Speed, Skill, Talent – Ringette Has It!

An incredible day of firsts for New Brunswick and BC and a team from St. Clements Ontario claimed a title.

In the final day of action at the 2012 Tim Horton’s Canadian Ringette championships, the South East Stingers won the U16 title, the first-ever gold medal for a team from New Brunswick.

The Stingers beat the London Lynx 7-3. The St. Clements Rockets won the U19 title with a 5-4 win over Calgary.

In the National Ringette League final, the expansion LMRL Thunder won the first gold for British Columbia in a national Ringette final, downing the Montreal Mission 7-2.

The history of the victory wasn’t lost on the coaches or the players, proud to represent their province.

During the magical season, the Stingers played 42 games, losing just once – to Nova Scotia. The team travelled to tournaments in Ottawa (two), Guelph, ON., Pierrefonds, QC and Miramichi.

The team also spent much of its home time playing against the West Kent Hot Shots and the National Ringette League’s Atlantic Attack.

St. Clements had been an offensive force all week, led by the Nosal sisters – Samantha, Paige and Sydney. The team is coached by their parents – Terry and Scott Nosal, who alternate each season as head coach.

When the game ended, there was a huge sigh of relief and plenty of celebrating on the St. Clements bench. Calgary, which had fallen behind 4-0 early just kept battling.

“I was thinking, ‘I can’t believe it’s over,” said Terry. “In that one moment, it takes your breath away. It’s so unbelievable.”

“Everyone is so proud to represent their province and the Lower Mainland Ringette League,” said Thunder coach Chris Wakefield. “When there were 30 seconds left and it was 7-2, it kind of sunk in.

We were looking at each other and looking at the players, seeing how happy their were.

“The goal was to make the championship game. And once you make it, you can own the moment. We wanted to make it on our own, not just as the host team. As I’ve said, the teams that play their best on Friday can ride that (in the championship game).”

There were plenty of heroes, starting with sparkplug Salla Kyhala, who had four goals and an assist when it counted most. “Our defence was awesome … our goalie, too,” said Kyhala. “We’ve always known we can score. Our challenge has been to not let them score on us.”

Forty-six teams from across the country competed in three divisions – U16 (20 teams), U19 (18 teams) and the National Ringette League (NRL) division (18+), which represents the NRL championship tournament saw the top four Western Conference teams competing against the top four Eastern Conference teams.

U16 DIVISION
BLL 6 Calgary Vitality 5
South East Stingers 7 London Lynx 3
Gold: South East Stingers
Silver: London Lynx
Bronze: BLL

U19 DIVISION
Nepean Ravens 5 Rive-Sud 1
St. Clements Rockets 5 Calgary 4
Gold: St. Clements Rockets
Silver: Calgary
Bronze: Nepean Ravens

NATIONAL RINGETTE LEAGUE
LMRL Thunder 7 Montreal Mission 2
Gold: LMRL Thunder
Silver: Montreal Mission
Bronze: Ottawa Ice

Thanks to Alayne Martell of Ringette Canada for the info.