A group of Tri-City ringette players will be taking on some of the toughest competition in the province as they get ready for the B.C. Winter Games in Penticton this week.
The team, which was chosen last fall and has been practising together since December, will represent Zone 4, which consists of Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody along with Surrey, White Rock, Burnaby and New Westminster. The local squad was expected to arrive in the Okanagan ahead of yesterday’s opening ceremony.
Kaitlin Allen, Ashley Robb, Jo Brady, Teagan Ewart, Emily Church, Megan Parsons, Amy Duplantis, Ximena Turmel and Julia Fung all made the lineup this year, with Amy Byrne, Coline Robb and Erin Mulligan directing things from behind the bench.
The group are not the only Tri-City ringette players headed to the games this week.
Zone 4 will also be icing a B team, with PoCo athletes Chloe de Beaupre, Hannah Deck, Amanda Weloy, Kiara Cameron and Kristen Bischoff along with Coquitlam’s Natalie Howell and Sophia Guan in the lineup. They will be joined by Christine Wiebe, Dejah Moldowin, Grace Kemp, Katherine Berntt, Tiia Friesen, Vanessa Wensink and Amy Woo of Surrey and Kennedi Johansen, Rachel Kong and Kennedy Beemish of Burnaby.
On snow, PoCo cross-country skier Liam Espedido is expected to compete in two races in Penticton this weekend. The 14-year-old will take on the competition in the 3.5 km classic race and a 400 m skate race, and will be on a team with Shayla Ernst and Kate O’Shea of Burnaby.
A strong contingent of Tri-City curlers is also gearing up for the Winter Games.
Team Drexel is among the finalists for the provincial event, led by 16-year-old Coquitlam skip Heather Drexel, third Everly Royea, second Bailey Burke and lead Madeline Britz. The team is coached by Alan Smith.
This will be Drexel’s third provincial event while Everly and Bailey have been to the competition twice before, with Everly’s team winning in 2014. Bailey and Drexel won the juvenile championships in Cowichan the same year and all three of the players went on to the under-18 internationals.
Other B.C. Winter Games curling finalists include Matthew McCrady, another Tri-City skip, who recently won the silver at the 2016 B.C. Junior Men’s Curling Championships in Kamloops last month. He competes with third Zac Curtis of Coquitlam, second Liam Purgavie of Surrey and lead Jacob Umbach, also of Coquitlam.
