Hat squads shine at Esso Golden Ring tournament

By Ryan McCracken on January 24, 2018.

Medicine Hat News

Five teams in Medicine Hat travelled to Calgary this weekend to compete at the Esso Golden Ring — the world’s largest ringette tournament — and two found themselves in their respective finals for the first time since 2011.

Medicine Hat’s under-14B Impact settled for silver, falling 7-6 to the Lethbridge Hericanes in the championship game after going 5-0 on the way to the final, while the under-14A Tropics went undefeated all the way to a gold medal.

The Impact opened the tournament with a 6-0 win over Calgary Northwest then followed it up with a 4-3 win over the Bow View Renegades, a 5-2 victory over Spruce Grove, a 10-4 blowout of the Bow View Blackout and a 4-3 win over South Calgary.

Medicine Hat’s under-16A and under-19 Penguins both fell to the eventual champions in their respective quarter-finals.

The Mission bowed out after coming up just short in a 6-5 barnburner with the South Calgary Blues after going undefeated to the quarters. The Mission picked up a 6-2 win over Calgary Northwest in their opener before defeating the St. Albert Delta 7-4 and the Bow View Royals 5-4 to reach the quarter-final.

The Penguins opened their weekend with a 10-8 win over the Spruce Grove Mayhem and followed it up with a 7-3 loss to the Kelowna Elite and a 6-6 tie with the Bow View Fury to advance to the quarter-finals —where they fell 7-2 to the Saskatoon ice.

In the under-10 division, the Medicine Hat Fireblades cruised to three consecutive victories in what was their first tournament away from home ice.

It was one of Medicine Hat’s best showings at the tournament in the past decade. In 2011, the Medicine Hat Dynamite took under-14B gold and the Medicine Hat Adrenaline topped the Open C division. In 2010, the Medicine Hat Rage won under-16B gold, the Strive took the top of the under-19B podium and the Wild won silver in the under-12B division.

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