More Sports

Quebec seeks four-peat in national women's hockey finals at Minoru

The success of last spring's Pacific Rim women's hockey tournament has spawned another major championship for Richmond.

The eight-team Esso Women's National Hockey Championship begins tomorrow (Thursday) and continues through Sunday at Minoru Arenas. Winners of the last three tournament titles, Team Quebec is again a pre-tournament favorite boasting four players with international experience. Among them are world championship gold medalists Marie-Claude Roy, Laura Leslie, Denise Caron and Nancy Drolet.

All told, 20 players who have won at least one gold medal for Canada will compete for their respective provinces. The majority of the players who will represent Canada at this year's world tournament in Kitchener (March 31 to April 6) will also participate. Canada is gunning for a fourth straight world title.

"If you want to see the premier players in Canada today, (this tournament) gives you that opportunity," said Karen Wallace, director of female hockey for Canadian Hockey. "This event allows us to continue our evaluation process leading eventually to the selection of our team for the 1998 Winter Olympic Games. We'll see plenty of great talent and hard-fought games."

The national finals were originally slated for Calgary, but officials were worried about a possible conflict with the Labatt Brier men's curling championships also scheduled for this week. As a result, they chose Richmond as an alternate site largely because of the strong fan support of last spring's Pacific Rim tournament, said Hockey Canada's Bob Nicholson.

Nicholson said the popularity of women's hockey has continued to soar since the first world championships were held in 1990. He said it's interesting to note that at the last two national finals there have been up to 300 kids waiting for autographs after the games.

"I think most people appreciate the skill level. Women's hockey is a tactical game and it's really important to keep it that way."

Fishing for success

Marlins determined to silence doubters

McNair Marlins head into next week's B.C. high school "AAA" boys' basketball championships as decided underdogs, but that's fine with coach Paul Eberhardt.

After losing only four games during the regular season (two of those to crosstown rival Richmond Colts), the Marlins fell to the Colts again in the Richmond playoff final and then were upset by St. Thomas More Knights 94-87 in the quarter-finals of last week's Mainland playdowns. The latter loss means the Marlins will have to begin play at the provincials next Tuesday (11 a.m. at General Motors Place) against Mt. Douglas, rather than getting a first-round bye. The winner will go on to face Maple Ridge Ramblers (a top-three team in the B.C. poll all year) on Wednesday.

But Eberhardt says the Marlins fear no one.

"While it is, of course, going to be very tough having to start the tournament on Tuesday I still like our chances of having a successful tournament," he says. "We know that we can beat anybody that is there including the likes of Terry Fox, who we have already beaten this year."

Although the Marlins finished sixth at the Mainlands, Eberhardt says the bottom line was they still qualified for the B.C. tournament. He says he compares his team, in many ways, to the Ladysmith 49ers who netted the provincial crown two years ago despite barely qualifying for the B.C.'s.

"They beat some big teams early and knew they could do it again."

Making their fourth consecutive trip to the B.C.'s, the Marlins will rely heavily on four seniors - Mickey Ringuette, Joe Arienda, Jason Kobayashi and Rob McClelland.

McClelland, averaging 17 points a game in the playoffs (seven above his season median), is perhaps the catalyst. He is a third-year player who is also the team's set-up man.

"My role is to be a leader on and off the court," he says. "I learned that if you work hard in practice you get to play a lot."

Although soft-spoken, Kobayashi is a tower of strength on the floor, Eberhart says. In addition to carrying his weight offensively, he is one of the team's top defenders and shot blockers.

Ringuette and Arienda are consistently the team's top scorers, but say playing senior ball takes a lot of commitment.

"I remember how the seniors last year used to bust their butts every day in practice," Arienda says. "I think it's important for us to make McNair's name even more legitimate in basketball. I expect us to get up when it counts."

Adds Ringuette: "I really like our style - up and down. And Ebe pushes you to do your best."

Richmond Colts are also returning to the show as the No. 4 seed, after losing the Mainland final to No. 1-ranked Kitsilano Blue Demons (the defending B.C. champions). The Colts will begin play March 12 at 8:45 p.m. against either Quesnel or Mt. Baker.

This year's draw, announced Sunday, marks the first time the first and fourth seed aren't on the same side of the draw. Organizers put the first (Kits) and third seeds (Terry Fox) on one side and the second (Maple Ridge) and third seeds (Richmond) on the other to avoid possible repeats of the zone finals.