‘High-calibre competition’: Northeast BC Predators compete among the best at Richmond tournament

RICHMOND, B.C. — The region’s top U-18 women’s hockey program will skate among some of the best teams from North America beginning on Friday.

The Northeast BC Predators rep team has sent a squad to compete in the AA division of the Pacific Coast Female Rep Classic in Richmond, B.C.

The tournament is hosted by the Richmond Ravens Female Hockey Association. According to the event’s website, it is a 48-team tournament that “attracts out-of-town hockey teams for high-calibre competition.”

All games will take place at the Richmond Ice Centre or Minoru Arena. U-18 Predators head coach Brandon Roy said as a class A team playing up one level, competition will “be tough.”

“We have got our first game under our belts,” Roy said. “I think it was a little bit of a shell shock for the girls. [It] definitely exposed some of our weaknesses and things we need to work on.”

The U-18 Predators opened the tournament on Friday morning, October 24th versus the St. Albert Minor Hockey Association’s AA Sharks in the round robin section of the tournament, being on the losing end of a 7-1 defeat, with Brianna Scott scoring the lone goal. 

Still, Roy thought his team did “a good job” and that St. Albert was his club’s “toughest game on paper” at the tournament.

“[We need to] just continue to move our feet through our checks,” said Roy. “We were kind of hesitating. [We] just need to keep going through our checks and make sure we finish skating.

“We have been working on some things. They showed glimpses of it in this first game. The girls did really well and got pucks in deep and forecheck like we’ve been learning in our practices. In the third period, we kind of got our legs back under us and started our forecheck again, which was working really well, and starting to frustrate the other team.”

The U-18 Predators will next play the Surrey Falcons from Surrey, B.C. on Friday afternoon beginning at 4:30 p.m. at the Richmond Ice Centre before finishing off the round robin against the North Stars of Anchorage, Alaska.

Games on Sunday, October 26th will be determined from the team’s performance over the first three contests.

In its 12th year, the tournament has a reputation for being “a premier all-female tournament for competitive hockey teams across western North America,” according to its website.

The 12th annual Pacific Coast Female Rep Classic takes place from Friday, October 24th to Sunday, October 26th in Richmond, B.C.