The girls from the U12A Sault Ice Hawks have done it again.
While many of us were spending Super Bowl Sunday afternoon getting our food prep on for the big game, the ringette team based out of the Sault Ringette Club was busy securing their fourth gold medal of the season.
The team spent the weekend competing in the Guelph Ringette Association tournament and extended their current season tournament record to 22-0.
The round robin saw the team take on four new opponents for the season with competition from Oshawa, London, Guelph and Dorchester.
On Friday morning, the girls hit the ice playing against a familiar foe in goal as Oshawa goalie Madison Snow played for the Ice Hawks in their tournament victory in Whitby in January.
Although friends off the ice, the game faces came on for the opening whistle and the Ice Hawks took it to the Storm with a tournament opening 9-2 victory.
The afternoon game on Friday had the Sault taking on the London Lynx. The Ice Hawks got off to another quick start and took a 3-0 lead into the second period where they didn’t let up and skated to the 6-2 victory.
An early Saturday morning game matched the Ice Hawks up against the tournament hosts the Guelph Predators. Any thoughts of a slow sleepy start to the game disappeared when the girls scored in the first minute of the game and didn’t let up, posting a 9-0 final.
Between Saturday games, the team took in a university ringette game between Nippissing and Laurentian which not only showed them a higher calibre of ringette, but also that there are future opportunities in the sport.
The girls were also able to talk to and ask questions of three girls from the Laurentian ringette team after the game.
From there the Sault team was energized for their afternoon game against the Dorchester Dragons. This game was a hard-fought battle on the ice and one of the more physical games the Ice Hawks played all season. The team from the Sault battled hard and finished with another 6-2 victory and secured the top seed for the round robin.
In semi-final action the Ice Hawks met up with the Timmins Tornadoes. The Sault took a 2-0 lead into the second period and quickly doubled that up to 4-0 before Timmins battled back and cut the lead in half at 4-2.
The Ice Hawks quickly answered that second goal and held on for the 5-2 victory.
The finals brought two undefeated teams in the tournament together with the Sault battling the Waterloo Fire. These teams faced off once before this season with the Ice Hawks taking the victory and Waterloo looking for redemption here.
The Fire got off to the hot start scoring 5 minutes into the first. This was only the second time in the tournament the Sault team found themselves behind on the scoreboard.
The Sault rebounded scoring two minutes later and the teams battled to a 1-1 score to end the first period. A quick goal 20 seconds into the 2nd period saw the Ice Hawks take the 2-1 lead. They were able to take the lead on a 2-man powerplay midway through the period and finished the game with a 3-1 score.
Their next action will be in the Northeast Regional Tournament being held in Timmins March 30 to April 2.
The U12A Sault Ice Hawks are comprised of 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. On this tournament 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), and Tammy Bernardo (manager) as well as many parents, siblings and family members.