The Central Alberta U16 Sting are ready and motivated for the Canadian Ringette Championships.
They’ll step onto the ice Monday in Winnipeg, Man. and compete in a six-day tournament for the chance to be crowned the country’s best in their sport and that has the entire group excited.
While they’ve experienced a six-week break between the end of Alberta Provincials and their trip to nationals on Sunday, head coach Chris Kelly said his team is fired up for the trip.
“This is an extremely talented group. Half of them played for a medal last year at Westerns. The other half won bronze at nationals last year,” Kelly said.
“At the beginning of the year, the goal was to qualify for nationals and see what we can do. Once you get to the dance, you never know what’s going to happen.”
Their roster features 15 skaters and two goalies from Red Deer, Lacombe, Clive, and Ponoka.
They will leave for nationals Sunday and play six games between Monday and Thursday. Kelly said endurance and taking it one game at a time will be key if the Sting hope to have any success in Winnipeg.
The Sting were bested at provincials in Feb. where they finished sixth, but exacted some revenge in an exhibition game that served as a tune-up for nationals.
“We played a team (from Zone 2) that beat us at provincials and we were able to beat them. So the girls are continuing to keep getting better,” Kelly said.
“It’s a really self-motivated group. We haven’t had to pull teeth. We’ve had 100 per cent attendance at all of our practices, dry-land sessions and mental training. The girls want to be there.”
Central Alberta opens the tournament against Team New Brunswick on April 9, the defending national champion from the 2017 event in Leduc. The Sting will also play teams from Manitoba, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Ontario in the U16 Division and need to top 21 teams if they hope to win a national title.
“It’s more like a marathon than a sprint. Girls have to be prepared to play three tournaments in a row. One after the other and mentally be strong enough to do that. Having that experience will really help,” Kelly said.
Kelly added another important part of the event is having the top players in Canada from the National Ringette League competing in Winnipeg the same week. He equates that experience to having the World Junior Hockey Championships at the same time as the World Championships.
“Anybody who is on Team Canada will be at this competition with the older ladies. It is good especially at U16 to experience nationals and to watch some of the best ringette athletes in the world compete,” Kelly said.
Although there are plenty of variables when a team competes against the best, Kelly noted that breaking down the tournament into smaller increments is the key to sustained success.
“It’s all about playing it game-by-game and shift-by-shift. If you look towards the end of the week, you’re going to drown by Wednesday,” Kelly added.
“If they can just focus on their next shift or the goalie on the next save, then all of a sudden Friday will be there real quick.”
Central Alberta opens the event April 9. For live scores and stats, click here.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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