WESTLOCK — The U14C Pembina Pursuit are as good as they get.
After a successful regular season that saw them ranked first in the north and win a league championship, the local girls' ringette team are now provincial champions after downing the Strathmore Ice 8-5 in dramatic fashion March 17.
The Pursuit played host for this year’s provincial tournament March 15-17, with games in arenas in Riviere Qui Barre and Calahoo.
“They wanted it, they were hungry, they fought for it and they never stopped. It was awesome,” said head coach Rob Weiss, who won his first provincial championship after coaching ringette for the past seven years. “They were ready. The girls worked hard all season so they knew what they needed to do in those big moments and they did it.”
The Pursuit came out strong and played a good, consistent round robin, winning three of four games, putting them into the semi-finals against a Calgary team, the Bow View Avalanche.
“Our semi-final game was against a team from the south that we’ve only played twice and we’ve lost to both times before,” said Weiss. “Our girls showed up, they were firing on all cylinders and we took that game 4-1 but the girls played probably their best game thus far, of the year.”
After a well-earned victory in the semi-finals, the girls prepared to face their toughest opponent yet in the final. The Strathmore Ice were undefeated in the tournament and only had lost one game all season.
They knew it was going to be a battle, but stayed focused on the task at hand, noted Weiss.
“That became our new best game (of the year). Our girls were fighters, they were warriors and they went out and did what they needed to do and for the most part controlled the game,” he said, adding the last five minutes of the gold medal match-up became a “little hairy” as Strathmore asserted themselves in an effort to come back.
“We were winning 6-1 and at one point it was 7-5 so they started coming back,” said Weiss, noting a game changer occured with just two and a half minutes remaining on the clock.
“We had a few girls in the penalty box so we only had three players (on the ice). It was a five-on-three (power play) for Strathmore and we ended up scoring a short-handed goal and that changed everything,” he added. “It kept the momentum in our favour from that moment, we controlled the rest of the game and the girls pulled it out.”
Weiss highlighted several attributes of the 15-member team, of which eight were underage players this season.
“To make a viable team from a small association, they had to play up, so straight from the first practice, all of us coaches knew that this team was something special,” said Weiss. “Their athleticism, their drive, their love of the game, their ability to be coachable and listen and learn and grow, we saw it right away.
He said what they accomplished this season, including their provincial title, took a team effort from all coaches, including junior coaches, managers, volunteers behind the scenes, parents and players.
“We all supported each other and we all believed right from the beginning … and I think we knew we just had the potential to do something amazing,” said Weiss.
