World Girl’s Hockey Weekend is Oct. 7-9 and associations across the country are celebrating female hockey.
In addition to midget female rep and female peewee house games, participating school classrooms will host trivia games with fun facts about female hockey.
Fun fact: B.C. has never sent a female to Team Canada.
But this year is very different.
Five female players have made their way to U18 and U22 camps — this could be our year.
Atom player Kaitlyn Brown is new to hockey this season.
“I like hockey because you get to have fun, skate and do lots of fun stuff,” Kaitlyn said.
“My favourite part is skating and shooting goals. I started hockey because it seemed like a lot of fun after I tried the Esso Girl’s Fun Day.”
This year, the atom females hope to put a tournament team together to play other female teams within the province.
Peewee player Gabriela Smith Forzzani is also new to hockey after trying the Esso Girls Fun Day.
“I am very competitive and I’ve played soccer before so I wanted to see what hockey was like,” Gabriela said.
“What I like about hockey is that you have to be very committed. It’s a fast game and it’s nice to play with other girls that enjoy the sport. And, we have a great team.”
Kelly Call, BC Hockey Female High Performance co-ordinator and Jennifer Loewen, the Williams Lake Minor Hockey female co-ordinator, organized a successful Esso Girls Fun Day in May and are making plans to host another later in the hockey season.
“Our goal is to increase female registration in hockey at all levels from initiation to adult,” Kelly said. “The more female players, the more opportunities they have.”
The Williams Lake Minor Hockey Association is asking the community to come out to support midget female rep hockey when they play against Salmon Arm at 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday, and 10:45 a.m. Sunday.
Peewee female house will take on other Williams Lake peewee house teams Friday at 5 p.m., Saturday at 9 a.m. and Sunday at 6:15 a.m.