A silver medal for the Airdrie Venom U14A team put the bow on a ringette-filled weekend in Airdrie on March 27.
Airdrie hosted not just the U14A Ringette Alberta provincial championships over the March 25 to 27 weekend, but also the U19B provincials. The host Airdrie Ringette Association was represented by the Venom in the U14 tournament, and the Airdrie Rampage in the U19 tourney.
The tournaments featured an opening ceremony on March 15 at the Ed Eggerer Athletic Park track – an event that was attended by local City of Airdrie dignitaries.
“The mayor came out, all the teams got paraded in and announced, and everyone got to take pictures,” said Jason Nikish, one of two co-head coaches of the Venom. “It was a good kick-off to a great championship event.”
When it came time for the ring to be dropped, the Venom represented well on home ice, starting off their weekend with a 6-5 win over the Edmonton Impact. They later lost 4-1 to the Bow View Extreme – a regular-season rival, according to Nikish – and then fell in overtime to Lacombe Edge in their third game.
Their two defeats meant Airdrie had to play in a mini-game to qualify for the semi-finals, which Nikish said the team won 4-1 in a rematch with the Impact.
The Venom then booked their berth in the gold-medal game with a 4-3 win over the Northwest Surge in the semis on March 26.
“A couple of these were come-from-behind wins,” Nikish noted.
With the gold medal on the line, the head coach said the Venom fought hard in the final on March 27, but three days of competition had finally taken its toll, as Airdrie lost 4-0 to the Bow View Strike.
“Unfortunately we just ran out of legs toward the end and took a 4-0 loss,” Nikish said. “Their goalie was amazing that game.”
Making the provincial podium on home ice was a great way to cap off a terrific season, according to Nikish. He said the team won three of the tournaments they competed in this winter, finished second in their regular season, and later won the Zone championship before the provincial silver medal put the icing on the proverbial cake.
“They had an amazing year,” he said. “They were in first place coming into provincials and ended up in second place in the league, just by a point. It was just a good overall year and a good group of girls who worked together.”
While the Venom fell slightly short of their ultimate goal of winning provincials, Nikish said there were few negatives to dwell on overall when reflecting on the 2021-22 campaign. Airdrie Ringette Association's public relations coordinator Liz Kusler said the Venom's second-place showing marked the association's first medal at a provincial championship since 2017.
“We won our first tournament and the girls determined what type of team they had,” Nikish said. “We asked them to set some goals, and I thought they were pretty lofty at the beginning of the season, but they put the time and the effort in. We as coaches tried to give them everything we could to succeed. They stepped up and took it all the way to second place.”
As for the U19B Airdrie Rampage, they finished with a 1-4 record at provincials, their sole win coming against the Medicine Hat Mavens in their final game of the tournament.
The Venom head coach commended the Airdrie Ringette Association, particularly president Clara Leblond, in putting on two great provincial tournaments.
“There were a ton of volunteers, but I know how much the president of the ARA put in,” Nikish said. “I think us as coaching staff and all the girls recognize all the effort. I don’t know how she did it, but she put together one heck of an event – we’re really proud to have her.”
