The U16 Shuswap Ringette team recently competed at the 2017 Provincial Ringette Championships held in Coquitlam, B.C. With only eight skaters and a goalie, the U16 team took home a bronze medal while narrowly missing out on a date in the gold medal game.
For most of the season, the U16 ringette team played with a bench of seven or eight skaters. Despite the small team size, they were never taken lightly. By playing excellent positioning and featuring incredibly fast passing breakouts, the U16 team defeated teams greatly outnumbering them.
At the provincials in Coquitlam, the U16 team showed their poise and strength despite their small numbers. In the round-robin play, the critical game for a playoff spot came against rivals West Kelowna. The Shuswap U16 team had some extra incentive to win, as West Kelowna had previously beaten them in a semi final OT at the Sweetheart Tournament.
This game was different. Shuswap triumphed with a 2-1 win in a game they thoroughly dominated, despite the heroics of the West Kelowna goalie.
By the semi-final game, the U16s were feeling the wear of a small team. Three of the eight skaters were playing with a variety of ailments, but you would never have known it from their performance against the huge Kelowna team.
In the most exciting and action packed game of their season, Shuswap refused to sit back, and instead rushed and swarmed the Kelowna goal with chance after chance. Kelowna was equal to the challenge, though, and by the end of regulation time the score was tied 4-4.
In overtime, the Shuswap team came out hard and fast. Despite having the edge in scoring opportunities, Shuswap did not get the bounce they needed, and Kelowna earned their spot in the gold-medal game. However, for the Shuswap U16 team, the provincial bronze medal they received felt like gold. They had left everything on the ice.
Every player on the Shuswap U16 team was vital to their success at Provincials. The outstanding U16 players were Alexa Hadath and Tamara Brown at center, Tori Keehn, Ashley Bitz and Kylynn Rosenburg at forward, and Bethany Riley, Mikaela Curdyk and Teagan Findlay at defence. Kaiden Viik was rock solid in goal. Greatly missed was captain Emilie Petryshen who is away on a Quebec student exchange.