The Northern Lights U16 AA ringette team, otherwise known as Team BC, returned from the Canadian Ringette Championships in Cambridge, Ont. with much more than a seventh-place finish.
More importantly, Team BC, with 10 players from Quesnel, came back with a ton of memories, the respect of their coaches, other teams across Canada and recognition of their skills.
“It was a chance of a lifetime for me,” defenceman Hannah Young said.
“I have memories and friendships from that trip that I will never forget.”
All of this despite being overwhelmed
in their first appearance as a team at a national competition.
“Seeing all the teams and how big ringette is was overwhelming,” defenceman Cheyann Newman said.
“The competition was tough.”
“It was pretty overwhelming,” coach Don McMartin said of the atmosphere and the competition at the national championships.
“It was the first time the kids played at a national event.”
“It was a big learning experience, not only for the players, but for us as a coaching staff as well.”
The national championships presented both players and coaches with novel pressures and circumstances.
For instance, Team BC hit the ice twice each day, either a practice and a game or two games.
“It was a lot of games,” coach Colleen Moorhouse said of her team that was used to playing in two or three-day tournaments where they played four games.
“We weren’t used to that.
“By the time we got to Wednesday, Thursday it was tough to keep them motivated.
“To keep them [players] with positive attitudes.”
Who can blame the players or the coaches for being overwhelmed when other teams arrived with their own nutritionist and other support staff that Team BC didn’t have.
“The commitment required to compete at that level was impressive,” McMartin said.
The challenge of keeping the players motivated, Moorhouse said, was made easier by the support of the parents away from the ice.
The busy schedule was also a challenge for the coaches.
Part of the challenge of a busy schedule, coach Judy Young said, was getting the players in the right frame of mind for every game,
regardless of what happened the previous game and the various ups and downs with players and parents.
“Coming off a win is easy, coming off a loss is tougher,” Young said.
The bottom line, was to focus on one game at a time, she added.
Another challenge for Team B.C. was facing teams with more game-time experience.
Ringette teams, like other sports teams from north-central B.C. have far fewer opportunities to compete against top-level teams.
By comparison, in Ontario there are more than 70 ringette associations, giving players many opportunities to compete.
That extra experience was quite evident at the national championships, McMartin said.
“The other teams were more polished,” he said.
“You could see they had worked out the kinks in their systems,” Young added.
“We didn’t have enough game experience to smooth out those kinks.”
Despite being overwhelmed, Team BC responded and made up for the lack of experience with tremendous effort, despite what the scoreboard said.
“They never stopped, they never gave up,” Moorhouse said.
The end result, Young added, was the players came together as a team, in the truest sense of the word.
“It took a couple of games,” Young said.
“They went through a valley to get there, but now they are like sisters, they stick up for each other.
“It’s amazing they are still so close.”
Although Team BC finished the national tournament with a record of 3-5, their effort and sportsmanship was recognized with the Agnes Jacks True Sport Award.
The award, voted on by players, coaches and officials, recognizes a team’s commitment on the ice and their graciousness in victory as well as in defeat.
“It was the icing on the cake and well deserved by the team,” a proud Moorhouse said.
Another highlight for Team BC was the selection of Emily McMartin as the centre on the first-all star team.
A Grade 10 student at Correlieu senior secondary school, McMartin, 16, was deemed the best at her position among all the players at the national championships.
She finished the tournament with 12 goals in eight games, including a four-goal performance in a 6-5 win over Team Saskatchewan.
“It was unexpected,” Emily said, explaining the most difficult part was standing on stage to receive the award.
“I guess I worked really hard all week and it paid off,” she said with a shrug of modesty.
Team BC also did themselves proud in the skills competition, taking first place in the fastest skater competition and second place in the skills and shooting competition.
None of the success would be possible, Moorhouse said, without help.
“If we didn’t have the support from our communities, Terrace, Houston, Prince George and Quesnel, we couldn’t have pulled it off,” she said.
