The Pembina Predators won bronze at the Alberta U14 ‘C’ Ringette Provincial Championship in Calgary March 10 — the first time a Pembina Ringette Association team has won a provincial medal.
The girls capped the three-day tournament with a 6-1 win over Bowview Madness in the bronze-medal game — the crowning achievement of a long and challenging season. Pembina Ringette president Janice Tymkow said the girls had their eyes on gold, but were bumped out at the semifinal by Leduc.
“It has been an intense weekend so far but the girls were ready for today,” she said. “They have played hard, they have really stayed strong as a team and they showed us coaches that they are willing and able to apply everything they have worked on over the season, in order to pull out wins. We could not be more proud of them. Bronze feels amazing!”
The Predators started the tournament strong with a 9-6 win over Edmonton, following by three more victories — a 2-1 win over Strathmore, a 5-2 win over the Calgary NW Adrenaline and a 6-2 win in crossover game against Bowview.
A 3-0 loss against Leduc in the semifinal put them into the bronze medal game.
Predators head coach Kyley Belton had nothing but praise for the team.
“We set a team goal at the start of the season not to just make provincials but to win a provincial medal,” she said.
“Players and coaches worked hard all season to make this happen. We are very proud of our bronze medal win and bringing home the first provincial medal for our Pembina Ringette Association.”
U12s just miss bronze
Meanwhile, the U12 Power went 5-2 in the round robin portion of the Alberta U12 ‘B’ Ringette Provincial Championship in Rockyford, but fell 6-3 to the Sherwood Park Crush in the bronze-medal game.
They had a solid weekend, opening up with a 9-4 win over the Red Deer Rush followed by a 7-1 blowout of the south Calgary Ice Breakers.
The South Calgary Eclipse were able to defeat the Power 5-1, but they bounced back for their last round-robin game against the Edmonton Wild, a 6-5 sudden-death overtime victory.
The Power qualified for the semifinal with two mini-game victories. First was a 1-0 win over the Airdrie Attitude followed by a 3-2 victory over Lacombe.
That put them into the semifinal against the Rockyford Ringers, which they lost 6-5.
Head coach Ken Fels said his club has a lot to be proud of.
“Through their provincials they represented themselves, their team and their association to the highest level,” he said.
“As coaches it’s difficult to describe the high level of pride and respect we have for this group of young ladies. When the season was all said and done the team was able to hold their heads high with smiles on their faces.”
