Countdown winding down
Excitement building as athletes, coaches prepare to compete for Nova Scotia
The countdown has gone from months and weeks down to days for Luke Foley.
The 16-year-old son of Joey and Vanessa Foley will be competing in hockey at the Canada Games on Prince Edward Island beginning Feb. 19.
“From what I’ve heard from … people who have (gone in the past), it’s just an amazing experience,” he said. “It’s going to be an experience that you’re never going to have again in your life and you’re definitely going to remember it for the rest of your life.”
The Canada Games are the country’s largest multi-sport competition. It will attract 3,600 athletes, managers and coaches to P.E.I. from Feb. 18 to March 5.
Foley is the lone Annapolis Valley athlete or coach competing in Week 1.
The team had a scheduled practice in Halifax on Feb. 16 and were set to take a bus to the Island on Feb. 17. The opening ceremonies are Feb. 18 with Foley and his teammates playing Alberta the following day.
Wearing his province’s colours into the opening ceremonies and competing with the country’s best young athletes are things Foley doesn’t take for granted.
“Just to have that opportunity to compete and work against guys at that level is just going to be unreal,” he said. “I am really looking forward to it and I am super glad I get to go.”
Caitria Sommer will compete in alpine skiing during the second week of the Games.
The 14-year-old daughter of Julia and Markus Sommer is
looking forward to the competion.
“I’m very excited for the Canada Games and I am just hoping to have a lot of fun,” she said. “I am very grateful for the opportunity to represent Nova Scotia in the Canada Winter Games.”
Most of the alpine ski events will take place at Crabbe Mountain near Fredericton,
N.B. Sommer skied there a couple of weeks ago.
“I am just lucky to have a hill that I am already familiar with. The terrain is great there and I love the hill, so it’s awesome.”
Sommer has been skiing since she was two years old and racing since she was six. Her older brothers, Shane and Ryan, were both involved in the sport, and it became a family
affair. Sommer said it was great having siblings to look up to and learn from.
“If I ever needed feedback or tips, my brothers could always help me.”
In fact, Shane won a gold medal in ski cross at the 2019 Games in Red Deer, Alta.
“I just want to follow in his footsteps and do well,” said Sommer, a member of the Martock Ski Race Club.
Foley, who plays for the Kohltech Valley Wildcats of the under-18 major hockey league, found out he had cracked the provincial team in November after Nova Scotia won a regional competition in Moncton, N.B., during the Thanksgiving weekend. At the Canada Games, Nova Scotia is in a pool with powerhouses Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.
“I think we have a very, very skilled team. I think we have a lot of guys that are buying into the values of what we’re going to bring to the table,” Foley said. “The bond is super tight going into the tournament.”
Some of Nova Scotia top pros once wore the province’s colours at the Canada Games, including Sidney Crosby in 2003 in northern New Brunswick
and Nathan MacKinnon in 2011 in Halifax.
“Having those guys from such a small province like Nova Scotia make it all the way through and once were in the shoes that we are is something that just motivates our province and is something we can look up to,” Foley said. “We can show (people) that just because we’re from Nova Scotia, and we’re from the East Coast, that a ton of good talent can come from here.”
Some recent players to compete for Nova Scotia in boys’ hockey include Mike Lyle, Tyler Brown and Gareth Nicholson in 2011, Jared McIsaac and Cole Rafuse in 2015 and Cam Whynot and Cole Foston in 2019.
Foley, a six-foot, 172-pound power forward, hopes to crack a major junior roster next season. He will be eligible for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League draft in June and knows the Canada Games will be a highly scouted competition.
“It’s a good pressure,” Foley said. “I think it makes you realize that you are being noticed. I think if you can use that to fuel your game and use it as an advantage, it benefits you.”