Local Ringette Jr. club captures gold

The North Bay Paramedics/Canadian Career College Junior A ringette did it again! The local ringette squad has dominated tournament play in their division this season and this past weekend in Whitby was no exception.

Playing in their third tournament this year, the WFRA crew easily skated away with all four victories in the round-robin portion of the tournament.

In their opener with rival Mississauga, the Bayites came out a little flat but still managed to find the net six times and defeat the leaders of the Central Ontario Ringette League by a 6-4 margin.

Later Friday, they faced a new combined Ajax/Pickering team and once again, easily defeated them 4-1.

Saturday's contest against host Whitby was a chippy one with both teams playing hard and aggressive ringette. In a penalty filled contest, the Paramedics never gave up the lead and handed their opposition a 3-1 defeat. Their last game Saturday night was somewhat less challenging than the others as they pulled out an easy 7-0 official tally on the backs of Grey-Bruce (actual score was higher).

Tanesha Hamelin earned the shutout between the pipes for the North Bay crew.

As the only team in their division to finish with a perfect 4-0 record, West Ferris advanced directly to the final, once again matched up against the Mississauga Mustangs. In the London tournament in November, the WFRA had eliminated them from the final so it was apparent that they were hungry for this win.

An early goal by the Mustangs started the game but Ferris soon returned the favour and there was no looking back from there. Although Mississauga did stage a comeback at the mid-point in the game, capitalizing on Ferris' penalty trouble, the Paramedics were able to turn up the heat and score two unanswered goals while serving the last of their three simultaneous penalties. They held this lead throughout the rest of the game to clinch the gold from a frustrated Mississauga squad. The final score of the championship game was 6-3 in favor of NB Paramedics/CTS Canadian Career College.

The team is coached by Karen Cook and Kaz Lutecki with Nancy Trottier as trainer and Barry Elliott as the manager.

Team members include: Tanesha Hamelin (goal), Sarah Trottier, Courtney Whitwell, Amanda Storie, Drew Elliott, Brittany Lamers, Janelle Martin, Brianna Belzile, Alexandra Parker, Jaimie Fitzer-Ross, Trista Strange, Carolyn Closs and Melissa Closs.

Submitted to BayToday.ca