Four Cochrane-area hockey players are off to the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
Four Cochrane-area hockey players are off to the 2015 Canada Winter Games. Playing for Team Alberta's under-18-year-old (U18) female hockey team, The Edge School Midget Prep stars join Alberta's best in trying to defend the province's Canada Games title won in 2011 at Halifax.
Bearspaw defenceman Channia Alexander, Cochrane defenceman Daria O'Neill, Cochrane defenceman Abby Niewchas and Cochrane forward Taylor Sawka are all in Prince George, B.C., for the Games. The Cochrane-area skaters are joined by three other Edge School players: Amanda McLeod, Lauren Bowman and Abby Benning.
It's Alexander's first Canada Games. But the 17-year-old is no stranger to elite national hockey, having played for bronze medal-winning Team Alberta at the national U18 girl's tournament in Calgary in 2013.
“It'll still be different. It's a little bit of a different competition, ” the Bearspaw resident said of Canada Games U18 female hockey. “There are all the sports. The competition will be a little different. It will be tough. ”
O'Neill also played for Team Alberta at 2013 U18 female nationals, and was often paired with Alexander. They skate together at Edge, so their familiarity with each other's play and elite-level hockey will benefit Alberta at Canada Games.
“The team is looking great so far, ” O'Neill said of Team Alberta. “We played a couple of really great games leading into the tournament in Prince George. We're really coming together as a team. ”
The selection process started in May with the final Games roster announced last month. O'Neill says the competition Edge Prep girls face over the Junior Women's Hockey League season prepares them for the rigors of Games tournament hockey.
“It helps a lot. A lot of the girls we'll be playing against at the Canada Games are girls we play against in the JWHL, ” O'Neill related. “You kind of have a scouting report already under your belt. ”
At 15 years old, Sawka is the youngest of the foursome to join Team Alberta's defence of its 2011 Games female hockey title.
“I definitely think the competition is going to be really strong, ” she speculated. “It's going to be good. There aren't going to be any easy games. I think it will be a good challenge. ”
For Niewchas, it's all about processing the excitement and getting into the groove.
“It's my first year on the team so it's a pretty big deal. I'm really excited to go, ” she offered. “The competition is going to be really good and the atmosphere is going to be really nice to play in. ”
Games female hockey gets underway Feb. 14.
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