U19B Provincials Ringette 2012 tournament held in Rockyford

Times Contributor

 

The Rockyford Ringette Association, along with their host committee, held a successful weekend for the U19 Ringette Provincial tournament.

  Participating teams attended from Rockyford, Calgary, Airdrie, Red Deer, Beaumont, Edmonton, Sherwood Park, and Fort McMurray.

Assistant Coach for the Ringers Beth Vergouwen said, “We were really happy with the positive comments received from the visiting teams. It gives you a great feeling of accomplishment for all of the work that goes into hosting an event like this. I believe that the weekend events left everyone with a great impression of Rockyford and appreciation for what a small community can offer.” 

A tournament banquet was held Friday evening at the Rockyford Community hall and was catered by the Rockyford Lions club.  It was an enjoyable, entertaining evening that showcased and honoured many talents of the team, parents and community.  The community was pleased to have the 2012 Centennial Stampede Royalty as special guests for the evening. Stampede Princess Dani Gariepy spoke of her history of playing Ringette in Rockyford , her career and choices afterwards that led her to become a Calgary Stampede princess.  

Another highlight of the evening was having one of Rockyford’s team player and talented vocalist Chelsey Murphy sing on stage with piano accompaniment by Shauna Murphy.


At the end of the evening all of the team’s head coaches were asked to come forth to present the Players Choice award to an individual player chosen by their teammates.   Brent Melcher, coach of the Rockyford Ringers U19B team, presented Jenna Vergouwen with this award.

 The Provincial tournament provided some very competitive and exciting games amongst the participating teams. The Rockyford team played Calgary SV for their first game in a close match that ended in a loss for Rockyford 5-6.  Game 2 saw Rockyford playing their best game of the tournament with a satisfying win over Edmonton 10-7.  Unfortunately in Game 3 Rockyford came out short with 7-9 loss in a tight game vs Beaumont .  This then put Rockyford out of advancement to the semi-finals.

The U19B Provincial Gold medal was claimed by Fort McMurray, with an 8-5 win over Airdrie, and the Bronze medal was won by Edmonton in a 10-1 win over Calgary SV.