No, they haven’t practised, and frankly, they’ve only played ball hockey together once. But the seven women of Victoria Extreme are certain their chances of winning the Redwood Cup are good.
“We played provincials last year and we were really surprised with the outcome,” said team captain Melanie Sauve. “We were a goal shy of making it to the finals.”
Team Extreme faces every one of the four women’s teams registered in the CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada Play On! National Championship today (Friday), on Belleville Street, with the legislature and Inner Harbour serving as backdrops.
Collectively, Victoria Extreme has no shortage of hockey experience. Goaltender Jackie (Scotty) Scott has more than four decades under her belt, and while Sauve has only taken up ball hockey in the last six years, she plays up to three times a day. Other team members, including Charlene Arsenault, Brenda Mesich, Lindsay Brown, Erin Turner and Shaheen (Frodie) Domay have all levels of experience on both the ice and the pavement.
The team was thrilled when they were approached by the tourney’s organizers to get involved, Sauve said.
Domay added she hopes the team makes Victoria proud.
“I think playing the four-on-four tourney will be a bit of an adjustment and it will be the first tourney like this for us, but we are up to the challenge and are pumped just to get out there and play hard,” she said.
Just five teams are registered to compete for the Redwood Cup and a $20,000 cash prize this year in the women’s division. Compare that to 46 men’s teams.
One of those is Victoria C.C.C.P., the competitive local men’s team that finished top four last year.
ecardone@vicnews.com