Gold and orange look good on Williams Lake U11 development team
Published Jan. 18
Despite the extreme cold, the heat was on the ice at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex as the local U11 development team hosted their home tournament Jan. 12 to 14, winning 5-3 in the final game against Prince George on Sunday.
For the tournament’s opening ceremony, the Williams Lake team proudly donned orange jerseys while Orange Shirt Day founder Phyllis Webstad and Williams Lake First Nation cultural coordinator David Archie helped start the weekend off in a good way.
“It’s nice to be able to at the last minute come and do something like this,” said Webstad after she dropped the puck for the opening game between Williams Lake and Smithers 2 at 5 p.m. “I know it means a lot to them too.”
Webster credited Tyler Fuller, a former professional hockey player and now assistant coach for the U11 team, and his wife Amanda, for the idea of the orange jersey project.
“When the story came out of T’Kemlups of the 215 last year, Tyler wanted to do something,” Webstad said. “From there he contacted Chief Willie Sellars and Willie called me and then the rest is history. The WHL is on board. It’s pretty cool.”
New curling club manager ready to rock
Published Feb. 6
Nicole Bellamy had not planned on relocating to Williams Lake, she had a great job she loved in St. Albert, Alta. as the curling club manager.
But then her partner Mike Neufeld got a job based in Williams Lake working for the Tsilhqot’in National Government as their construction manager.
After Neufeld came to Williams Lake, he was telling Bellamy how much he liked it, then she came out to visit in July and everything shifted.
“I fell in love with it,” she said of her trip to the lakecity.
She and her partner are mountain bikers, so she immediately found her way onto the many trails in and around Williams Lake.
Beyond the trails, she saw it had a curling club, where she could spend her winter. As well as curling twice a week, Bellamy is a Level 3 curling coach, she sells curling equipment and instructs curling.
“And when I’m not doing all that, I’m thinking about curling,” she said.
Men's indoor soccer league nets multicultural roster
Published Feb. 15
Cultural diversity is on a roll at the Williams Lake Men’s Indoor Soccer League.
Some of the countries players hail from include England, Eritrea, Nigeria, Switzerland, Bosnia, Macedonia, Hong Kong, Ukraine, India, Cuba, Mexico, Germany, Holland and of course, Canada with both First Nations and non-First Nations on the roster.
Many of their reasons for joining are similar, others are unique, but for anyone watching the games Tuesdays at Lake City Secondary School the love of the game is apparent.
Indoor soccer is intense. The balls move fast and the wooden floor is not as easy on the knees as the grass field.
Each team plays Tuesday with three games on the schedule.
Junior A hockey returns to Williams Lake
Published March 22
A group of well-known local residents and business owners from Williams Lake announced they were bringing back Junior A hockey to the lakecity.
The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) announced Friday, March 22, the Summerland Steam franchise had been sold and relocated to Williams Lake, where they will now be known as the Mustangs.
The sale and move was approved unanimously by the KIJHL’s Board of Governors.
Tyrel Lucas, who owns and operates Total Ice Training Centre in Williams Lake, serves as the team’s first head coach and general manager. The Williams Lake minor hockey product enjoyed a successful junior playing career in the KIJHL, BCHL and WHL, as well as at the University of Calgary, before he played professionally with the Shreveport Mudbugs of the Central Hockey League from 2007-2011.
Carey Price inducted into BC Hockey Hall of Fame
Published March 7
Cariboo-Chilcotin hockey superstar Carey Price became a member of the BC Hockey Hall of Fame.
The dominant NHL goaltender is of Ulkatcho/Southern Dakelh and Nuxalk First Nations heritage.
He is the son of Lynda and Jerry Price, brother of Kayla. Lynda is the current chief of the Ulkatcho First Nation; Jerry was a goaltender drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers. Both were leaders, not just parents, Price would describe in interviews.
Price spent his entire professional hockey life with the Montreal Canadiens organization before injuries cut short his storied career.
