'They did themselves proud:' P.E.I. wins first medal at Canadian Ringette Championships
Before this year, the best showing by a P.E.I. team at the national event was 11th
The P.E.I. U16 Wave should be proud of the way they represented themselves and the Island at the Canadian Ringette Championships in Charlottetown and Summerside this week, their coach says.
Not only did they win the province's first medal at the championships — a silver, finishing second out of 19 teams — their opponents voted them the tournament's most sporting team.
"It's quite remarkable," said coach Francois Caron. "They did themselves proud, they did the province proud and I know we've gotten a lot of real good support from the ringette community and the province as a whole."
The team picked up some individual awards, as well.
Sophia Jeffery of Charlottetown was named a first-team all-star at forward, while Mia Martel of Belfast won the fastest skater award from the skills competition and was named a second-team all-star on defence.
U16 Team PEI is getting ready for their championship game at 10am <a href="https://twitter.com/CUPEvents?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CUPEvents</a>. Head over and cheer this amazing and talented squad on! <a href="https://twitter.com/CRC_CCR?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CRC_CCR</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RingettePEI?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RingettePEI</a> <a href="https://t.co/Olc4WkUf1D">pic.twitter.com/Olc4WkUf1D</a>
—@PEICreditUnionsThe team was put together in September with the goal of competing at the championships, Caron said.
The players came from four different ringette associations across the province. There were eight players from the Souris association, five from Charlottetown, three from Montague and one from Summerside.
It's been a process to get to where we are and certainly we saw the fruits of our labour this week.— Francois Caron
"It is a true provincial team in the sense that we kind of cover 200 to 300 kilometres of P.E.I.," Caron said.
"It's been a process to get to where we are and certainly we saw the fruits of our labour this week."
The Calgary Core won the gold medal, beating P.E.I. 5-1 in the final. New Brunswick took the bronze medal.
In the U19 division, P.E.I. finished 10th out of 18 teams.
In the National Ringette League division, Calgary beat the Atlantic Attack for the gold medal. The Attack has one player from P.E.I., Ashley Hollis of Stratford. Another, Jessica Snowden of Moncton, is a teacher at Stratford Elementary School.
Before this year, the best showing by a P.E.I. team at the national event was 11th.
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