Tweens silver medallists

WHITBY — The North Bay Paramedics/CTS Canadian Career College Tween A team returned to North Bay with silver medals from the Whitby invitational ringette tournament this weekend.

North Bay went 3-1 in round-robin play to advance to the final Sunday against the undefeated Richmond Hill Lightning.

Richmond Hill won 6-4.

Despite dropping an 8-6 decision in their first outing against the Lightning, North Bay rebounded to post wins against Whitby, 5-4, Ottawa, 6-2 and Gloucester, 12-2 to earn a spot in the gold medal matchup.

After leading through the first half of the game, the Lightning capitalized on their scoring chances and took a 5-4 lead by the end of the second half.

With a final marker in the last minute of the game, Richmond Hill team finished with a 6-4 decision over Ferris and the gold medal.

The Lightning, the first-place team in the Central Ontario Ringette League with an 11-1 record and top Ontario team, will host the provincial A championships in March.

Despite the loss, Coach Richard Thisdelle is pleased with the way his team is developing this season.

The Paramedics/CTS will be competing in the Northeastern region playdowns in Valley East January 25 and North Bay February 8. The winner of the best of three series will represent the district at the provincials in Richmond Hill.

Team member: Tanesha Hamelin (goal), Sarah Trottier, Meghan Thisdelle, Brianna Belzile, Courtney Whitwell, Jaimie Fitzer-Ross, Drew Elliott, Amanda Storie, Christine Wagner, Janelle Martin and Alexandra Parker.

Coaching Staff: Richard Thisdelle, head coach, Karen Cook, assistant coach and Margaret Hamelin, trainer. Barry Elliott and Dennis Martin manage the team.
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Belles place third

The West Ferris Ringette Association Belle A team also competed in Whitby and played in a pool of eight teams, where only the top two teams after the round robin advanced to the finals as no semifinal matches were scheduled. The Belle finished third.

The first game saw both defence and offence working well for the Ferris team as they handily defeated Ottawa 6-0. Goals were scored by Jana Burgess , two, Amy Cook, Aimee Laronde, Natasha Kellar and Mel Lauzon.

In the second game, Ferris played the number one seeded team from Forest. They fell behind 4-1 early, but battled back to tie the score 4-4 with five minutes left in the game.

Unfortunately, a questionable call by the officials left Ferris two players short with just over a minute left in the game.

Forest scored twice on the ensuing power play, once with 59 seconds left and again with one second left to defeat Ferris 6-4.

Goal scorers were Natasha Kellar two, Erin Burgess and Mel Lauzon.

In their third game, the defence played the major role in the victory.

Lead by goalie Kelsey Lecappelain’s second shutout and the excellent defensive play of Alex Lamers, Jessica Trottier, Sarah Dagg, Andy Francom, Erin Burgess and Brianna Kellar, Ferris defeated Gloucester 3-0.

Erin Burgess, Tara Roy and Katie Carmichael scored the goals.

Game four of the round robin found Ferris needing a convincing win in order to have any chance of making the top two and advancing to the finals.

They rose to the challenge, defeating Markham 8-2.

Tara Roy lead the offence with two goals, with singles going to Mel Lauzon, Natasha Kellar, Leanne Lajoie, Alyssa Lamers, Jana Burgess and Amy Cook.

At the end of Saturday’s games, Ferris was tentatively in second place with a 3-1 record, allowing only eight goals in four games while scoring 21.

However, they needed to wait until Forest played their last round robin game Sunday against Ottawa to see who would play in the finals.

Forest won 7-2, and finished second, knocking Ferris to third place.

The Bells are back in action January 17 in Timmins in the second game of the best-of-three series to see who will represent Northeastern Ontario in the Ontario provincial A championships in March.

West Ferris currently leads the series 1-0.