The Elk Valley Wild Bantam A hockey team has finished off an amazing season, winning a silver medal after competing at the provincial championships. The team travelled to Houston, B.C. in March to take on young hockey players from all over B.C.
“The team did fantastic during the provincial championships with a record of four wins, one tie, and one loss to bring home the silver medal,” commented Head Coach Neil Smithies. “They were a little disappointed they didn’t get the win in the end, but a silver medal is pretty darn good in my books.”
The 2012/2013 season was a busy one and turned out to be hugely successful for the players who are between the ages of 13 and 15.
“The Elk Valley Wild Bantam team was a freight train this year as it ends the season with playing a total of 46 games, 34 wins, 9 losses and 3 ties,” said Smithies. “The player’s commitment to reaching the teams goals this season has been nothing short of amazing. Every single player on the team worked very hard all season long in practices and in games to earn this amazing year.”
He added, “The team battled hard throughout the whole tournament and they represented the Elk Valley in admirable fashion both on the ice and off.”
In addition to their silver medal at provincials, the Wild also placed first in six out of seven regular season tournaments. Although the team played all over the province throughout the season, Smithies said no matter where they were competing, they knew their fans back home were cheering for them.
“While we were up in Houston we were receiving an overwhelming amount of support from folks in the Elk Valley with phone calls, texts, and e-mails as they were following all our games on the ‘play by play’ web page on the B.C. Minor Hockey Web site,” he explained. “It was really exciting and it made the team feel that we had the whole Elk Valley rooting for them while we were up there.”
Smithies went on to say, “The whole provincial experience was nothing short of amazing and we would like to thank all the businesses and people in the Elk Valley for helping us achieve this unbelievable experience. The Elk Valley is truly one of the best places around that will support its kids and give them these opportunities and we are all extremely lucky to live within it.”