There are a lot of hockey teams on Vancouver Island, but only one top tier female team.
The Victoria Island Seals midget AAA team is back and looking to better their second-place regular season B.C. conference finish last year.
The Seals graduated four players last season, but forward Anika Block, a Grade 12 student at Belmont Secondary school, said the team has strong returning players and some young new talent that could make them unstoppable.
B次元官网网址淭his year our team has a lot of potential to go even further, do as well as we did last year, if not even better,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淚t has a really good core, but the new girls have great potential so they will really help our team.B次元官网网址�
Block is in her third season with the team and hopes to be a strong leader on and off the ice this season. She is a quiet leader off the ice, but during practices and games she likes to control the tempo and talk her teammates through the game when sheB次元官网网址檚 on the bench.
An Island-wide team, the Seals practice at rinks in Duncan, Nanaimo and Shawnigan Lake. Block is a Highlands resident and carpools with her teammates who live on the West Shore, which means spending lots of time in the car together, talking, napping and doing homework.
B次元官网网址淲e definitely spend most of our time together, even [outside] of hockey. Our whole team is a great group of friends,B次元官网网址� she said.
The bond her teammates share is another reason why she feels they will be successful this season.
B次元官网网址淚 love my team. They are all super supportive of each other, the coach too, heB次元官网网址檚 awesome. HeB次元官网网址檚 super supportive, he really knows how to get the team going,B次元官网网址� Block said.
The team plays about 50 games in a season, including travelling to four tournaments across Canada and the U.S. to play top competition. Block said she loves travelling to play, experiencing the hockey culture in different cities, and seeing the level of talent across North America.
Last year the Seals lost in the best-of-three semifinals in the B.C. conference and missed out on the opportunity to go to nationals. Only the top team in B.C. punches a ticket to nationals and Block believes the Seals are that team this year.
After the Seals lost in the playoffs last season they took a one-month break and then got back to work. The core group played spring hockey with the Seals, and practices and training started in late July.
The Seals played their first exhibition game Sept. 1 after the Gazette went to print.
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