Other inductees to the 2024 class of the BC Hockey Hall of Fame (BCHHOF) include player Shea Weber, the 2010 Fort St. John Flyers in the team category, builder Scott Bradley, and official Tom Kowal.
“Carey Price was simply described, probably accurately, as the best goaltender in the world, period,” said master of ceremonies Jim Hughson, chair of the BCHHOF board of directors and himself from Fort St. John. “That was exemplified with a near perfect performance in 2014 at the Sochi Olympics, and then in 2015 when he was named by his peers as the best player in the game.”
Wallin sisters rack up more medals at nationals
Published March 21
Williams Lake Cross Country Ski Club’s Wallin sisters won again at the 2024 Nordiq Canada Ski Nationals in Quebec.
Nadia and Anika Wallin spent over a week in the area, competing in races in Gatineau, Quebec against the top young cross-country skiers from across the country.
Both held their own in their age class, with Nadia competing in the U16 girls and Anika in the U18 girls.
Both racked up an impressive four medals each.
Nadia won silver medals in the skate sprint, 5 km skate ski, and 7.5 km skate ski, with her points earning her the aggregate gold medal across her age category.
Anika also won silver medals in the skate sprint, 5 km skate ski, and 7.5 km skate ski, and her points earned her the silver medal for her combined points overall for U18 girls.
The effort had Cross Country BC calling the Williams Lake Cross Country Ski Club “the little club that could.”
Spills, thrills at Indoor Classic Rodeo
Published April 25
The 2024 Indoor Spring Classic Rodeo held April 19 to 21 in Williams Lake was by all accounts a great success.
The stands were full of rodeo fans ready to cheer on all the local talent that made up the three-day event.
A little different format this year, the events included bull riding, junior steer riding, bareback riding, a wild horse race, saddle bronc, open, junior and peewee barrel race along with mini bull riding.
There was also intermission entertainment with the family-friendly Coppertown Clown Act and the West Coast Thunder Drill Team as well as the 2024 BC Cowboy Hall of Fame inductees.
Sunshine, smiles at first-ever Ride your Ride festival
Published May 16
The first annual Ride Your Ride women’s mountain bike festival rolled out over Mother’s Day weekend in Williams Lake.
Starting off with a social on Friday night, the 49 registered participants, plus coaches and some volunteers gathered at the Tourism Discovery Centre (TDC) for food, appies and introductions. Participants were given a run-down on the plans for the weekend, overview of the safety plan, and an introduction to key people by lead organizers Dena Baumann, Beth Holden and Emma Swabey.
On Saturday morning, an opening ceremony at the Ross Road parking lot on Fox Mountain helped officially start the festival off in a good way and set intentions for a great weekend of women creating community and supporting one another cycling.
Coaches from various parts of the province, all women, led a range of skills clinics Saturday morning and afternoon, from beginner level to advanced.
Mobile school launches young sailors
Published Aug. 29
Thanks to Emma Davidson with the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex, youth in Williams Lake had an opportunity to learn water safety, boat handling and sailing skills recently.
For the past two weeks, the Mobile Optimist Sailing School (MOSS) has been hosting sailing camps based at Scout Island Nature Centre, and setting sail on Williams Lake.
Davidson herself learned to sail when she was 13 years old and involved in the Sea Cadets.
"It was so much fun and I had so many opportunities," she said, noting sailing helped give her a lot of confidence as a young person.
In Williams Lake, the program was sold out, with all 15 possible spots taken for both weeks.
Locally, the MOSS program was able to also partner with the Scout Island Nature Centre, using the centre as a base, which she said was ideal.
Mustangs bring home two wins on opening weekend
Published on Sept. 29
The Williams Lake Mustangs showed they are ready to take their place in the KIJHL with two wins over their season opening weekend.
The team made their regular season debut on Sept. 20, and managed to defeat the Sicamous Eagles in a 5-2 victory in front of a hometown crowd.
