A local girl travelled an hour and a half all winter to play for the Fort Saskatchewan girls Pee Wee ‘A’ and bantam ‘B’ Fury hockey teams.
For Corissa Blake it was all worth it in the end, as she captained her team to a silver finish in their provincial finals held in Calgary March 17-20.
Blake spent the past five years playing on boys’ teams in the Barrhead Minor Hockey Association. Playing for the Fury had Blake travelling to Fort Saskatchewan and Edmonton about four to six times a week.
“It was awesome playing in Barrhead, but I wanted to play girls hockey, and that was the only place I could play,” said Blake.
“Packing the kids into the car during some of those really cold days wasn’t really the best thing. But it was all worth it in the end. I am so unbelievable proud of Corissa,” said mom Misty Blake.
The Fury faced trials all year, and some didn’t expect them to make provincials.
“It was a good season, but we didn’t do very well during the season. But when provincials, came we all played really good,” said Blake.
Blake led her team to a round-robin record of five wins and one loss, which locked up first place in pool A, while the St. Albert Hit locked up first place in pool B. The two teams faced off in the finals of provincials, where the Hit won 4-1.
“It was such a fun experience at provincials. It was good, because everyone was playing hard,” said Blake.
Blake led her team in scoring throughout the provincials tournament, notching 11 goals and two assists for 13 points over six games.
With her team now finished for the season, Blake is setting her sights on playing with the bantam ‘AAA’ girls’ team.
“I usually play baseball in the summer, but I don’t think I’ll be doing too much during the off-season. I will be going to hockey Alberta camps and then going to Kelowna for an all girls hockey camp taught by players from the womens Olympic team,” said Blake.
Blake’s ultimate goal is to make to the Olympics to represent Canada in women’s hockey.
“I’d love to make it the Olympics one day for hockey, and I’d love to meet Hayley Wickenheiser,” said Blake.
Girls’ hockey is taking giant strides all over the world, but right now there are only two teams that sit atop the world as far as skill and perigee: Team Canada and Team USA. The world is slowly catching up in terms of skill.
“Right now there is still a lot more boys playing than girls, but I think it’s growing,” said Blake.
