Strathmore ringette team wins silver in Rockyford

By Ryan Mitzner Strathmore U14A Gold Ice Reporter

The Strathmore U14A Gold Ice had a challenging start to their year, losing the first four games. After that, the young ladies were able to rally and pull off three wins in a row.
It has been an up and down season and the team currently has 7-14-2 record; however, they have had seven losses by two goals or less. This goes to show how close they have been to a winning record.
In regular season play, their record is 3-7-1. The Gold Ice have the lowest penalty minutes in the league with just 50 in the regular season so far. They have been busy playing in four tournaments so far this season: in the first three of the year they played hard but just failed to make the finals; however, in the Rockyford tournament they had more success.
In the round robin of the Rockyford tournament the Gold Ice were able to get an early lead against the tournament hosts. The ladies added one more goal in the first and a final one midway through the second period to beat Rockyford 3-0.
The second game of the tournament had Strathmore playing against Calgary Northwest Ignite. Calgary got out to an early lead, but the Gold Ice were able to respond and tied the game up just past the halfway mark of the first period. The Ignite then scored five unanswered goals before the end of the first period.
Strathmore was able to hold Calgary to only one goal in the second period and the Gold Ice scored one more goal with just minutes left for a final score of 7-2.
The final game of the round robin was against Sherwood Park Slam. Strathmore got out to a quick two-goal lead. Sherwood Park answered with a goal before the midway point of the first period. The Gold Ice were able to score three unanswered goals before the end of the first period. The two teams traded goals for the first half of the second period, getting two goals each. Strathmore was able to score one more goal with just two seconds remaining in the game to push the score to 8-3.
The final game saw Strathmore Gold Ice taking on the Northwest Ignite in a rematch of the second game. The game was quite even at the beginning with Calgary scoring two goals before the halfway point in the first period. Strathmore was able to answer near the middle of the period to get within one goal. The Gold Ice were not able to put any more points on the board and Calgary won the game 11-1. It was a hard-fought game and Strathmore was able to take home the silver medal banner.