Laurier Brantford’s women’s extramural hockey team will be looking for some purple and gold support in the stands as they host a tournament in town on Friday.
The tournament will be held at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre in Brantford on Feb. 5. The Golden Hawks began training about midway through first semester, and have already competed in one tournament. Their roster holds 15 talented women. The standards for the team are high, with 11 of them being returning players who took home a tournament championship last year.
“After all the practicing we’ve done together, and the team building, I know that it’ll reflect how we play together on the ice in a positive way,” said Samantha Keen, team captain. “We are a bunch of strong players, working together for the best possible outcome.”
With their tournament canceled last Friday at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus, it’s been awhile since the Golden Hawks have competed in game play.
Their only other tournament so far was during first semester at Humber North on Nov. 20. The Golden Hawks came away with no wins. Despite the disappointment, the team put up a good fight and only lost by one point each time. The players stayed positive and saw it as a learning experience.
“We really came together as a bunch of players who have never played together before, and performed better than expected,” said Keen.
“We’re good, we just didn’t practice enough together as a team beforehand,” added left-winger Jenna Wilmot. “I think we’ll be more ready this time around.”
The Golden Hawks practice on Tuesday nights at the Civic Centre, led by a dedicated coaching and captaining staff.
“We have a great head coach, Mr. Crumpton, who helps us out a lot at practices and during the games,” said Keen.
Helping out Crumpton and Keen are assistant captains Samantha Crumpton and Shannon Head.
The schedule hasn’t been released yet, but the Golden Hawks expect to participate in one of the tournament’s first games at 8 a.m. since they’re hosting. The tournament will continue throughout the day.
After Friday, the Golden Hawks play in one more tournament this season. Laurier has the honour of hosting the 2016 Challenge Cup, a playoffs-structured tournament for Ontario extramural hockey teams. The Challenge Cup will take place in March.