On Saturday, they again took to home ice against the Merritt Centennials, shutting out the visitors and taking the game 1-0.
On Friday, Mustang fans got to see the team kick the season off with a win, despite a flat first period with no goals.
But in a flurry of success, Mustangs managed to put the puck in the net fives times in the second period, and while the Eagles answered back with one of their own in the second and one in the third, the visiting team never came back from the deficit.
LCSS Falcons win boys soccer zones
Published Oct. 11
Lake City Secondary School boys soccer earned a berth at the provincial after capturing the North Central District AAA Zone championship in Prince George.
In the final game, they won 1-0 against North Peace Secondary.
“I never thought we could beat North Peace Secondary,” said Falcons coach Sean Glanville, explaining they had lost to North Peace 6-1 in the opening contest of the tournament.
“The Falcons went into the final knowing they were capable of a much better effort in the rematch,” Glanville said, adding they played an “incredible” game and followed the plan perfectly to deliver the upset. "You could see how the other team was more and more frustrated."
At last year’s zones, North Peace beat LCSS in all three games, he added.
Austin Ludwig scored the opening goal for the Falcons five minutes in, outrunning the defence and rounding the goalie before sliding in the eventual game winner.
Brock Hoyer wins gold with Team Canada at World Vets
Published Nov. 7
Despite a gruelling race and a 25-hour drive home, Williams Lake motocross athlete Brock Hoyer was celebrating.
He and Team Canada emerged the gold medal winners at the 40th Annual World Vet Motocross Championships held Saturday, Nov. 2 and Sunday, Nov. 3 in San Bernardino, California at the Glen Helen Raceway.
The race features riders ranging from 25 to 80 years old, from beginners to pros.
"It is one of the biggest races in the world," he told the Tribune. "There were 1,700 entries from all over the place."
This was Hoyer's first time competing at the championship. He said there had been talk about them going last year at the last minute, but this time they decided to make a plan.
"We went down with a group of our Outlaw Motorsports team out of Kamloops. John Sethen from Outlaw was a huge person for that. He pretty much made it happen. If it wasn't for John I don't think we would have gone."
Williams Lake bowler, 8, qualifies for 2025 nationals
Published Nov. 25
Williams Lake's eight-year-old Elsa Kunka has bowled her way to a spot at the nationals in May 2025 after winning at the provincials in Vernon on Nov. 10.
"I'm excited," she said at Monday youth bowling at Cariboo Bowling Lanes. "I competed in Bantam."
Elsa started bowling when she was three-years-old and said she enjoys it.
"It's just been fun," she added.
Coach Kevin McAlpine did not attend the provincials but was full of praise for Elsa.
"This is her first year bowling with one hand so that's incredible really, that she won," he said.
Joining Elsa at provincials was Riel Tate who placed second.
Canadian Olympic swimmer makes splash in Williams Lake
Published Nov. 28
It isn't everyday you get the opportunity to meet an Olympic team member, but some Williams Lake swimmers not only met one, they got coaching and advice from one.
On Friday, Nov. 22, Blue Fins were in the pool with Ingrid Wilm, Canadian Olympic team swimmer and World Cup Aquatics bronze medal winner. Wilm competed in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and recently brought home bronze from the World Cup Aquatics. Wilm is a top-ranked backstroke swimmer, and just recently placed third in the 50 m backstroke, 100m backstroke and fourth in the 200 m backstroke at the the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup races.
Wilm's appearance was a well-earned reward for the Blue Fins, 30 of whom participated in a national swim-a-thon to raise funds for the club in March 2024.
The swimmers had solicited pledges for the number of lengths they could complete during the swim-a-thon. Super novice swimmers tried to do as many lengths as they could in one hour and senior swimmers swam as far as they could in two hours or up to five km. The Blue Fins raised an impressive $17,098, the majority of which goes back to the club to help pay for pool fees.
With about 30 swimmers participating, the club earned an estimated $570 per athlete, which earned the club the opportunity to get a visit from an Olympic athlete.