Silver medals order of day

GLOUCESTER — The North Bay Paramedics/CTS Canadian Career College tween A ringette team came home with silver medals in the annual tournament held here on the weekend.

North Bay lost to Valley East in the final, marking the third time this season that the team has narrowly missed capturing gold.

The team won gold in Sudbury in December.

In round-robin play, the Paramedics came out flat in their first game, and lost 5-2 to the Valley.

However, they rebounded and won their next three games against Gloucester 13-3, Ottawa 6-0 and Halifax 3-2, advancing them to the final.

In Sunday's contest, they again came up against Valley East. After losing to the North Bay team in the Northeastern region finals, dashing their hopes to participate in the provincial championships, Valley East was hungry for this win.

The WFRA entry was ready and played solid, consistent ringette throughout the game, leading by a 5-2 score with three minutes left on the clock.

Aggressive play and two back-to-back missed calls by the officials, one leading directly to a Valley East goal, proved disastrous for North Bay. The opposition took full advantage and fired two more unanswered goals through to force the game into sudden death overtime.

With momentum on their side, the Sudbury crew scored once again in the opening minutes.

North Bay is in action March 25-28 in the provincial A championships in Richmond Hill.

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The West Ferris Ringette Association belle A team also came home with a silver medal.

The team went 4-0 during the round-robin portion of the event, sending them directly to the finals.

In their first game, they played against Pointe-Claire from Montreal. In a very fast-paced and entertaining game, West Ferris won 5-3. Goalscorers were Andrea Francom, Tara Roy, Jana Burgess, Jessica Trottier and Natasha Kellar.

The second game was a more one-sided affair as another Quebec team, the Deux-Montagnes Coyotes lost to West Ferris 7-1. The offence was lead by Tara Roy and Jana Burgess with two goals each with Julia Knox, Amy Cook and Aimee Laronde providing single markers.

In the third game, the host Gloucester team lost a close match against West Ferris, with North Bay winning 4-3. The game went down to the wire, with Amy Cook scoring the winner, her second goal of the game with 1:18 left to play. Other scorers were Natasha Kellar and Julia Knox.

The fourth game saw a renewal of the rivalry between Timmins and West Ferris.

These two teams played each other very closely during the season in regional play and this game was no exception.

As well, each team has five players who are teammates on the Northeastern Ontario regional team that is going to the Ontario Winter Games in March.

The goalies Julie Martell, Timmins, and Kelsey Lecappelain, who also share AAA goaltending duties, played excellent games to keep things close.

Timmins held the lead through the end of the first period. but West Ferris stormed back to win 5-3. Goalscorers were Tara Roy and Amy Cook two each and Mel Lauzon.

In the final, West Ferris met Pointe Claire again. This time, Pointe Claire outskated West Ferris and played tight defence, limiting them to only one goal by Tara Roy and winning 4-1.

The team won’t be playing until the Ontario A championships in Richmond Hill at the end of March.