KAMLOOPS, B.C. — The three biggest international women's hockey events have now been held in British Columbia without a player from the province on the Canadian team.
The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the 2014 Four Nations Cup and the 2016 women's world hockey championships in Kamloops, B.C., have come and gone without a B.C. player in them.
The fact that goaltender Danielle Dube was the only British Columbian to play for Canada in a world championship over two decades ago is a head-scratcher.
B.C. has double the number of registered female players than Nova Scotia, which put two players on Canada's team in Kamloops.
Dube says the small pool of girls playing hockey in B.C. in the 1990s were on boys' teams. They weren't on the national team's radar compared to those playing in the Toronto-Montreal corridor where there were female teams.
When she came out of retirement four years ago at age 36 to play goal for the UBC Thunderbirds, the firefighter and mother of two says it was the first time she'd played on a full women's team other than Canada.
"I understand back then why there weren't many girls from B.C. because we didn't have the numbers and the numbers we did have played in the boys' system," Dube said.
"But B.C. I think at one point was the fastest growing province for women's hockey. We have tons of girls now playing and lots of talent."
B.C.'s lack of representation on the national women's team isn't lost on the province's hockey minds.
The 2010 Winter Games were a turning point for girls' hockey in B.C., in both inspiring girls to play for Canada and BC Hockey getting serious about how to get them there.
"We're not sitting here concerned, but it has been a wake-up call and has been for a number of years that we haven't placed a player on the team," BC Hockey chief executive officer Barry Petrachenko said.
"We feel like we're close. It would have been great if we were two years down the road when the world championships came because I think we would have somebody on the team."
B.C. was close this year. Sarah Potomak of Aldergrove wore the Maple Leaf in November's Four Nations Cup in Sweden. The 18-year-old forward was among the last players cut from Canada's world championship roster.
Her 16-year-old sister Amy earned a silver medal with Canada at this year's world under-18 championship in St. Catharines, Ont.
Defencemen Micah Hart of Saanichton and Ivana Bilic of Coquitlam helped Canada's under-22 team win gold in January's Nations Cup in Germany.
A rapt 12-year-old Sarah Potomak watched on television as 18-year-old Marie Philip-Poulin scored both goals for Canada when they beat the U.S. for gold in Vancouver. Soaking up the Olympic atmosphere when she went into the city during the Games further fuelled her fire.
"That was a turning point for me," Potomak said. "Watching Poulin in particular and her being there at such a young age inspired me to do that with my life."
B.C. Hockey used $330,000 in Legacies Now funding from the provincial government to overhaul their female high-performance program between 2006 and 2010.
Former UBC coach Nancy Wilson, who was also in Hockey Canada's pool of coaches at the time, was hired to work in female hockey development during that time frame.
It wasn't enough to get a B.C. player on the 2010 Olympic roster, but BC Hockey had an improved female high-performance system by the time Potomak entered it.
"That brought developments in the system that now are being felt," Petrachenko said. "We were able to learn more about what we should be doing. We're much better today than we were prior to that program.
"I think the interest in the 2010 Olympics helped us attract athletes, which is always a big part of a development system. Their decision to play hockey becomes easier when they think highly or well of your program."
The 2017 women's world hockey championships will be in Plymouth, Mich.
The women invited to try out for Canada's 2018 Olympic team will be shortly after the tournament's conclusion. Potomak wants to be chosen for both.
"This year I was pretty devastated when I got cut, but I'm just going to work my butt off and hopefully make it next year and hopefully make it to the Olympics," she said.
