Strathmore to host U16C ringette provincials

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Strathmore Minor Ringette Association (SMRA) is gearing up to host the U16C provincials for the first time in several years, come March 20-22. 

Leanne Mohr, director of division coordinators for the SMRA, explained the tournament will host the top eight teams from across the province to compete in a round robin tourney, followed by bracketed playoffs.

“This is what teams work towards every year … in order to qualify, you have to go through playoff games, and then they always have a certain number of teams from the south, and a certain number of teams from the north,” she said. “Every team, basically you go through three sessions. Session one is your beginning of the season, then session two, those games matter in where you fall in your session three pool. Session three is playoffs.”

She added that there are typically between two and four pools of teams that participate in those playoffs. From there, the top teams from each pool earn their place at the provincial tournament. 

This time around, Strathmore Ice having earned their place as opposed to simply being the host municipality, they will be joined by two teams from Calgary; Airdrie, Red Deer, Edmonton, Spruce Grove, and Sherwood Park.

 “It is a big deal for our association. There is a lot of behind the scenes planning and organizing. Our tournament coordinator has been in charge, but we all tried to help her out as best we can,” said Mohr. “Because our tournament was so late, we did not get to focus on this until after our home tournament, which was at the end of January. It has been a busy February and March.”

The majority of games will take place at the Strathmore Family Center Arena, however due to scheduling necessity, the Standard arena will also be utilized. 

The bid to host the event was required to be submitted through Ringette Alberta. Mohr explained that a successful big largely boils down to ice availability, but a host municipality must also be able to comfortably receive the volume of traffic anticipated for the event. 

“From the past, I don’t think there are many people left who would have helped because it has been a while. It was definitely before COVID-19,” added Mohr. “Definitely, we will have some learning lessons from this weekend for sure moving forward if we have the opportunity to host again.”

March 20 will see the opening ceremonies take place, officially launching the tournament. The medal games and award ceremonies will take place on Sunday, March 22.