Sault Ice Hawks win gold at Oshawa ringette tournament

The U14A Sault Ice Hawks are gold medal winners.

The team went undefeated this past weekend in the Oshawa Autumn Storm Ringette Tournament.

Read the full news release from the U14A Sault Ice Hawks below:

The U14A Sault Ice Hawks from the Sault Ringette Club travelled to Oshawa this past weekend to participate in the Oshawa Autumn Storm Ringette Tournament. This trip was a huge success as the girls are bringing back the gold medal going undefeated in the tournament.

The team prepped with some exhibition games in late September but this was their first real taste of game action for the season. The Ice Hawks kicked off the tournament Friday with their first game against the Ajax Pickering Power with the Sault team showing to be the more powerful squad with an 11-3 final. Their evening match-up saw them take on the Guelph Predators who got off to a quick one goal lead but the Ice Hawks turned into the hunters scoring seven consecutive goals and skating to an 8-2 victory. This day one performance put them into first place slot heading into day two of the tournament.

Saturday morning saw the Ice Hawks toughest test taking on the other team from the north the Sudbury North Stars. Both teams entered this contest with similar 2-0 records and knew the stakes heading in. The Sault got off to a quick 3-1 lead just over 5 minutes into the game. Sudbury then netted three goals in the final minutes of the first period to take a 4-3 lead to the final frame. Back and forth action was the story of the first half of the second with no one able to score until Sudbury once again found the back of the net with just under six minutes to play. The Sault team didn’t give up however and kept the pressure on scoring 4 times in a 3-minute span with just under four minutes to play. The North Stars replied with a goal with 20 seconds left but it wasn’t enough and the Sault held on for the 7-6 win. Heading into their final game of the round robin the Ice Hawks knew a win guaranteed them a shot to play on Sunday and possibly would also secure them a bye right to the finals. In this game the Sault was taking on the Barrie Blast who got out to the quick start scoring a minute in. Unfortunately for the Blast this would be the only goal they’d put up on the board and the Ice Hawks were relentless scoring 10 unanswered goals to get the 10-1 win and first overall for the round robin portion of the tournament.

Championship Sunday approached and the Sault had to wait to see who their finals opponent would be as the Ottawa Ice and Gloucester Cumberland Devils faced off in an early morning semi-final. Ottawa was able to get the 5-1 win and was ready to face the Sault in a battle of two unbeaten teams. Any nerves quickly disappeared as the two teams traded goals in the first few minutes of the game. The Sault scored two more times in the first period taking a 3-1 lead to the final frame. A quick goal saw the Ice Hawks carrying the 4-1 lead until midway through the period where Ottawa once again found the back of the net making it 4-2. Just before they could pick up any momentum the Sault replied 11 seconds later making the score 5-2 and holding on to that the rest of the way for the gold medal.

This wasn’t the only medal for members of this team this weekend. Head Coach Chelsea Clingen was also playing in the tournament as a member of the Nutri-Lawn Panthers based out of the Ottawa Region. Her team made it to the semi-finals taking on the one-seed where the game went to overtime with Coach Chelsea scoring the OT winner. In the finals they beat host Oshawa 5-3 for the gold medal.

The U14A Sault Ice Hawks are comprised of Brooklyn Adams, Kylie Beland, Erika Bernardo, Maelle Brown, Matthea Brown, Mikayla Farelli, Jessica Fasanello, Cameron Galizia, Avery Gauthier, Maisie LaBerge, Alex Lepore, Sophie Marcellus, Reese O’Neil and Leah Vaughan. On this tournament they were supported by Chelsea Clingen (head coach), Curt O’Neil, Gannon Vaughan (assistant coaches), and Alyssa Paquin (apprentice coach) as well as many parents, siblings and family members.