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The River East Kaos U14 Tween A ringette teams poses with gold medals won at a January tournament in Regina. (SUPPLIED PHOTO)

The River East Kaos U14 Tween A ringette team is off to a fantastic start to 2013. The team, which is made up of 12- and 13-year-old girls from River East, North Winnipeg, and Sturgeon Heights returned from Regina, Sask., on Jan. 6 sporting a shiny gold medal. They can add this to the one they won at their own Christmas tournament in December.

The team travelled to Regina for a weekend of ringette and team-bonding with hopes of doing their best and they certainly delivered. After a disappointing game first game against the Regina Cyclones, in which the Kaos lost 6-2, the girls went on to win the remainder of their games in the tournament.  

River East faced two challenging teams from Winnipeg as well as some tight officiating in Regina. They were forced to play with a constantly changing and shifting number of players, as penalties for both sides were always an issue. Scorekeepers and spectators alike were kept guessing, as officiating was consistently tight throughout the tournament. But the Kaos team was able to overcome this challenge and play some awesome ringette.

The gold medal game was a really tough rematch against Regina Cyclones. The teams were evenly matched and the play was back and forth throughout the game with each goal being answered.  

With the score tied 9-9 after regulation time, the game went into overtime. River East played short-handed for the duration of the overtime period and were able to call the gold medal theirs when a shot by Cassidy Roberts found the back of the net.

River East Kaos played outstanding ringette and were able to overcome the many challenges that tournament play brings.  

They raised their level of play as well as their attitudes and did not get discouraged by anything that was thrown their way.  

They came together as a team to become the champions that they deserved to be.

Suzanne Dyck is a community correspondent for River East.