The 100 Mile Minor Hockey’s U18 Girls Team is heading to the playoffs this month.
The team is in second place in their recreation league, which includes two teams from Kelowna, a team in Lumby and one from Kamloops. At the moment, Lumby, the host team, is the one to beat in the round-robin-style playoffs but the 14 girls on the team aren’t too stressed about the upcoming tournament, head coach Wade Balbirnie said.
“We’re winning more than we’re losing so that’s a positive sign,” Balbirnie said. “We lost some players who were stronger who decided not to play this year but the girls who stayed involved gelled together and get along really well.”
Balbirnie said there’s always a lot of good humour on the ice when the team practices. Unlike boys, he finds that girls mature earlier and listen better. In his coaching, he focuses on teamwork and working together as a group.
“I always tell the girls you’re only as good as your weakest link, so you have to help everyone get better and they do that. All the girls tell each other to do the best you can.”
Veteran defensive player Vanessa Betschart, who has been with the team for five years, agreed, noting the team’s three new players have meshed well with the old ones. She describes the team as being a big family and said hopes they can score some good goals, win some games and maybe even the entire tournament.
“We’ve come a long way. We’ve almost won a couple of tournaments together, which is great,” Betschart said. “This year we’re just trying to bond, think of the things we can improve on, and just not take it too seriously and have fun. Obviously, we want to do our best but we want to have fun too.”
Rookie right-wing player Nicole Hollander said her personal goal is to score her first goal of the season.
“I just started two months ago. I used to play until I was 10 and then I stopped but lots of my friends are on the team so I thought it’d be nice to join hockey again,” Hollander, 16, said, adding she was partially motivated by attending 100 Mile House Wrangler games this year.
She said the team has been supportive and friendly as she’s relearned her skating and puck-handling skills. Hollander has noticed the game is now less about raw skill and more about making smart plays with her fellow players.
“All around, the team is really optimistic and positive. We don’t get too happy when we win and we don’t get too upset when we lose, it’s nice that way.”
Balbirnie said that he doesn’t have any concrete game plan for the playoffs and just wants the girls to stay engaged, play their best and have fun.
“For me, all that matters is they’re having fun,” Balbirnie said. “I tell them 10 years from now they’re not going to remember a single goal but they’re going to remember each other. By having fun, they’ll do well.”
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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