A sixth-place finish by the northwest’s ringette team made up of mostly Terrace players at the B.C. Winter Games last month in Fort St. John was the best ever showing for a ringette team from this region, reports its coach, Raeanne Vandenbroek.
“Our team played incredibly well, but our goalie, Sasha Davies, and forward, Trezden Pushong, were our MVPs. Both of these players were underage going to the B.C. Winter Games,” she said of the competition.
The most exciting game was against the squad from the Fraser River zone.
“They scored to go up 5-4 with 2:52 left in the game. With 50 seconds left I pulled our goalie and put an extra skater out. Our team scored with 0:38 left in the game to take us to overtime. 1:46 into overtime we scored to win the game,” Vandenbroek recounted.
“This was an important game because it put us in a tie for fifth place after the round robin was complete. That put us into a mini-game situation.
“For the first time this year, they decided to use a mini-game format to solve ties for placement after the round robin. A mini-game is a 10-minute game and winner breaks the placement tie once the game is complete,” she continued.
“We lost the mini-game 3-1, so that put us in sixth place after the round robin games. We played Fraser River again in order to advance to the 5th place game. Trezden Pushong came up clutch for us with his third hat trick of the tournament to win us the game 4-2.”
The team ended up losing the game for fifth place by a score of 9-3, bringing its competition to a close with a sixth-place finish among the eight zones from around the province.
Rules set out for the B.C. Winter Games allowed the northwest team to take three overage or three underage players to bolster the squad.
“We decided to take underage players this year because our only goalie happened to be underage. In the end, this was the best possible decision because our underage players boosted our team more than they will ever know,” said Vandenbroek.
“The best part about these players is they are eligible to return to the 2022 B.C. Winter Games.”
READ MORE: Two Terrace ringette athletes help regional team win silver
Vandenbroek said she couldn’t have been more proud of the team’s performance.
“They had the best time competing and made so many new friends. As a player with previous B.C. Winter Games experience, it was incredible for me, but as a coach, it was so much more rewarding,” she said.
“We are already looking onto the next B.C. Winter Games in 2022 which will take place in Vernon.”
The northwest ringette team was made up of 17 players, 15 from Terrace and two from Houston. Vandenbroek’s head coaching duties were helped by assistant coaches Jeremy Vandenbroek and Dean Emberley from Houston.
The Terrace players were Rachel Aird, Brianna Anderson, Anika Baber, Tyler-William Brown, Oasis Cleveland, Aurora Cooper, Tawney Cooper, Ashlee Darby, Sasha Davies, Brook Hansen, Emily McLeod, Brooklyn Monsen, Sidney Penner, Ana Purita and Trezden Pushong. Allison Emberley and Marisa Klawitter from Houston round out the squad.
