Photo: Hockey Dad Photography
The U14A Sault Ice Hawks from the Sault Ringette Club returned home over the March 15th to 17th weekend from the Ontario Ringette Championships falling just short of medal contention finishing 4th. This success is on top of the full season where they also grabbed 3 gold medals in tournament play as well as a silver.
Through their strong play on the season the girls qualified for the top group of the Provincial Championships as the 6th seed. They opened up the tournament quickly, scoring 13 seconds into the first game and carrying that to a 3-2 win over Greater Sudbury. Unfortunately they couldn’t carry the momentum of this game into their afternoon contest and dropped a 7-4 decision to West Ottawa.
The second day of the competition saw a morning matchup with a new opponent on the season in the Chatham Thunder. The unfamiliarity didn’t have any effect on the Ice Hawks as they skated to a dominant 8-0 win. Their afternoon game was against the Mitchell Stingers who was the only team to hand them two losses in the same tournament this season. The Sault once again started the game strong and had a 3-0 lead at the half before Mitchell was able to respond with 3 quick goals of their own to start the period. Both teams remained deadlocked and finished with the 3-3 tie.
The Ice Hawks went into day three of competition knowing they needed to win to make it into the medal round. Their opponent on Saturday morning was the Ottawa Ice who also needed a win to try to move forward. The teams traded goals in the 7th minute of the game and remained deadlocked until the Sault was on a 2-man advantage and was able to bury a power-play marker. From there the Ice Hawks didn’t look back and finished the game with a 5-1 win. That win pushed their record to 3-1-1 and solidified them 2nd overall after round robin play.
Championship Day Sunday just wasn’t the girls day. They started the morning off in the semi-finals with a rematch against Greater Sudbury. These two teams have played multiple times this year trading wins back and forth and unfortunately for the Sault this time it was Great Sudbury’s turn to take the victory 7-3. After wishing our friends in the north good luck on their quest for gold the Ice Hawks had to face another northern team in the fight for third with a game against the Timmins Tornadoes. Timmins came out quick and scored in the first 30 seconds of the game. The teams then traded goals back and forth throughout the period finishing it with a 3-2 lead for Timmins. The Tornadoes were then able to put 2 more quick goals on the board before the Sault was able to chip away a midway through the frame making it 5-3. The girls continued to keep the pressure on and scored a short handed goal with just over a minute left to play. A potential game tying goal with just seconds left on the clock was waved off due to a crease violation and the Ice Hawks couldn’t complete the comeback.
The Sault Ice Hawks would like to congratulate their northern rivals the Greater Sudbury North Stars for taking home the silver in a hard fought final and the Timmins Tornadoes for bringing home the silver.
The U14A Sault Ice Hawks are comprised of Brooklyn Adams, Kylie Beland, Erika Bernardo, Maelle Brown, Matthea Brown, Mikayla Farelli, Jessica Fasanello, Cameron Galizia, Avery Gauthier, Maisie LaBerge, Alex Lepore, Sophie Marcellus, Reese O’Neil and Leah Vaughan. The Ice Hawks are supported by Chelsea Clingen (head coach), Steve Marcellus, Curt O’Neil, Gannon Vaughan (assistant coaches), Alyssa Paquin (apprentice coach), Brigitte Vaughan (trainer), and Tara Gauthier (manager) as well as many parents, siblings and family members.
