Rockyford Ringers snag silver

Times Reporter   

 

The Rockyford Ringers hosted U19B Provincials for ringette from March 28-30, going undefeated through four games. With high hopes going into the gold medal game against Lacombe, the girls were down by two goals in the last five minutes.

“That was probably the fastest game we’ve ever played. We’ve had a lot of history playing against Lacombe; that was our fourth time playing them this year,” Ringers coach Warren Kalbhen said.

The Ringers netted two goals in the last five minutes to force overtime. However, four minutes in, Lacombe scored for Provincial gold.

“That was our only loss in the tournament,” Kalbhen said. “And it was our first loss against them. They’re a pretty evenly matched team. It was a fun game, they just happened to win.”

Rockyford had even defeated Lacombe in round robin play, 10-7, on March 28. They also won against the South Calgary Legacy, NW Calgary Blaze, and Drayton Valley – 

the latter in the semi-finals. Kalbhen said he was disappointed in the final loss, but more disappointed that he wouldn’t be coaching the team next year after 14 years behind the bench.

“They were awesome,” Kalbhen said. “It was nice having half of Rockyford come out to watch them play too.”

The Strathmore Ice placed sixth at the tournament, winning two of their five games. Similarly to Rockyford, the Ice lost their final game in overtime, but to Spruce Grove 5-4. They had also beaten Spruce Grove in round robin on March 29, 5-1.

“We were pretty evenly matched,” Ice coach Ed Meyer said of his last contest. “It was a really good game – pretty exciting.”

Strathmore had lost to Drayton Valley and Sherwood Park in round robin, but won against NW Calgary to meet with Spruce Grove. Meyer believes they ended in the standings where they should have.

“We had kind of a shaky start,” he said. “It’s been a tough year. No one even really expected us to go to Provincials. We had to beat the top Calgary team to get in to Provincials, so we definitely earned it.”

Meyer commended his team for everyone pulling their weight, as it was necessary for them to go as far as they did.

“It’s been a team where not really one player stands out – even our least skilled player, if she doesn’t contribute everything she can, then we don’t win,” he said. “We did the best that we could.”