Local Junior A Ringette team captures gold

Coach Karen Cook pumps up The North Bay Paramedics/CTS Canadian Career College Junior A Ringette Team. They Captured Gold at a tournament in Whitby. Photo Submitted.



WHITBY, Ontario. - The North Bay Paramadics/Canadian Career College Junior A team was in action here this past weekend, skating away with another top finish in the Whitby invitational Ringette Tournament.

In round-robin play, the West Ferris crew dominated their pool of five teams to earn a first place finish and move directly to the final against the top team in the second pool Sunday afternoon.

In the opener on Friday, the Paramedics came out and easily out-skated and outscored a stunned Ajax team. Playing a good two-way game, the team was able to double their opponents effort and finish with a solid 10-5 score.

After a full 24 hour layover, the Ferris squad was pumped for their two contests on Saturday.

In the afternoon, they met a strong opponent from Mitchell, the top team in the Western Ontario Ringette League standings and defending Provincial Junior A champions. A very physical and penalty-filled game resulted from frustration over the North Bay team's speed and well-executed plays. In a see-saw battle, the two teams fought to the final buzzer, settling for a 4-4 tie.

A very tired and bruised team showed up for the evening match-up between Ferris and Mississauga. Despite a slow start, they were able to find the net nine times during the game to easily claim a 9-1 victory.

In a must-win situation on Sunday morning and requiring a three goal spread, the Big Blue stepped up to the plate against Gloucester. Despite excellent play and tenacity shown by Gloucester, the final score of 6-2 at the buzzer was enough for the locals to top Mitchell on the plus/minus record and move on to the gold medal round against Whitby.

In the final, Ferris was expecting a very hard battle against the local squad, number one in the standings in the Central Ontario Ringette League. The two teams had not met this season. The Whitby team had a perfect record and had destroyed their competition in the other pool to earn their place in the final. From the opening free pass, the girls came out flying. Excellent play by all team members, beautifully executed passes and fighting to the finish earned the team a 9-2 romp over this very strong adversary.

This is the third gold medal for this team in as many tournaments this season. They have collected hardware from the Agnes Jacks Tournament in North Bay, Nepean and Whitby and could prove to be a very strong contender for the Provincial A championships this March in Upper Ottawa Valley. This same team won bronze at the provincials last season in the Tween A division. This is a very young team with a small bench consisting of one major Junior player, six minor Juniors, three major Tweens and one minor Tween and considered to be in a rebuilding year.

Their next action will be in Timmins and Valley East for the Northeastern Ontario Regional Playdowns January 22 & 29.

Team members: Tanesha Hamelin (Goal), Sarah Trottier, Courtney Whitwell, Janelle Martin, Amanda Storie, Brianna Belzile, Drew Elliott, Jaimie Fitzer-Ross, Sabrina Seymour, Melissa Closs and Alexandra Parker. The team is coached by Karen Cook, Rolly Storie and Kaz Lutecki. Nancy Trottier is the trainer. Barry Elliott is the Manager.

submitted to www.BayToday.ca