Ringette school challenge

The West Ferris Ringette Association ran its 3rd Annual Schools Challenge on Tuesday night at Pete Palangio Arena. As has been the case in previous years, every player in the association was invited out to represent their schools in a 3 hour, 7-period game of ringette. Each 15-minute period involved players from a different age group, and each period was worth 1 point. The teams were loosely divided based on which high school a player will eventually attend based on their current school.

In the Bunny division (up to age 7), the Blue team was made up of players who will eventually attend Algonquin and Scollard. White was composed of players who will attend West Ferris, Widdifield and Chippewa. Blue won that period by a score of 4-2. In the Novice period (ages 8-9), White won 4-1 to tie up the overall match score at 1-1. The Novice squads were split along the same school lines as the Bunnies with the White team adding players from Almaguin and Odyssee.

In the Petite division composed of Grade 5-6 players, the Blue 1 team was composed entirely of Odyssee players who battled against West Ferris and Widdifield players from White 1, with White 1 winning 4-1. In the second Petite period, in a close match, a team composed entirely of Scollard players on Blue 2 lost a close period by a score of 2-1 against the White 2 team made up of Algonquin and Chippewa players. At this point, the White side was winning by a score of 3-1.

The Cheering competition seemed to be a turning point for Blue, as they outshouted the White team and gained a single point. This seemed to give the Blue side momentum, as the two Tween periods (Grade 7-8) resulted in Blue victories. In the first Tween period, Tween 1 (Algonquin) defeated White 1 (Widdifield) by a score of 3-1 and in the second Tween game Blue 2 (Odyssee, Scollard, Almaguin) defeated White 2 (West Ferris-Chippewa) 5-1. This made the running score 4-3 for Blue going into the final period between the high school teams.

In the high school match, in a nail-biter, Blue (Algonquin-Scollard) defeated White (West Ferris-Chippewa-Widdifield-Odyssee) 2-1 and sealed the victory for the Blue side.

"This is a fun night for all the kids to be able to play with their schoolmates," said organizer Jeff Francom.

"It's a little more competitive than their regular house league and the fun of playing with other kids from your school against kids from other schools makes it that little bit more exciting for them. Those who have played previously really look forward to this night."