'(Posted 7 p.m., Feb. 8)
Devils Junior A team suffers tough loss at Gloucester-Cumberland Ringette Tournament
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

Two players battle for the ring during the Junior A final between the Gloucester-Cumberland Devils and St. Albert (AB) at the Gloucester-Cumberland Ringette Tournament on Sunday. Fred Sherwin/Photo

The Gloucester-Cumberland Devils Junior A ringette team went into the this weekend's GCRA tournament hoping to pick up some valuable points and improve their chances of qualifying for the provincial championships, anything after that would have been a bonus.

As it turns out, they not only picked up two points that were up for grabs in their round robin game against Timmins, they came within a hair of finishing the tournament undefeated and winning the gold medal.

The difference between gold and silver turned out to be a perfectly placed shot at the 9:27 mark of the first overtime period that broke a 1-1 tie between the Devils and St. Albert, Alberta.

The Devils finished the round robin portion of the tournament in first place thanks to wins over St. Albert, Nova Scotia and Timmins. The game against the Northern Ontario team was especially important in the Devils quest to earn a berth in the provincial championships.

Teams are selected based on how well they do against other teams from Ontario. Wins over out-of-province teams do not count, so the round game against Timmins was critical in that it could have been a four point game in terms of its impact on the rankings.

As it is, the Devils must still pick up at least four points in the upcoming West Ottawa tournament. Six points would almost certainly clinch them a berth in the provincial championships, while two points could still be enough depending on who they beat.

None of that was on their minds, however, when they skated out to take on St. Albert in Sunday's Junior A final.

The Devils managed to get on the board first with a goal by Emily McKenzie at the 11:34 mark of the first period. She was set up on the play by Sheridan Coté.

Despite the Devils superb defensive play and some amazing saves by their goalie Ashley Vroom, St. Alberta eventually tied the game midway through the second period on a goal by Robyn Amerongen.

The Devils tried to take advantage of a late penalty against the Alberta team, by pulling Vroom in favour of a second extra skater, but the move almost backfired on them when a turnover at the St. Albert blueline very nearly resulted in a shorthanded goal if not for a quick-thinking Rachel Kazaka who dropped to her knees and kept the ring from sliding into the wide open net.

The two teams were the equal of each other during a back-and-forth overtime session, until Chrystal Law managed to lift the ring over Vroom's outstretched glove hand and into the top corner of the Devils' net for the game winning goal.

Although they didn't win the game, the Goucester-Cumberland team could still hold their heads high for playing an excellent game.

When asked what the difference was in the contest, Devils head coach Rick Purcell stated the obvious -- "one goal".

"Both teams were evenly matched and they just happened to score one more goal than we did. If we played them again tomorrow the score could just as easily go the other way," said Purcell.

The host Devils managed to qualify for six finals at the Novice, Petite, Tween and Junior levels. Unfortunately, they only managed to skate away with one gold medal in the U14 Tween C final.

The difference in the game between the GCRA Icebreakers and Pierrefonds was an unassisted goal by Nicole Weldon which came just 14 seconds after Pierrefonds managed to tie the score with 6:39 left on the clock. Alexus Kelly had the Icebreakers first goal.

In other finals involving Gloucester-Cumberland teams, the GCRA Devils lost 3-1 to Timmins in the U14 Tween A final; GCRA #2 lost 6-2 to the Ottawa Ice in the U10 Novice final; the Novice B team lost 5-4 to Clarence-Rockland; and the Icebreakers were beaten 6-0 to Pierrefionds in the Novice C final.

35th Gloucester-Cumberland Ringette Tournament results..

U19 Belle AA Nepean 7 BLL 2
U19 Belle A Ottawa 6 West Ottawa 1
U19 Belle B Nova Scotia 4 AYR 0
U16 Junior AA Calgary 3 Whitby 2
U16 Junior A St. Albert (AB) 2 GCRA 1 OT
U16 Junior B1 Ottawa 3 BKRA White 2
U16 Junior B2 Metcalfe 4 Pointe Claire 3
U14 Tween AA Nepean 4 Zone 5 (AB) 3
U14 Tween A Timmins 3 GCRA 1
U14 Tween B BKRA 6 Pierrefonds 2
U14 Tween C GCRA Icebreakers 2 Pierrefonds 1
U12 Petite Prov. 1 Nepean 6 West Ottawa 4
U12 Petite Prov. 2 BKRA 5 Pierrefonds 2
U12 Petite B Timmins 6 Pointe Claire 1
U12 Petite C Pointe Claire 9 Ottawa 2
U10 Novice Ottawa 6 GCRA #2 2
U10 Novice B Clarence-Rockland 5 GCRA 4
U10 Novice C Pierrefonds 6 GCRA Icebreakers 0

'(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

Return to top

Return to Front Page