May Classic tourney a tune-up for Pinnacles
Taking part in the 56th annual Pacific Western Brewery May Classic tournament this weekend at King’s Park will essentially serve as a training camp for the Penticton Tim Hortons Pinnacles.
The Pacific Coast Soccer League Premier Men’s Division squad is one of 10 men’s teams — along with nine women’s teams — in the three-day competition Saturday to Monday.
“We’ll get in at least three games, maybe four, to get everyone involved, iron out some kinks and get ready for the season which starts next weekend,” said newly-appointed head coach Ezra Cremers, who is also the Pinnacles FC youth organization’s executive director and head coach.
The Pinnacles play one game Saturday against Port Coquitlam Royals at 12:30 p.m., and two games Sunday against Williams Lake Lightning at 11 a.m. and West Coast FC (Richmond) at 2 p.m.
The A and B finals in both the men’s and women’s divisions will all be played Sunday at 11 a.m. at the four fields at King’s.
The Pinnacles were originally scheduled to open PCSL the season at home May 14 against the Port Moody Rangers, but the league’s newest entry “wasn’t quite ready to go,” Cremers said. The Pinnacles are plenty ready, with 30 players vying for spots on the team this season.
“We’re going to a fun, exciting team to watch,” said Cremers. “Win, lose or tie, we’re going to be competitive.”
The Pinnacles have several top players from the Thompson Rivers University team playing, including Penticton’s Brady van Ryswyk. He will be the starting goalkeeper, with former TRU star Travis Froehlich served as back-up and an assistant coach.
Pinnacles FC graduating midfielders Jordell Afonso and Kyle Martens — committed to TRU and SFU, respectively, this fall — will also be suiting up for the Pinnacles. James Fraser and Randy Hubber are two other top players coming back to the Pinnacles.
“We’ve just got a real good mix of veterans and young players, including some from our U16 and U17 youth teams,” said Cremers.
Also helping out with the coaching will be Tom McGill, Alex Long, Pat van Ryswyk and Paulo Araujo.
“We’ve got a great support committee,” said Cremers. “It’s going to make it a lot easier for me with my other duties at the youth level.”
Meanwhile, the Pinnacles women’s team, coached by Ray Hintz, will continue as a tournament team this season, though there is hope the PCSL women’s league can be resurrected in 2018.
Hintz’s team will also be playing at the tournament this weekend.
Also, Pat Conway is entering a Pinnacles Reunion women’s team that proved to be so successful in the 2016 tourney. Then there is a combined Penticton-Kelowna team called the Stingers.
The Murray GM Men’s League All-Stars is the other local team in the men’s event. The All-Stars play in the first game of the tourney Saturday at 11 a.m. against Steveston Park Rats, and also face Multiple Scoregasms (Langley) at 3:30 p.m., and Star Boys on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
Next year, Anderson said the club wants to launch a “Premier Cup” format with PCSL and Vancouver Metro men’s division teams taking part.
“We’re going to send personal invites out to each team,” said Anderson. “We’ve got the backing and will put the cash behind it to make it happen. If it goes well, we can open it up to other regions in the future. We want to bring the best calibre of soccer to Penticton as possible.”