Successful ringette tourney

Tyler Lowey
Times Reporter

 

The 10th annual edition of the new format to the Laurie Morton Ruppe Memorial Ringette tournament was a smashing success.
The Strathmore Minor Ringette Association ran the tournament all weekend and featured more teams than ever before, 48.
Teams from all over Alberta and a couple of Saskatchewan locations took in the action. Strathmore put on a great show and captured a couple medals, as there were 12 local entries to go with 36 teams from elsewhere.
“It was a good problem to have,” said Jillian Gron, director of tournaments. “The association has grown so much, we had to squeeze everyone in, but it turned out to be a great tournament.”
The U12C Strathmore Ice and U16A Strathmore Ice brought home the gold, while the U12B Strathmore Ice ended up with the silver.
“There were several close games, lots of ties and one-goal games,” said Gron. “There was some great play this weekend and plenty of excitement in the stands.”
The U16A Ice clipped the Cochrane Rockies in their final 8-4 after skating through the round robin undefeated (3-0).
“It’s always nice to win your home tournament,” said U16A head coach Randal Praeker. “More importantly, we came together as a team and played really well, which is great, considering we have our playoffs coming up.”
For the U12C Ice, they needed to win their final round robin game against the Calgary Chaos just to advance to the playoffs, and they ended up winning it all.
“It was an exciting game, it was scoreless for a while, which was unusual, but they hung in there,” said head coach Travis Ericksteen, who’s team edged out the Indus Lightning 4-3. “I was really impressed how the team came together and gelled. Due to injuries and some sick players, our team hasn’t played too many games together this year.”
It was a long weekend at the rink with lots of help from volunteers and a binder full of sponsors. Gron stated that there was no way the tournament would happen if it weren’t for the help of everyone involved.
The next big event is slated for March, when the U16 provincials roll into the Strathmore Family Centre.