The decision to insert Kyle Boshier into the Team B.C. lineup turned out to be an excellent one.
Boshier, 13, helped the provincial all-star club to gold at the State Wars roller hockey tournament, held in St. Louis last week. In the championship game, he fired two goals in a 6-3 victory against Pennsylvania. Boshier was later chosen as the most valuable player in the 1999 double-A division.
Boshier was added to the club just four days before the start of State Wars when other team members informed coach Rick McKissock they wouldn't be able to make the trip. The accumulated air miles of Boshier's grandparents made the youngster's journey possible.
"It's hard coming down, never having played with anyone, but once he blended in with my Westcoast Warriors boys -- my son Spencer and two others -- it was like he was part of the team for years," said McKissock, a Lower Mainland resident who guides the Langley-based Warriors.
Boshier wasn't the only Prince George player on the Team B.C. roster for State Wars, which is considered the U.S. national championship. Garret Anderson was also part of the club and certainly made his presence felt.
"My son and Garret also played up a division on the 1998 team and Garret, after his first game on the '98 team, became a different player," McKissock said. "He got increasingly better in the playoffs when we needed him."
In round-robin action, the 1999 club competed in the triple-A division and posted a 1-2-1 record. The team was then bumped down to the double-A category for playoffs and went on a three-game winning streak.
B.C. untouchable in 1998 division
They won all seven games they played and outscored their opponents 56-8. For the boys in Team B.C. uniforms, the reward was a State Wars roller hockey championship.
The 1998 triple-A provincial squad completed a romp to the gold medal with a 6-2 victory against Florida in the final. Prince George was represented by two players, Darren Hards and James Gordon.
The Team B.C. coach, Brian Hards, was told by tournament observers his team was talented enough that it could have skated in the 1997 age group.
"That's how dominant they were," Brian Hards said. "All the players that are on the team know how to play the game and when you get a full squad of eight guys that know how to play, it turns into puck possession and the other team doesn't even touch it. You just wait for your chances and get up a couple on a team and they try to go out of position to catch up and they can't compete with you."
Darren Hards was picked as an all-star and also made Team North America as one of the top 10 skaters in the entire 1997 age group. As part of that honour, he was presented with a Team North America jersey.
In the 1995 age group, Team B.C. started out in the triple-A division but, after a difficult round robin, was moved down to double-A. In the double-A semifinals, the club -- also coached by Brian Hards -- downed Southern California 6-2. That set up a meeting with Northern California in the final, a game B.C. lost 3-2 in overtime despite that fact it held a 43-10 shot advantage.
Local products Kirk Hards, Logan Styler and Garrett Hill were on the team, and Kirk Hards got the nod as an all-star.
A 1996-97 triple-A version of Team B.C. was eliminated in the semifinal round after a 4-2 setback against Ontario. Prince George players on the club were Thane Anderson, Chris Metcalfe, Mitchell Truefitt and Nathan Power. Again, Brian Hards was the coach. Anderson, meanwhile, was dynamic throughout the tournament and landed on Team North America.
B.C.'s 1998 double-A squad -- coached by Prince George's Bruce Williams -- was knocked out of the tournament in the quarterfinal round. P.G. players were Gregory Williams, Rylan Anderson, Jax Bailey and Cole Power.
