Ringette Roundup: U16 Matrix set to host ringette provincials

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on March 15, 2023.

sports@medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

The City of Medicine Hat and the U16 Matrix will play host to Alberta’s best U16 ringette teams this weekend.

The Matrix, who finished the regular season in first place in southern Alberta, will host 11 teams from around the province for the three-day event starting Friday.

“Our parent volunteers have worked hard to make this tournament a reality, it’s great our team will have the opportunity to play at home in front of their friends and family. The girls have had a great season, they started strong in the fall and have continued to grow throughout this year,” said team head coach Donnel Provost in a press release.

“The coaches are proud of the success the girls have had this season and we are looking forward to their performance at provincials.”

The U16 Matrix has brought home gold from all three tournaments they travelled to this year. The Medicine Hat Ringette Association won the bid to host the event in September, with this being the first time since 2020 the organization has hosted this event.

Teams in attendance will take a break from competition Friday to take part in a banquet and glow party at the Cypress Centre Auditorium. Players will also have the opportunity to listen to guest speaker Tara Chisholm, coach of the Canadian Women’s Sledge Hockey team as part of this event.

The Matrix’s first game is Friday at 9 a.m. at the Kinplex against the Pembina Pursuit.

“I am really excited our team is hosting provincials this year,” Matrix defender Sarah Laturnas said. “My team played in provincials in Beaumont last year. It was a great experience for our team to play the best teams from across the province.”

The Matrix continue their round-robin play Friday at noon at the Hockey Hounds arena against the Strathmore Ice Flares. Their final contest before elimination games is Saturday at 10:30 a.m. against the Fort Saskatchewan Ice at the Kinplex.

The provincial bronze-medal game is set for Sunday at 12:45 p.m. with the gold medal game getting underway at 1 p.m., both games at the Kinplex.

U10

The U10 Step 1 Green Gators’ season came to a close this weekend in Lethbridge’s Battle of the Bridge tournament. Throughout the four games, the Green Gators saw all seven players score.

The U10 Step 1 Gold Gators also ended their ringette season this weekend in Lethbridge’s Battle of the Bridge tournament.

The U10 Step 3 Gators also wrapped up their season in Lethbridge. There were no year-end wins but they received strong goaltending from Brylee Dirk, Danna Sawchuk, Brinley Cross and Arika McDowall over the course of the tournament. Gators’ goals in the tournament were scored by Evangeline Robins, Arika McDowall, Annalise Robins and Brinley Cross.

U19

The U19 Chicken Hawks ringette team finished regular season and playoffs on the weekend with a season record of 20-2, winning the southern Alberta Chinook League championship over Calgary, Airdrie, and south to Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.

The Chicken Hawks had 149 goals for and 55 goals against on the season and took the fewest number of penalties in the league with an average 3.5 per game. The Chicken Hawks won six straight in playoffs to advance to provincial championships in Westlock from March 24-26.

Open B

The Medicine Hat Smash Open B team competed in their provincial championships hosted by Calgary Open ringette this weekend, winning the Provincial Championships Open B.

They started their tournament off strong with an 8-4 win against the RQB Twisters, before beating the Absolute 8-2 and topping the Cochrane Chaos 6-2.

On Sunday, the Medicine Hat Smash beat the Attack 4-2 to punch a ticket to the finals. In the final game against the RQB Twisters, the Smash had a back-and-forth affair and took the gold by scoring in the final 90 seconds to win 5-4.

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