Buckeyes win ringette championship

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This article was published 17/06/2022 (1491 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SHELDON BIRNIE

STAFF REPORTER

EAST KILDONAN

Miles Macdonell Collegiate has another championship banner to hang in its halls.

On June 5, the Miles Macdonell Buckeyes ringette team won Ringette Manitoba’s high school championship, going undefeated in the annual tournament in which 27 teams competed for the title.

“We really clicked once we started practising,” said Taylor Page, a Grade 10 defender who plays for AA Magic during the regular season. “Everyone was at different levels, some at U19 AA, they were helping support the weaker players. Everyone was so supportive of each other. We didn’t really know how we would do. The coaches just wanted us to have fun, and I think that was key. We just kept improving and developing as a team as we went.”

Typically, high school doesn’t run a ringette league. Instead, teams are put together from players at each school to compete in a Ringette Manitoba tournament after the regular season and playoffs have wrapped up. While the girls on the Miles Mac team play on different teams and different levels — as well as one hockey player trying ringette for the first time — they came together quickly around a shared goal.

“They were determined to win, from our first practice together,” said Taylor Clegg, a coach for the AA Magic team during the regular season who was asked by one of her players to coach the Miles Mac team. “Throughout the tournament, that’s how myself and the other parents felt. We were hoping, crossing our fingers, and hoping we’d keep going. I was very proud of the girls, I can’t take much credit. It was their hard work.”

On the road to the championship, Miles Mac defeated J.H. Bruns 7-3 on June 1, beat Shaftesbury 10-3 on June 2, then edged out Glenlawn Collegiate 6-3 on June 3 to complete the round robin. The Buckeyes then defeated Edward Schreyer 10-5 on June 4 in the quarter-final before besting Centre scolaire Léo-Rémillard 8-6 in the semifinals the morning of June 5 to set up the final match against Collège Jeanne-Sauvé later that afternoon. Miles Mac won the final 7-4.

“I was pretty nervous, but I had confidence in our team,” Page said. “Our semifinal was against a tough team as well and we pulled through that one. All the girls were great teammates which was really motivating.”

“I love the high school tournament,” Clegg said. “It gets you out playing the sport you love with your friends. It’s awesome, there’s no real ringette season with school, so this gets them amped up a little more. The parents were awesome, being a coach and coming in and not knowing them. I’m 100 per cent hoping to do it again next year.”