U16A team brings home Silver, improves chances of qualifying for Provincials

By Casandra Turnbull

The U16A Paris Ringette Team is collecting its share of medals this year and they’re only halfway through the season.

Last weekend the team competed in the Burlington Tournament, bringing home Silver Medals

The action started with a 5-4 nailbiter against Richmond Hill in game one of round robin play The team went on to pick up a second win against Hamilton, 7-3. The next two games against Guelph and Metcalfe were losses, but they posted enough points to advance to the semi-final game

The team had a chance at redemption, facing off against Metcalfe in the semifinals. They lost to Metcalfe 7-2 the previous day, so Paris was pulling out all the stops to claw their way to the finals It was a hard-fought, back-andforth game but in the end their hard work paid off They tied the game 3-3 on a delayed penalty and pulled their goalie to put four players in the zone “This was something we’ve been working on as a team this season, and the first time the team has been successful in a 4 on 3 opportunity. They made us so proud,” said Coach Courtney Boehmer. Proud indeed. That 4 on 3 opportunity resulted in the game winning goal, sending them to the finals and a chance to play for Gold Paris faced Guelph in the final game, once again prepared to redeem themselves from a 3-2 loss in round robin Unfortunately, the outcome wasn’t in their favour and Paris lost another 3-2 game, despite their amazing team camaraderie.

“We had played Guelph in the Gold medal game in St Mary’s tournament and won in overtime.

We also thought this game was going into overtime, as both teams were fighting hard, and we were tied for a lot of the game ”

To reflect how hard the team worked all weekend, four of Paris’ players were in the top 10 for the 16A division for the tournament and six players making it to the top 15

There was a total of 50 players in the division.

Boehmer gave recognition to the team’s goalie, Lydia, who played a big part in getting the team to the semi-final and gold medal games The team looks forward to its next tournament in Paris on Family Day Weekend. It will be the second of its provincial ranking tournaments. Since the team faired well at this tournament in Burlington, boosting their winning percentage and putting them ahead of teams they were tied with, the tournament in Paris will be crucial in securing a qualifying place in Provincials Only 10 out of 21 teams make it to provincials