Manitoba Angels beat Calgary Surge in championship final

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This article was published 14/04/2018 (3032 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Angels had a bumpy ride to the under-16 gold-medal game at the Canadian Ringette Championships, but once they got there the Winnipeg-based crew made good on their opportunity.

“Well, we are the best team in the country and it’s very exciting because we’ve worked so hard all year, every day, training in the gym and practising,” said 15-year-old Kiana Adolphe, who scored a short-handed goal and added an assist in Manitoba’s 3-1 win over the Calgary Surge in Saturday’s final in front of approximately 2,000 fans at Bell MTS Place. “So, it really means a lot.”

Mia Rogerson and Kayla Little also scored for the Angels, who denied Calgary on six consecutive power-play opportunities. The Angels were 0-for-2 on the power play.

Manitoba went 8-2 in the tournament and advanced to the title game despite a 3-2 overtime round-robin loss to the Surge.

“That overtime loss to Alberta was hard, but I think it motivated us that much more to come out here and get this win today,” said an emotional Rogerson, 16.

“This has been a goal for so many of us. This has been a dream… This is new for each and everyone of us.”

Head coach Lynn Girardin paid tribute to her players.

“This is a resilent group of girls,” Girardin said.

“They work hard, they’ve spent the last 10 months in the gym, weightlifting, training on the ice, off the ice. Anytime we threw something at them, they were ready and willing to do it — no questions asked.”

The road to the top also included encouragement from local swimmer Chantal van Landeghem, an Olympian who inspired the group with stories about her rise to prominence on the international scene.

“She was a big inspiration to the girls,” said Girardin, who admitted all the penalties in the final weren’t unexpected. “We do spend a little more time in the box than most teams, but you know what, I think it’s just because we’re so much stronger.”

Erin Ung scored late in the game for Calgary with Manitoba nursing a 3-0 lead.

The Surge won eight straight victories before Saturday, but had to deal with the formidable goaltending of Manitoba’s Julianna McIntyre.

“I wasn’t nervous,” said McIntyre, 15. “I love the pressure, playing under pressure is when I thrive. I knew my team would pull it out. I had trust in my team and I love them all. I believed they would dig down and find that little extra in them, empty the tank and pull through.”

Calgary head coach Scott Armstrong said: “I’m just so proud of my kids for going 8-0. We kind of had an up-and-down season. We had a rough provincials, came out of Alberta fourth. So, we really didn’t have expectations. We were kind of the unknown team.”

“It doesn’t feel good to lose but Manitoba’s a great team and I don’t think our team had it all going today.”

Laurentides 3 Angels 2

Alex Raymond-Couturier scored once and added an assist to spark the Quebec Laurentides to a 3-2 win over the Manitoba Angels in the under-19 gold-medal game.

Delphine Aguiar and Jasmina Morroni also scored for the Laurentides.

Nicole Girardin and Alana Lesperance replied with markers for Manitoba.

Selects 7 Wildfire 2

In the under-19 bronze-medal game, Manitoba’s Eastman Selects got three goals from Milica Oravec and two more from Kennedy Howden en route to a 7-2 win over the Waterloo Wildfire.

Natalie Derbowka and Megan Trudeau also scored for the winners. Syd Deckert and Cayli Cole replied with goals for Waterloo.

Attack 5 WAM! 3

Moncton’s Jenny Snowdon fired a hat trick to lead the Atlantic Attack to its first National Ringette League championship with a 5-3 triumph over Edmonton WAM!

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14