Rivals unite to play Canada's game

Students team up to play hockey at B.C. Games

Rival students from St. Thomas More and Notre Dame (from left) Claudia Funaro (Notre Dame), Justine Johnson, Olivia Ramos (St. Thomas Moore), and Carley Spagnuolo (Notre Dame), stand united inside Vernon's Wesbild Centre. The four students represented the Fraser River Delta zone at the 2012 B.C. Winter Games. Special to The B.C. Catholic

Fierce school rivalries were put aside in late February when four students from rival Catholic schools united to take part in the B.C. Winter Games. I recently caught up with the players to comment on their first place round-robin showing:

St. Thomas More Collegiate, Notre Dame Secondary, and Little Flower Academy are often at sporting odds as their girls' teams face each other in various sports. But four students and a coach put aside rivalries for hockey as they all played for the same team at the B.C. Winter Games in Vernon Feb. 23-26.

"There's always been a rivalry between STM and Notre Dame, so it was kind of cool that we played on the same team," said Grade 8 St. Thomas More student Justine Johnson.

Johnson joined fellow Grade 8 schoolmate Olivia Ramos, and Notre Dame students Claudia Funaro, Grade 9, and Carley Spagnuolo, Grade 8, on the bantam female hockey team for the Fraser River Delta zone.

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website.