Strathmore Storm U15 girls head to Richmond BC

In a couple of weeks’ time, a local Strathmore hockey team will be seeing their hard work and determination pay off this season as the Strathmore Storm U15 Girls Hockey Team will be participating in a tournament in British Columbia. 

The Strathmore Storm U15 Girls Hockey Team led by head coach Dean Rohatynsky will be hitting the road on March 17 and will be travelling by bus for the tournament on March 18 to 20th There they will play against teams from Washington, Nanaimo, and Victoria. 

The Storm has a record of 18-10-4 and is just coming back from playoffs where they were eliminated in the second round after a loss to a team from Camrose, the U15 B Provincial host. During the regular season, the U15 Storm played stellar with 9 wins, only 3 losses, and 4 ties. 

Team Manager Jodi Vanderlaan explained, “We made it to the second round of playoffs, right to the bitter end we lost in overtime.” 

The manager said the team played very well. “We had a very short roster. We had eleven players and one goalie.” She explained that most teams have three lines with 14 to 16 players and the storm had two lines this season. 

“It made the kids learn a lot of endurance because they were on the ice a lot,” she said.“it only made them better I think as a team and working together for sure.” 

The U15s are a team of  13 - 14 year -old players.

“The coach has been a huge driver behind the team. He's super into community and he helped encourage the girls,” she said. 

This team is made up of a group of civic-minded young people. The team not only raised $8,000 through sponsors, and activities like bottle drives. Over the Christmas season, they also sponsored five local seniors from Wheatland Lodge in their annual Christmas Drive in order to ensure local seniors in town could share in the Christmas spirit. 

Vanderlaan said, "They all did up baskets and then they would take them to the lodge, which all of the seniors loved.” 

"They brainstorm gift ideas and the kids actually went shopping with the coaches and they purchased all the stuff, wrapped it, and made hand-made cards for them.” 

About the tournament in BC, the manager says, "It's one thing to do tournaments in Alberta, but it's really an experience when you get to take a coach charter bus and go on a road trip. This will be the first for the girls.”