Ringette tourney draws teams from across the land

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This article was published 12/01/2011 (5393 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The regular-season grind can get a little tedious for Stefanie Lavich and her Bonivital Angels teammates.

The Angels are one of only three local teams in the under-19 (belle) AA division of the Winnipeg Ringette League. Just to add some variety to the schedule, the Angels have met a Regina team — the only one in the age group in all of Saskatchewan — in Virden for some games, halfway between the two cities.

So you can imagine how excited Lavich — the team’s 18-year-old captain from Southdale — and the rest of the Angels are about the upcoming Manitoba AA Voyageur Ringette Tournament.

Set to run from Feb. 3 to 6 at Southdale and East End arenas, the 31st edition of the tournament will feature 32 teams in five age categories.

In the under-19 division, the Angels and their local rivals, the Eastman Flames and Winnipeg Magic, will be joined by teams from Gatineau, Que., Richelieu, Que., Edmonton, Vancouver, and the Okanagan area of B.C.

“It’s going to be really nice to play different teams,” Lavich said. “You get sick of each other after a while (in the local league), but we do have huge rivalries.”

The Angels have two tournaments in Ontario on their schedule this season, and are hoping to earn a trip to Waterloo for the national championships later in the year. If they make it, there’s a good chance they’ll be facing some of the same teams that will be in Winnipeg next month.

Lavich said there are noticeable differences in the style of play when the two teams on the ice aren’t as familiar with each other as they are during a local rivalry.

“It is different between provinces,” she said. “In our province, we strategize a lot and don’t have a fast game. When we play against other provinces, they come out hard and fast, and sometimes we’re caught off guard by the aggressiveness of the players.”

This year’s Voyageur tournament will mark the first time the event has been organized by all of the province’s ringette associations, rather than just Bonivital.

Yvette Chaput Chinchilla of the organizing committee said that co-operation has been instrumental in the tournament’s ability to attract more out-of-province teams from more distant places.

“We joined forces and decided to do a bigger recruitment effort to get teams from across Canada,” she said. “It seems to have paid off.”

Chaput Chinchilla said she couldn’t remember the last time teams came from B.C. or Quebec.

Among the highlights of the event will be a National Ringette League doubleheader at Ed Golding Arena on Sat., Feb. 5, with the Manitoba Jets facing the Calgary RATH at 12:15 p.m. and the Winnipeg Prairie Fire playing the Saskatoon Wild at 1:45.

The night before, at 7:30 p.m. at Southdale, Manitoba’s team that is preparing for the Canada Winter Games will take on the Angels Open 1 team in a featured game, with all the bunny and novice teams in the city invited to come and cheer them on.

“We’ll have prizes and contests, including a show us your cheer contest,” Chaput Chinchilla said, adding that admission will be $5 for anyone not wearing a ringette jersey.

For complete schedules and results, visit www.manitobaringette.ca/voyageur

avi.saper@canstarnews.com