Mystixs look for home-ice advantage

The Kamloops Mystixs’ plan to win the bantam Tier 1 female provincial hockey championship involves a lot of hard work.

The Mystixs are to play host to the seven-team championship starting today at Memorial Arena. The tournament, which will feature each team playing six round-robin games, is to end with Sunday’s final.

The Mystixs won the right to play host to the tournament by winning the OMAHA banner Feb. 20. Kamloops swept the Kelowna Rockets in the best-of-three final.

According to Mystixs head coach Sheldon Morice, Kamloops won the OMAHA championship with a lot of hard work. The strategy hasn’t changed in the three weeks since the Mystixs last played.

“Everyone comments on how hard we work,” Morice said. “That’s what we do — we grind teams down with our work, we’re the first to pucks and we never quit. That’s what we have going for us.”

The tournament opens today, noon, when the Kelowna Rockets and Cranbrook Ice meet. The Mystixs will take on the Ice at 8 p.m.

Morice’s girls haven’t played Cranbrook yet this season, but he has obtained a scouting report.

“I talked to the Castlegar coach, and he said they’re quite good,” he said. “It should be a good game.”

The Mystixs have practised three times since last playing an organized game, but seven of their players came home from last weekend’s B.C. Winter Games in Terrace with silver medals. Emily Bailey, Nicole Case, Jacinda Esselink, Jordan Finnie, Emily Gervais, Colby Williams and Lindsey Rose helped Zone 2 finish second.

The timing of the Winter Games has made home-ice advantage so much more important, Morice said. A lot of girls who will be competing this week spent four or five days in Terrace, then barely had a chance to rest before coming here.

The members of the Castlegar squad didn’t even bother going home.

“Every team had girls in Terrace,” Morice said. “The West Kootenay team, their girls came here straight from Terrace, so they haven’t slept in their own beds in a while.

“With us, it’s nice that our girls were able to catch their breath.”

Players like Williams, Gervais and Case will be looked upon to carry the offensive load, while Lauren Witt will handle the goaltending duties.

But Morice knows his team can’t rely on two or three players to score all the goals — if Kamloops wants to win seven games, it will need to have everyone pitching in.

“The way this tournament is set up, we’ll be playing seven games if we win,” Morice said. “We’re going to have to have contributions from all the players.”

Morice said the field — it also includes North Shore, Surrey and Prince George — is very close, which should make for a tight tournament.

“Last year, Kelowna and North Shore were so far ahead, everybody knew what the final game was going to be,” he said. “This year, it’s wide open — it could be any two of the teams.”

Other members of the Mystixs include Michelle Fortier, Sam Hoffbeck, Chloe Johnson, Erinn Kaay, Kiana Karolyi, Olivia Merritt, Marcella Mondin and Courtney Morice.

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca

Comments

Be the first to comment!