The wait is almost over for three Burnaby/ New Westminster ringette teens.
Defenders Danielle Wall and Mya Lopez of Burnaby and New Westminster goalie Tara Stevens will be kicking off the Canadian ringette championships at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre on April 9 to 15.
The Lower Mainland AA under-16 skaters will be taking on London, Ont. in their opening match at the week-long national championships hosted by the local association.
The championships will also include the top u-19 and National Ringette League teams in a buildup to the championship finals.
"I've been waiting for this for four years now," said Stevens, who has been playing in goal for the past six seasons.
The New Westminster Secondary School junior remembers in 2010 winning the provincial gold medal in overtime on the same day and with the same 3-2 score as Canada's Olympic hockey team.
Last year, Northern B.C. turned the tables on the Mainland all-stars in OT, giving incentive to make amends with the nationals coming to town.
"Yeah it was, especially since we almost made it (last season). It was kind of heartbreaking in overtime. We were pretty motivated to win it this year," said Wall, the team's co-captain. "We thought it would be pretty cool to make it. It might be the only time in my career."
With a mixture of firstand second-year players, the Lower Mainland AA's are pretty solid in all positions, said Wall.
"We all want to do well. We have a lot of different strengths - our goalies are really, really strong. - We're pretty good at getting the ring out of our zone. - Our coaches encourage us to go in the scoring end," Wall said.
This year, the AA teens have former player Nicole Tjedkema as the team's first female coach.
Stevens said Tjedkema's playing experience and medal record at previous nationals is something the players can identify with.
"We work well on the ice, and our coaches do so much for us. They're very inspiring," Lopez said. "We respect them a lot, and when you respect your coaches, it makes us respect each other and play as a team."
That experience will come in handy, when B.C. has to face the likes of Western powerhouse Alberta and the expected strength of the Ontario teams.
"We just got to play our best game and adapt to whatever they're doing. It's part of the game," said Stevens. "We always want to win, you don't want to have any bad games. They just might come back and kick you in the butt."
Win or lose, Wall says the real winners will be the spectators who take in the week-long action at local Burnaby and New Westminster arenas.
"Honestly, I think they will be quite surprised. I think they will be quite impressed. Ringette players are quite fast. We don't have to focus on puckhandling as much, so we focus on skating, and we do excel in that category."
The B.C. u-16 team takes on London, Halifax and a team from Quebec in opening pool play. The schedule then reverts to a crossover format to pare down the 20 involved teams for the remaining four days of the competition. The medal games will be held on Saturday.
B.C.'s u-19 team, including Kiah Duruisseau of Burnaby, will follow a similar format to the junior team.
The Lower Mainland senior team will face Winnipeg, Rive Sud and Outaouais of Quebec in its preliminary draw. Medal games will also be held on the Saturday at the Copeland centre.
The national league draw will follow a round-robin format from April 10 to 13, with the Lower Mainland Thunder playing two games per day with the exception of Friday.
