Five Central Alberta ringette players will represent Canada at an international ringette tournament next month.
Red Deer’s Breanna Beck and Lacombe’s Dailyn Bell, Jamie Bell, Lindsay Vink and Gillian Dreger will play for Team Canada at this year’s World Ringette Championship in Mississauga, Ont. from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3.
All five players play for the Edmonton WAM of the National Ringette League. Dreger will play for the junior Canadian squad while the other four will play on the senior team.
Michelle Brown, Edmonton WAM coach, said having local representation on Team Canada can help the sport grow.
“It’s very rewarding to see talent like this come from our area,” said Brown. “There’s a lot of players that tried out for the team, so it feels good to see our players have this kind of success.”
Brown said these five players will bring a ton of talent to Team Canada.
“Their skill level is very high and their dedication is second to none,” she said. “They’re all leaders in their own way and have been playing for a long time, so their experience will help.”
The Bell sisters have played for the national team in the past, but this is the first time for Beck, Vink and Dreger.
“They’ll be able to bring what they learned with Team Canada and bring it back to our Edmonton WAM. It definitely helps us,” she said.
All five players flew to Ontario this on Thursday for a training camp with their new teammates. They will return from the camp on Monday.
While they are in Ontario, there will be a Road to Worlds fundraising run for the five players in Lacombe. Brown said it costs a fair amount of money to play ringette at this level.
“It’s not easy as a national ringette player because of the expenses. These girls just love it enough to keep playing and I’m proud of them all.”
Registration for the event closed on Thursday. The 2K and 5K runs begin at the North West recreation Area at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
For more information on the run, click here.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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