Provincial Ringette Championships
Gloucester teams leading the way at provincials
By Fred Sherwin
The Eastender

After two days of competition at the provincial AA ringette championships in London, Gloucester teams are leading the way in three divisions and are third in a fourth.

The Gloucester Devils are at the top of the charts in the Open, Belle and Junior divisions, while the Tween squad is in third place with two games remaining in round robin play. Meanwhile the Petite team is no longer in playoff contention after losing its first three games.

Helping post the Open team to a 3-0 record heading into today's action has been the playmaking of Dominique Frechette who leads the points standings with 11 including 10 assists. Jodi Jenson and Katie Allen have been the main beneficiaries of Frechette's ring handling skills having each scored six goals.

Their final round robin test will take place this morning at 11:15 a.m. when they take on the group's co-leaders from Cambridge. Heading into the game the southern Ontario team has a slight lead in goal differential having scored three more times than the Devils. Both teams have only let in five goals.

In Belle Division action, the Devils have so far had their way with the competition rolling to a 4-0 record in the early going with wins over Mississauga (3-0), Waterloo (8-1), Ottawa (4-2) and Sudbury (7-1).

While they're assured of a spot in tomorrow's playoffs, they must still play Cambridge and Ajax later today to see if they can grab the number one seed.

Leading the way for the Devils' Belle squad has been co-captains Diane Ouimet with five goals and five assists and Tami Kerr who has scored six times and added three helpers.

Not to be out done by their older clubmates, the organization's Junior team has also managed to accumulate an early 4-0 record with wins over Kitchener (3-0), Cambridge (8-2), Ottawa (6-4) and Forrest (7-5).

Helping pave the way has been the MVP performance of Samantha Morris who has so far scored 7 goals and three assists in the team's four wins.

With one game left in round robin action against third place Whitby, the Devils are assured of the top seed heading into tomorrow's playoff round having already beaten the second place team from Cambridge.

The fourth Devils team heading to the playoffs is the Tween squad which earned a berth in the tournament as a wild card selection.

With wins over Mississauga (9-2), Pickering (6-2) and Whitby (7-0) to go along with their sole loss to Cambridge (1-3), the Devils only have to win one of their two remaining games against winless Waterloo or Chatham to advance.

Leading the way for the Tween girls have been the two Natashas, Natasha Lowe and Natasha Côté. Both girls have seven goals although Côté leads the scoring standings having added eight assists compared to six for Lowe.

To keep up with all the action at the provincial championships you can simply log on to their website at http://www.ontario-ringette.com.

And to find out more about the Gloucester Devils teams competiting in London you can log on to the Gloucester Ringette Association site at http://www.gloucesterringette.com.