Local inline hockey player, Jordan Rathwell, just came back from California where he spent the week competing at the Amateur Athletic Junior Olympics International tournament.
Rathwell, of Innisfail, was selected for the 16-year-old age division for Team Canada during tryouts in Calgary earlier this spring.
“I was really excited,” said Rathwell of getting picked. “I never played outside of Central Alberta so it was kind of a big deal.”
He went down south with his family with four others selected from the Red Deer Sniper team Rathwell is part of: Brett Frisneth and Brett White of Sylvan Lake as well as Bryce Lightbown and Conner Veroba from Red Deer.
“It was definitely helpful having guys from the team with me,” he said.
The boys played their first game of the tournament July 2 at the Huntington Beach Inline Arena and played against Columbia, winning 8 to 2. The second game was against Hong Kong and the boys took the win again 8 to 0. They tied the third game to Great Britain 3 to 3 allowing them to move on to semifinals.
“A couple of games we were definitely better,” said Rathwell of the competition. “But when we went up against another Team Canada and U.S. it was a lot harder.”
The USA Stars were the first rival in the semifinals. The boys were down 3-0 in the first period but managed to score five unanswered goals, capturing another win.
The other Team Canada team was their final competition for the gold and silver game. Again they were down in the first period with one goal and the other team three, and ended with a 5-5 tie heading into overtime. Rathwell's team made the first goal in sudden death.
The team was told in the history of the tournament they were the first Team Canada team to win in that age group.
“It was really interesting to play against other countries,” said Rathwell of the overall experience. He hopes to be able to go back again in two years.
