Plenty of Manitoban content on national ringette squad

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This article was published 06/06/2012 (5174 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba will be well-represented at the Under-19 World Ringette Championship.

When the quadrennial event is played in London, Ont., from Dec. 28 to Jan. 3, five players and one coach from the province will be part of Team Canada West.

Melody Caron of La Salle will be joined by sisters Erin and Shannon Sarahs and Samantha Renooy from Winnipeg, and Karine Sabourine of Saint Jean. Winnipegger Rob Walker will be an assistant coach on the team.

For the players, making the team was the culmination of a whirlwind of ringette that started with the national championship.

Caron, the Sarahs sisters and Renooy were all part of the Winnipeg Magic team that won the provincial championship and represented Manitoba at nationals. Their performances there, as the team finished fifth, were enough to land them invites to a national-team identification camp in Calgary.

This was already more than Caron had expected at the start of the season.

“The whole year my goal was basically to win provincials and hopefully do well at nationals,” said the 19-year-old environmental science student at the University of Manitoba. “In the back of my head, I guess I was hoping to get scouted at nationals.”

The camp in Calgary took place over the May long weekend — with the key word being “long.” Between games and practices, the players were on the ice for evaluation seemingly non-stop over three days.

“The only word I can think of was draining,” said 18-year-old centre Erin Sarahs in describing the camp. “Physically, mentally and emotionally.”

Before catching their flights home, the players were called individually into a meeting room with the coaches to learn their fates. The common denominator? Tears.

“We both broke down crying and hugged each other,” said 17-year-old Shannon Sarahs, a forward. “I was shocked. I completely broke down and started crying.”

Caron was the second-last player to go into the room, and was greeted by a glossy-eyed Walker, who had coached her previously with the Magic.

“I thought, ‘Oh, no,’” she said. “But then they told me. I cried, I was so happy. I was really relieved because I was doing everything I could all weekend and it was nice to know it went to something.”

For the Sarahs sisters, who live in Westwood, there was an element of relief that they both made the team.

“Individually it was super important to both of us,” Erin said. “The fact we did it together is the cherry on top.”

The Western team will compete against Team Canada East and a powerhouse team from Finland (which won the 2009 event and sent two teams in the past). Also, a new program called “mosaic” is aiming to use Canadian players’ family backgrounds to ice teams from other European countries.

The team will hold training camps in August, October and November in preparation for the event, which the athletes hope will give their sport a boost of attention.

“I think it can only help to grow the game,” said Erin Sarahs.

avi.saper@canstarnews.com