NEWS PHOTO SEAN ROONEY - Lauren Klick of the Medicine Hat under-19 Mighty Ducks takes a shot on Calgary Northwest Wild's Brooke Lamont during Ed Horvath Interprovincial Classic ringette tournament action Friday at Hockey Hounds Recreation Centre.
It’s still relatively early in the season for most ringette teams, but this weekend’s Ed Horvath Interprovincial Classic is always an important stage for the hometown crews.
With more than 600 players on the ice including 10 Medicine Hat squads, virtually every possible ice time in the city’s rinks will be devoted to the event. Gas City teams hope they’ll be in action come Sunday’s finals.
“Honestly, it’s just representing your community, and how the community pictures the Medicine Hat Ringette Association as a whole, bringing down all the girls from all different places to have fun and play ringette and do what we love,” said 14-year-old Leah Mason, who plays defence for the under-16 Matrix. “It’s good, it’s almost like positive pressure. We’ve got to play hard, we’ve got to do good for these certain people.”
Mason’s grandpa is driving in from Regina just to see her, and if her team keeps playing like they did Friday, he’ll get to see a lot.
Matrix beat the South Calgary Blues 4-1 to open their weekend in the five-team under-16 B division, with a game against Northwest Armada slated for later Friday evening.
“Great start,” said coach Loraleee Eastland following the win. “Sometimes when the girls just come out of school they can be a little tired mentally. But they came really prepared today, they had something to prove and they did.
“I think there’s always something special about playing at home, playing in front of the fans and playing for your friends, that kind of thing.”
Playing a Blues team with only 11 skaters, Medicine Hat got stronger as the game went on. Charlie Christie and Jaelyn Siewert scored in the first period, then Serina Grona and Hailey Sanders extended a 2-1 lead in the second. Leah Jetter and Natasha Unreiner had two assists each. Rheagyn Heinrichs made 27 saves in net.
Julia Thompson was the only Blues player to score, their team outshot 43-28. The Blues fell to 0-2 with their loss, having fell 4-2 to the Bow View Blazers Friday morning.
Eastland explained that half of the Matrix’s players endured a rough last season on a team that didn’t win a game. Another third played on a team without a goalie.
They’ve already got a bronze medal tournament win under their belts this year.
“I feel like we did very well offensively, attacking and not really throwing away the ring. Just making smart plays,” said Mason, who plays defence and at 14 is among the younger players on the roster. “I’ve been playing ringette for a really long time so I’ve been with all these girls before, and they’re awesome, I love them.”
The under-16 B final goes at 11:30 a.m. Sunday at the Kinplex.
In other games involving Hat teams, the under-19 Mighty Ducks opened with a pair of wins, 4-2 over the Saskatoon Ice and 5-3 over Calgary’s Northwest Wild.
Against the Wild, Amanda Robinson had two goals, while Lauren Klick, Ashlyn Seale and Sheridyn Herman the other as the hosts took control in the final period.
They’ll play both teams a second time Saturday in the double round robin setup, with the top two meeting in Sunday’s 1 p.m. final at the Kinplex.
The under-16 A Riptide fell 3-2 to Strathmore, the under-14 B Maximum beat Regina 6-0 and tied Bow View Shock 2-2, the under-14 A Mercury beat Bow View Vex 6-5, the under-12 B Blackout fell 6-5 to Regina and 6-2 to Northwest Eclipse, and the under-10 Wolfpack beat Calgary 7-0.
