A 15-year-old girl from Golden, B.C. backstopped a boys’ B.C. junior hockey team to victory on Saturday night.
Facing Junior B boys’ players as old as 20, Izzy Palumbo helped the Golden Rockets earn a 7-4 win over the Columbia Valley Rockies in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League on Saturday night.
Palumbo faced 39 shots to give the Rockets just their third win of the season, according to father Mike, who admits to being a bit nervous watching his daughter play in front of a sold-out home crowd.
Daughter Izzy, however, was calm and collected once the puck dropped.
“I think what’s paid off the most for her is that she’s so level-headed,” Mike said. “Nothing seems to faze her.”
Palumbo plays for a boys’ bantam team in Revelstoke. Rockets head coach Jason Stephens invited her to practice with the squad and then signed her as an affiliate player.
She finally got the call to play for the Rockets on Saturday night, facing a Rockies roster filled with players who are much older, and bigger, than her.
“It was definitely a different experience having kids about two feet taller than you,” she said. “They’re very hard to see past.
“Other than that, it was pretty similar to what I’m used to.”
Family members from across B.C. and Alberta made the trip to Golden to watch her play. Her 86-year-old grandfather drove all the way from Kamloops hours after receiving dialysis treatment.
“Everyone time she touched the puck, the crowd roared,” Mike said.
Izzy said she wants to keep playing hockey, potentially at a U.S. university. Her ultimate dream is to compete in the Winter Olympics.
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