The Elk Valley Wild Bantam A hockey team has had a busy 2012/2013 season and they’re not slowing down any time soon. With just a couple more tournaments to play in January, the Wild are getting ready to travel to Houston, B.C. this March for the provincial championships.
“There have been some kids on the team that have been to provincial championships before, but the majority of this team hasn’t, so we’re considering this a huge opportunity for these kids,” said Head Coach Neil Smithies. “For some of them it’s a once in a lifetime chance.”
The season up until now has not only been busy, but hugely successful for the players who are between the ages of 13 and 15.
“They’ve been doing really well in the first half of the season, from October to December 31,” commented Smithies. “We went to four or five tournaments, the team has done extremely well, and we’ve only lost two games throughout that whole time.”
He went on to say, “The team is made up of kids from all three communities and the team dynamic is fantastic. The kids get along great and the stronger players are always helping the kids that are learning.”
After finishing off two more tournaments in January, the Wild will spend the rest of the season at home preparing for provincials.
Smithies said, “We’re going to take the month of February to really focus on conditioning and speed.”
Although the team has already played all of their home games for the season, Smithies is working on booking a couple of exhibition games in the Elk Valley for February.
The Elk Valley Wild Bantam A team will head to Houston, B.C. in mid March to compete in the provincial championships.