, Alberta edged Quebec 2-1.
Lamothe is a 16-year-old forward. The other P.G. players in the Team B.C. lineup were 14-year-old defenceman Saynia Pickering and 14-year-old goalie Murdine Leboe.
Emily McMartin, a Team B.C. forward from Quesnel, was picked to the tournament's first all-star team.
Lamothe said B.C.'s best game was the one against New Brunswick.
"They were the first-place team in the pool at the time," she said.
In Lamothe's opinion, B.C. could have beaten the golden girls from Alberta if everything had gone perfectly.
"I think so," she said. "That wasn't the best game that we had but I think if we put our all into it, we could have beaten them.
"I'll always remember [playing at nationals]," she added. "It was a really fun week. It was probably the funnest week of my life."
The trip wasn't all about ringette. The girls also got the chance to go to Niagara Falls, the CN Tower, the Hockey Hall of Fame and the season-opening game of the Toronto Blue Jays. That game was played Friday in front of 47,984 fans and saw the Jays thump the Minnesota Twins 13-3.
Lamothe said the night at the ball park was the highlight of the non-ringette activities.
"It was crazy," she said with a grin. "We had good seats -- we could see everything."
Lamothe said she wasn't a baseball fan before she left home. That has changed.
"I like it now, since I went to that," she said. "It was really cool."
