After seven months of waiting for their next game, the Northern Capitals will finally get to showcase their hockey talents next weekend in Williams Lake.
Northern B.C.’s regional representatives in the BC Female Under-18 Triple-A Hockey League will take on the Fraser Valley Rush in a three-game exhibition series Oct. 17-18 at Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex. The neutral-site games will give the Capitals a chance to shake off the rust in what will be their first games since the COVID outbreak cut the season short last March.
“I know they’re all excited to finally get out and have an organized game,” said Capitals head coach Mario Desjardins. “They’ve been practicing at a high tempo and the young players have come in and have not looked out of place.
“We have a lot more veterans (11) starting off this season and everyone has come to camp in shape and ready to go. The off-ice conditioning this year twice a week during the season is a bonus for them and we’re going into our first games of the season a lot more prepared than last season.”
Desjardins expects returning goalie Tessa Sturgeon, a two-sport athlete who also plays fastball, to continue generating interest from post-secondary schools looking for a dependable puckstopper.
“She’s playing the best hockey I’ve ever seen since I started coaching her in second-year bantam and she’s a fantastic ball player too,” said Desjardins.
Karsyn Niven will be the Capitals’ backup goalie.
Third-year midget Kiera Mulder will anchor the defence, along with returning blueliners Keagan Goulet, Ella Boon and promising rookie Rachel Loewen.
The Capitals are blessed with skillful forwards and a mobile defence and Desjardins predicts the team will have plenty of offensive firepower and plans to utilize that strength in his game strategies.
Up front, the Capitals return centre Brett Kerley, their leading scorer from last season, with eight goals and 26 points in 32 games. Pyper Alexander ranked third in team scoring (10-9-19) and was among the most fit Capitals in training camp testing. Brooklyn Hutchings (6-12-18) and Hailey Armstrong (8-10-18) are also capable of filling opponents’ nets, with support from veterans Maria Ayre (6-5-11) and Nancy Moore (5-5-10). Another player to watch is centre Cricket Colebank, who played last year for the Williams Lake triple-A midget team after being a late Capitals cut. The Capitals roster has 17 players.
The Capitals have been relatively unaffected by the COVID pandemic and most of them stayed together despite a July announcement by city planners to keep arenas closed for the rest of 2020 and possible all of 2021 to save money. There was no ice available in the city until early August and Desjardins said that forced the hand of four players who likely would have returned to the Capitals this season and instead chose to go to the private hockey academies. That list includes 16-year-old Brooke Norkus, who collected five goals and 12 assists in 32 games as a midget rookie with the Caps last season.
Hayden James Berra joins the Capitals coaching staff from the Cariboo Cougars and Desjardins will also have Jordan Shanks as an assistant coach.
The regular season schedule has yet to be determined.
“Right now everything is on hold so we’re just starting our exhibition games,” said Desjardins. “Williams Lake seems to be quite flexible. We can have a maximum of 20 players at the rink and people in the stands and they’ve opened the dressing rooms. We were changing in the hallways until the city opened our dressing rooms this week.”
The Capitals will play the Rush at 7 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. next Saturday and again on Oct. 18 at 11 a.m. They’ll continue the exhibition season in Williams Lake Nov. 7-8 with two games against the Thompson-Okanagan Lakers and the Capitals will travel to Vernon for a three-game series against the Lakers Nov. 13-15.
