Ringette has been part of Stephanie Thompson's life since she was four.
The thrill of competing in a big-stakes tournament doesn't come around often and it never gets old.
Especially when the old gang that makes up the Prince George Rush gets together for a rare opportunity to strut their skills on home ice, like they did a couple weekends ago when they won the 18-plus open A division provincial championship at Kin 1.
Their 6-2 win over Kelowna in the final qualified the Rush for the Western Canadian championship which starts Thursday in St. Albert, Alta. Now all playing as adults, a majority of the 16 players who make up the Rush roster have been teammates since they were toddlers.
"It's a pretty neat feeling, a lot of us have played together for 17 years," said Thompson, a 24-year-old Rush defenceman.
"We actually don't ever get to practice together as a team, we just come together for tournaments. We all grew up playing with or against each other and when you get to this (adult) level there's just not a lot of players so we all pool together. Even though these guys play (on club teams) in Vancouver they still want to play for a northern team because they're northern girls."
It's not all girls on the Rush. Rory Bird and Cameron Spooner have been Rush regulars representing the northern region at double-A tournaments for at least the past decade and they're an integral part of the team - two brothers on a team of 14 sisters. Bird, who scored five goals in the provincial final, is in Australia and won't be playing this week.
The Rush roster has two former MVPs from the Western Canadian championships - forward Tara Holmberg and goaltender Megan Spooner.
Holmberg is a former Burnaby resident who moved to Prince George a few years ago.
"There's a lot of talent on the team, most of us have played double-A and on Team B.C. quite a few times," said Thompson. "Sydney (Irving) played on the Canada Winter Games team."
Thompson's sister Courtney is the oldest player on the team at 32 and she's showing no slowing down with age.
"She's our resident lady, but she's quicker than most of the girls out here," said Stephanie.
Irving, 22, helped B.C. to a sixth-place finish at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George. This is her fifth year with the 18-plus Rush and for the first time in her career she's playing on the same team with her 17-year-old sister Sara.
"It's pretty cool to have that chemistry between us when we get to play together," said Sydney Irving.
"It was an all-time high playing here in Canada Winter Games and every time I go to a tournament I see those girls I played with on Team B.C. and when you come back to playing in Prince George you get those chills."
Prince George will host the Western Canadian championships in March 2020. Irving says it's important for the Prince George Ringette Association to continue to try to grow the game by bidding for big events like provincials and the Westerns to encourage more young players to join and keep older players participating.
"It gives the younger teams something to look up to, they can come out and see the older teams and people who aren't in school anymore still playing the game of ringette," she Irving. "It all comes down to playing a game we all love to play."
The Rush finished second in B.C. in 2018 and played in three tournaments this season prior to provincials, starting with fourth-place finish in November in Burnaby. In January they placed second in Richmond, and in February they were third in Kelowna. Before this year, Prince George last hosted provincials in 2014, but the Rush were unable to participate that year because no other teams from the other regions wanted to make the trip north.
The Rush has two games Thursday, starting with Manitoba at 7:15 a.m. PT. Then at 4 p.m. PT, the Rush takes on Saskatchewan. The B.C. champs will be back on the ice Friday at 8:30 a.m. PT against Alberta and at 1:15 p.m. PT against the host team.
Playoffs start Saturday morning.
