Tweens reach semifinals

PICKERING — The North Bay Paramedics/CTS Canadian Career College Tween ‘A’ team reached the semifinals in the 26th annual Pickering ringette tournament. In round-robin play, they finished 2-1-1 in a very strong pool of contenders. They met Richmond Hill, an ‘AA’ team, in the first game and kept with them right through the game.

Richmond Hill, 9-0 in the Central Ontario Ringette League, won 7-5.

Due to a last-minute schedule change, they faced their Northern rivals, a select team made up of players from Timmins, Greater Sudbury and Sault Ste-Marie. The club plays out of Valley East.

In a chippy and physical contest, the teams played to a 4-4 tie.

North Bay won the next two games, 8-2 over Ajax and 7-0 over Jordan. They finished tied with Valley East in points, but qualified for the semifinals under tie-breaking rules.
North Bay played Hamilton, a well-practiced team and first-place finisher from the second pool and second to Richmond Hill in the Ontario league.

In a very close match-up, both teams traded goals throughout the game to finish in a 5-5 tie after 30 minutes, sending the game into sudden-death overtime.

The ladies dominated the first few minutes with several quality shots on net. A penalty call against North Bay and a bad bounce sent the ring back into the zone, resulting in a Hamilton goal.

Although the team did not advance to the final against Richmond Hill, the eventual gold medal winners, coach Richard Thisdelle was extremely pleased with the effort and playmaking shown by his team in Sunday’s semifinal.

Team members: Tanesha Hamelin goaltender, Sarah Trottier, Meghan Thisdelle, Brianna Belzile, Courtney Whitwell, Jaimie Fitzer-Ross, Drew Elliott, Amanda Storie, Christine Wagner, Janelle Martin and Alexandra Parker; bench staff: Richard Thisdelle, coach; Karen Cook, assistant coach; Margaret Hamelin, trainer; Barry Elliott and Dennis Martin, managers.

The team will be at the Whitby invitational tournament January 9-11.