It took most of the 2021-22 season, but the Airdrie Chaos U19A ringette team finally showed the rest of the province what they were capable of.
Despite finishing their regular season with a 1-13-1 record, the Chaos defied the odds by winning their playdowns and qualifying for the U19A provincial championships, which were held in Calgary from March 4 to 6. There, the Chaos ended their season by finishing fifth, in a tournament that featured eight of Alberta's top U19A ringette teams.
Head coach Liz Kusler said the young Chaos squad struggled for most of the winter, but added the players galvanized at the right time to put forward a strong showing at the playdowns and provincials.
“To be honest, I really think they just decided to play together as a team,” Kusler said of the team’s late-season turnaround. “I was getting goals from all over, my goalie stepped up. It wasn’t just one person who went crazy and scored a bunch of goals. It came from defence, the forwards – they literally just came together as a team.”
Kusler noted the Chaos’ 6-5 win in the playdowns over the top-ranked team – the Northwest Titans – was such a shock to the local ringette community that she was fielding calls from other team’s coaches, who couldn’t believe what the Airdronians had achieved.
“Our record was not that great, and I think people didn’t have the highest expectations for us,” she said. “But these girls worked their butts off.”
Airdrie’s zones banner came on the heels of a 3-1-1 record at the provincial playdowns, where the Chaos overcame squads from southern Alberta to qualify for the provincials.
Once they were at provincials, Kusler said the team got off to a bit of a rough start, losing 5-3 to the Medicine Hat Gators, then falling to the Titans 8-4 and Sherwood Park 6-3.
But the team’s second-day performances were much more positive; the Chaos avoided the bottom of the standings by beating the Bowview Ace 8-3 and then rounded off the tourney by defeating the Beaumont Rush 7-3 to finish fifth.
“They had a tough first day, but on the second day they just swam with it and managed to get fifth,” Kusler said. “It was really good considering where they started.”
Kusler said finishing as high as fifth at provincials was a testament to how much the Chaos had improved throughout the year.
“They were the hardest working group of girls,” she said. “Even though results weren’t what we wanted, they literally worked so hard, and it really showed at the end that it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
According to the head coach, the Chaos roster was young for a U19 team this winter, with most of the team comprised of players in Grade 10 or 11. She added this was the first year the Airdrie Ringette Association fielded a U19A team, and for most of the players, it was their first time playing at the “A” level, which is the second-highest level of minor ringette in Alberta.
Kusler said she hopes and expects most of the Chaos players to play for the team again next year, but noted a few of the squad's older players will be graduating from high school and retiring from ringette to attend university.
Also, she added it’s hard to tell if the players who are in Grade 11 this year would be able to put forward the same level of time commitment as they did this season once they are high-school seniors.
