The U19 Northstars went down to Langley ready to win provincials and they did so with authority, winning the right to represent B.C. in the Western Championships.
Don McMartin, the team’s head coach, was happy with his team’s performance, saying that it was the team’s goal over the course of the season to win the provincials.
“They came ready to win and skated the other teams into the ground,” he said.
The Northstars took on Fraser Valley last Friday in their first steps to dominance.
The first half was even, with the teams swapping goals within the first four minutes before things settled down.
The Northstars, however, weren’t content to sit tied. Jessica MacDonald made another point for Quesnel in the twelfth minute to put them up 2-1 going into the second.
In the second, the girls gathered steam, netting six goals from the first minute to the last. Cheyann Newman hit a hat trick in the rout, taking both the first and the last goals on the team’s way to their 8-1 win.
Next up, the Northstars took on the Shuswap.
The Northstars started off in much the same fashion, finding the back of the goal early in the period. The Shuswap team came back halfway through the first to tie the game, to which the Northstars responded with their second of the night before half time.
Shuswap came back to tie it early in the second, which instigated an avalanche of Northstar goals, three in a row before the Shuswap could stem the bleeding. Despite the three goal deficit, Shuswap pushed back, netting one of their own, to which the Northstars responded with one of their own. The Shuswap team would continue to push, marking up another point within a minute of the Northstars response, but it was too little too late and the Northstars came away with the 6-4 win.
On Saturday, the Northstars started their day with a game against Kelowna.
The Quesnel girls owned the first, scoring three times, the first two off the stick of Emily McMartin, against Kelowna, with their defense once again holding strong against their opponents.
The second started out likewise, with the Northstars finding the back of the next with three shots in the first half of the second. Kelowna finally found the key to the Northstars defence with just over five minutes left, but were only able to two count and those two split by another from the Northstars on their way to a 7-2 win.
The Northstars came up against the Delta in the final game of the round robin.
The Northstars dominated offensively and defensively in the game. They came out in the first and scored at will, marking six goals over twenty minutes, with MacDonald and Newman each netting two. Delta, however could not get past a very strong Northstars defense.
The stellar defense continued in the second, though the scoring calmed down, with only a single goal for the Northstars early in the period. With the win, Northstars goalie Samantha Bell would net her first shut out of the tournament.
The girls earned a by into the finals with their spotless record and came up against the Fraser Valley once again in the finals. The winning team, beside winning provincials, would go on to represent B.C. in the Western Canadian Ringette Championships in Regina.
Once again, the defence held strong as the forwards racked up three points through the first 20 minutes.
The second looked exactly the same on the scoreboard, but it was all Newman for the goals, as she took a hat trick in the second twenty minute to put the girls up 6-0 and Bell’s second shut out of the tournament.
The girls are now practicing hard to get into shape for the Western Championship, starting Mar. 27.
