SUBMITTED PHOTO Unidentified players for the Medicine Hat Smash compete in Beaumont this past weekend.
The defending Alberta champions didn’t have the best start to their season, but you’d never know it based on how the weekend ended.
Medicine Hat’s Smash ringette team was in Beaumont, Alta. For the Brass Ring Tournament and went 3-1, including a 6-5 championship win Sunday over the Central Alberta Sting.
The Open B division squad started with a narrow 10-9 win over the hosts, needing Nicona Brost’s hat trick tally with 12 seconds left to secure the win. Kayty Smith added four but the narrow result was an ominous sign for Medicine Hat.
Sure enough, they lost their second game, 7-6 to the Red Deer-based Sting which scored twice in the waning minutes to overturn a deficit. Michelle Stein’s three goals led the way in a losing cause.
Relegated to a semifinal against Beaumont instead of a bye to the final, the Smash used the extra game time wisely. They beat Beaumont 9-4 this time, getting pairs of goals from Smith, Mahala Boychuk and Ashley Bohonos.
The final was still no cakewalk, tied 3-3 at the intermission but Lindsay Hart scoring twice and Boychuk, Brost, Smith and Camryn Selwood netting the others. Boychuk had the winner with 7:56 to go and Medicine Hat killed a late penalty to hang on.
Justin Freitag played goal behind the women, making 42 saves in the final as Central Alberta outshot Medicine Hat 47-22.
Under-16
League games are already underway for the Medicine Hat Matrix, which tied one and lost one on the road this past weekend.
At Strathmore Saturday, the Matrix tied the Ice 6-6. Serina Grona had four goals and Ryan Sweet the other two.
In Calgary later that day, early penalty trouble was a factor in an 8-3 loss to Nitro. Grona had two goals and Jaelyn Siewert the third.
Under-14
Also in league play Saturday, Medicine Hat’s Maximum had a split of road games despite needing to call up a couple players from the under-12 age group.
As it turned out, those players were more than capable. In an 8-5 win over Cochrane, U-12 player Ryleigh Jackiw had a goal and three assists while Ravyn Lehr added an assist of her own. Karly Stennick had a two-goal, two-assist performance for Maximum as well.
From there, Medicine Hat drove to Chestermere to play the Indus Lightning, which didn’t go as well in a 10-1 loss. Rookie netminder Madeleine Hillson faced a ton of rings, making more than 30 saves.
