The following report was submitted by the team:
The Sault Ice Hawks completed an unblemished 27-0 tournament record this season by claiming the North Eastern Regional championship during the weekend in Timmins.
The tournament brought all the top ringette teams from the region together for one final contest of the season and home-base bragging rights. In round-robin play the girls faced off against teams from Iroquois Falls, Timmins, West Ferris and Sudbury, winning their fifth U-12A gold medal this year.
Friday morning action saw the Ice Hawks take on the unknown team from Iroquois Falls. After a brief feeling-out period the Sault team open up the scoring with two goals in just over two-minutes. Iroquois Falls got on the scoreboard with a quick tally cutting the lead in half to start the second period, but the girls from the Sault turned it on scoring four more times in the period, finishing with a 6-3 victory.
In afternoon action the Ice Hawks met up with the host Timmins Tornadoes whom they’ve played a couple of times throughout the season. The teams locked up in a hard-fought stalemate for the majority of the first period before the Sault picked up two quick goals just over a minute apart. Timmins was quick to respond with a goal with one minute remaining in the period. The Tornadoes then started the second period strong scoring 44 seconds in to even the score. The Ice Hawks responded to this with a whirlwind of action in the opposing team’s end netting three unanswered goals to take the 5-2 win.
Saturday began with an early wake-up call as the Hawks kicked off an 8 a.m. game against West Ferris. Thoughts of sleepy eyes and slow starts disappeared as the Sault team scored just 12 seconds into the game and didn’t let off the gas pedal, scoring seven goals in the first period and taking a 7-1 lead into the second.
Four more goals followed in the second with a final score of 11-2.
The evening game featured a meeting with one of the Ice Hawks biggest rivals, the Sudbury North Stars. A win here would secure first place for the Sault and a bye straight to the finals. With so many games played between each other the strong knowledge of play kept things close to start but the Ice Hawks were able to break through with three goals in the first period. After trading goals in the second the Hawks secured the 4-1 victory and trip to the finals to try to complete their perfect season. Sudbury would face-off against Timmins in the semifinal.
Sudbury got past Timmins with a 7-3 win in the semi. The championship game was a battle. Both teams knew what was on the line and there wasn’t much separating the two. The Ice Hawks were able to get on the scoreboard with eight minutes remaining in the first period and kept the pressure on but weren’t able to get anything more past the stellar play of the Sudbury goalie.
The first period ended with a 1-0 lead for the Ice Hawks and the second period saw the back and forth action continue. The Sault team continued to play their possession based game while Sudbury opted for more of a dump-and-chase style of play hoping to capitalize on a mistake.
With just under three minutes left to play Sudbury shocked the arena scoring off a free play and tying the game at 1-1. The teams fought to the buzzer ending regulation tied.
Emotions were running high and a brief intermission was enough time to have the Ice Hawks collect themselves and try to finish off the season. The Ice Hawks started overtime hot keeping the pressure on in the Sudbury zone but still unable to score. After some brief back and forth action the Ice Hawks scored after a beautiful setup to take the 2-1 overtime victory and complete their perfect season.
The Ice Hawks would like to thank their competitors this year for a great season and always pushing them to their best in the games played. This includes teams from Barrie, Dorchester, Forest, Guelph, Iroquois Falls, Markham Stouffville, London, Metcalfe, Nepean, Oshawa, Richmond Hill, Sudbury, Sunderland, Timmins, Waterloo and West Ferris
The U12A Sault Ice Hawks are comprised of Juicy Wiggling Freaks in the form of Cheetos, Cobras and Squirrels individually known as Brooklyn Adams, Erika Bernardo, Maelle Brown, Mikayla Farelli, Emma Farenzena, Jessica Fasanello, Avery Fierro-Wood, Cameron Galizia, Alyvia Hull, Makensy Jarrell, Arianna Nowitski, Gabriella Nowitski, Reese O’Neil, Mya Sloss, Sarah Sonoc and Leah Vaughan. For the season they were supported by Chelsea Clingen (head coach), Gabrielle Baril, Marley Coccimiglio, Brad Nowitski, Curt O’Neil, Gannon Vaughan (assistant coaches), Matt Jarrell (skating coach), Tammy Bernardo (manager) and Brigitte Vaughan (trainer) as well as many parents, siblings and family members.