Head coach kidded for Winter Games results

It's been interesting in the hallways and sports facilities at Olds College in the wake of the Alberta Winter Games.

Two coaches and one player from the female Broncos hockey team participated in the games, held Feb. 16-19 in Fort McMurray and Wood Buffalo.

Zone 2, coached by assistant coach Allyson Bendfeld, won gold, downing Zone 6 3-2 in the final.

Also, Broncos player and Olds resident Krista Wilson served as assistant coach for Zone 7 which beat Zone 3, coached by female Broncos head coach Chris Leeming 3-1 in the bronze medal game.

As the Albertan reported earlier, three members of the Olds Bantam elite Grizzlys female hockey team participated in those games.

Misty Rey and Eliana Seeley played for the gold-medal-winning Zone 2 squad. Kallie Clouston played for Zone 4.

Leeming says he's endured some good-natured kidding as a result of where Bendfeld's and Wilson's teams ended up, compared to his.

"They've got bragging rights all week," he said, referring to Bendfeld's squad.

It's been similar with Wilson.

"She beat us, so she's been kind of giving it to me all week so far, but it's all in fun," he said.

Leeming said getting his team ready to compete in the Alberta Winter Games was a challenge. There wasn't much time.

"It was one of those short-term events," he said. "We had a selection camp back in December and from there, we weren't able to practise, we weren't able to come together as a team before that. So all of our communication was basically through social media or email.

"We had all the girls make profiles so everyone could see who's on their team, see what they looked like, what their face looked like. I mean, they all play against each other but they may not have ever actually known each other off the ice," he added.

"All the girls got to build new friendships. I'm pretty sure every single team involved there had a great experience because it was very well organized and very well run too."