Emerging hockey star Micah Hart of Saanichton will carry the flag for host B.C. in the opening ceremonies Friday for the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, an event which should provide an early peek of the Canadian athletes who will perform in future Winter Olympics and Paralympics beyond Pyeongchang 2018.
Canada Winter Games alumni include big hitters such as Sidney Crosby, Catriona LeMay Doan and Hayley Wickenheiser.
Hart, who recently captained Canada to the silver medal at the IIHF 2015 women’s U-18 championship, might not have to wait for post-2018. Some already have the NCAA Cornell-bound blue-liner targeted for the Canadian team at Pyeongchang.
The Peninsula Minor Hockey Association product played on boys’ rep teams in Atom, Peewee and Bantam up to age 15 and now plays for the Okanagan Hockey Academy girls’ program.
“Like every kid when they were little, I dreamed of playing in the Olympics,” said the B.C. flagbearer, in a recent interview.
Pyeongchang is also the dream of Prince George Games-bound B.C. team para-alpine skier Mel Pemble of Victoria.
“Some say I might be a bit young yet for Pyeongchang [2018 Winter Paralympics] but that’s my goal and I’m going to keep going and see where it takes me,” said the rising 14-year-old resident of Cordova Bay.
A total of 48 athletes, coaches and support staff from the Island will be in Prince George, including 30 from Victoria, seven from Nanaimo, six from Campbell River and one each from Saanichton, Duncan, Nanoose Bay, Port Alberni and Comox.
Pemble, who has cerebral palsy and immigrated to the Island from England with her family in 2009, will be one to watch among them.
“I twisted my knee the first time I went skiing in France and so didn’t like it,” she said.
“But then I tried it again at Mount Washington, and with instructor Dave Brown, I really enjoyed it. That’s where it all started. It’s definitely the speed [that has drawn her to the sport]. I love going fast.”
And that she can do, winning two gold medals at the B.C. Winter Games and being named to the provincial Paralympic prospects team. Pemble, through Podium Search, has also been identified as a prospect in cycling.
“Maybe 2020 [Tokyo Summer Paralympics] after 2018 [Pyeongchang],” she quipped.
Hart and Pemble are among the B.C. team that will number 348 athletes, coaches and staff with Kelsey Serwa, 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics ski-cross silver-medallist, as the honorary B.C. captain.
Also on the B.C. team in Prince George is hockey defenceman Scott Walford of Coquitlam, the Victoria Royals’ first-round pick in the 2014 WHL Bantam draft.
“It’s a huge honour to represent your province, especially the host province,” said Walford, who plays Midget for the Okanagan Hockey Academy.
“The whole atmosphere will be amped up. There will be pressure but that comes from the expectations we have set for ourselves playing at home. We are going to have to play hard and with energy each shift. We had a [B.C. boys’ hockey team] camp over Christmas in Richmond [to prepare for Prince George].”
Like the Olympics, the Canada Games alternate every two years between Winter and Summer Games. This is the first time B.C. has hosted the Canada Winter Games. The province has twice hosted the Summer Games, in 1973 in New Westminster/Burnaby and in 1993 in Kamloops.
There will be 2,400 athletes plus 1,000 coaches and support staff from 10 provinces and three territories at the 2015 Prince George Canada Winter Games, which run to March 1. In a bit of a twist, the Prince George Winter Games also feature traditional Summer Games sports archery, badminton, judo, shooting and synchronized swimming, with St. Margaret’s student Yun Wah Choo competing in the pool in the latter for B.C.
British Columbia placed third with 88 medals, including 28 golds, at the last Canada Winter Games in 2011 at Halifax.
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
