Sans Medals for U17

The BC U17 team left for the Canada Summer Games earlier this month with high hopes. They had done well in the July tournaments leading up to the Games. But ultimately, they did not complete their mission, finishing 4th and out of the medals. They lost in the semi-finals 57-56 to eventual Gold Medalists Ontario and went on to lose another heart-breaker in the Bronze medal match 53-50 to Saskatchewan.

Would having a healthy Bol Kong make a difference?? Possibly, Jordan Mara was called up from the U16 team in Kong's place. The underlying concern going into the summer was that the 2005 U17 team was simply not as strong a team compared to previous years. The team is anchored by a 16 year-old who has at least 1 more season to fully mature. The rest of the players are a blip on the radar when you compare the list of 2004 and 2003.

The 2005 squad features, Sacre, Westbrook, Kong, Murphy, Leigh, Plumb, Malish.
The 2004 roster included, Burke, Kepkay, Leversage, Doerksen, Malish, Murray, Westbrook, Cullen, Watson.
2003 had, Dosanjh, Galick, Heuring, Kepkay, Kool, Leversage, Mara.

When you consider the drop in talent for this years team, it's unbelievable that they even made it to the semi-finals. It's amazing what good coaches can do to overcome youth, inexperience and lack of talent, to overachieve.

With the U16 team also thin on talent, all eyes will be on the U15 players to carry the load in future years, and they are a talented group. The U15 squad finished with a Silver at the Canada Midget Championships. So no need to hang your head and declare BC out just yet, the future does bring some hope.

You can see all the results here.