Airdrie athletes on an elite U16 ringette team will be competing on the national stage this spring, after the team took home the bronze medal from the 2019 Alberta AA Provincial Ringette Championships March 15 to 17 in Calgary. The Zone 2 U16 AA ringette team is comprised of the top 14- and 15-year-old players from Airdrie, Cochrane and Strathmore, and represents a program formed about four years ago, according to U16 head coach Steve Rosenberg. “It was always a challenge [for our players] to compete with Calgary, because they would pick their own players to compete in AA,” he said. “We felt a lot of our players were good enough, but never had the opportunity to have exposure to this level of competition and training.” Zone 2 teams certainly showed they are not afraid of the highest level of competition in Alberta during the provincial showdown – the program’s U16 AA team finished third March 17, while the U14 AA squad took home the championship. Because of its third-place finish, the U16 team will compete at the 2019 Canadian Ringette Championships, taking place April 7 to 13 in Charlottetown and Summerside, P.E.I. “I think the girls played super well overall, and we’re excited to be third in the province and to go off to P.E.I.,” Rosenberg said. Zone 2 booked its spot in the final four at the U16AA tournament after three wins in four games during a round robin against opponents from Calgary, Spruce Grove and Central Alberta. In four closely-fought fixtures March 15 and 16, Zone 2 outscored its opponents 17-15. The team’s three-game win streak came to a halt in the semi-finals March 17, when Zone 2 fell 5-1 to the Calgary Impulse – the same team that had beaten Zone 2 two days prior, in the tournament-opener. Quickly setting the disappointment aside, Rosenberg said, the Zone 2 players were able to put in a solid performance in the bronze-medal game later that afternoon, defeating the Calgary Core 3-2. “It was a great game for us,” he said. “We were down 1-0 early, but then battled back to take a 3-1 lead. They got a cheap goal at the end to make it 3-2, but we were able to take it to the end without giving them any [more] good chances to score.” Rosenberg credited the Zone 2 program’s competitiveness in Alberta to the adversity its players face, considering the geographic struggles of having teammates in three separate towns. Another factor, he said, is the players’ desire to be taken seriously by AA teams in bigger markets such as Calgary and Edmonton. “Being in this kind of program is not for the weak-of-heart, so they give it everything they’ve got,” he said. “We probably travel more than anyone in the province when it comes to practices and games. [Their success] is reflected in the work ethic and commitment they have.” The players will not be afraid to be labelled as the underdogs at the upcoming national championships, Rosenberg added. “If you think about the geography, Airdrie, Cochrane and Strathmore maybe represent 120,000 people,” he said. “It’s not very big. And now, we’ll compete at the national level. That’s pretty awesome – especially for a program that started four years ago.”
