U14 AA Lynx win Eastern Canadian Ringette Championship gold medals
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It's been an incredible season for the U14 London Lynx AA ringette team, including three Tillsonburg players, who played at the highest level of ringette available for girls in the U14 age category (Grade 7-8).
"Our team is comprised of the best players from London and Southwestern Ontario," said Lynx AA head coach Scott Cole, from Tillsonburg, "including players from London, Tillsonburg, Mossley, Dorchester, St. Mary’s, Mitchell, Exeter and Goderich. In March we participated in the Ontario Ringette Provincial Championships in Ottawa and won the gold medal. It was an amazing experience for our team and coaches."
The provincial winners were named Team Ontario to represent the province at the Eastern Canadian Ringette Championships, April 17-20, in Mississauga against the top teams from Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI.
Once again the Lynx were victorious winning 4-1 in a hard-fought battle with the defending champions from New Brunswick to take the Eastern Canadian Championships on Easter Sunday. This is the highest level and biggest stage for ringette at this age.
The Lynx enjoyed the thrill of becoming Provincial Champions and Team Ontario, but coach Scott Cole said the team quickly got down to the business of focusing on the Eastern Canadian Championships.
"They knew it was going to be a tough run. Three times a week on the ice including exhibition games against the Ontario U16A champions to stay game sharp.
"I have to say the event was really fantastic. It was just a great experience for the girls in so many ways. They were really treated well, everything was so well organized."
The Lynx went into Thursday's game not knowing what to expect against Nova Scotia.
"They (NS) were still a bit overwhelmed from a long plane trip and by the whole experience, and our girls game out flying, taking a surprising 8-0 win.
"We then came up against PEI and found ourselves down 2-1 after the first, but we knew we had them on their heels, and it was only a matter of how long their goaltender could hold us off."
Quick goals early in the second by Adele St. John to round off her hat trick, put the Lynx on their way to a solid 6-3 win.
Later that day London took on 4-Cite, the second seed out of Quebec, who the Lynx knew were very strong.
"I thought our girls put forth a great effort, but their goalie stood on her head, and in the end we could only get two past her, leaving us with a very tight 3-2 loss and our backs against the wall. As I said to the girls, there are times when you just have to tip your hat to them, and this was one of those situations, their goalie was simply unbelievable."
That put London in a must win situation against Beausejour, New Brunswick. Another hard fought game, the momentum shifted several times, and if not for the last second heroics of Victoria Kyriakopolous, said coach Cole, to haul down NB's top scorer on a breakaway in the dying seconds, Beausejour may have tied it up.
"Victoria was playing on a sprained ankle all weekend," Cole noted. "Where she found it in herself to catch that girl, I guess only she knows, but it was something to see. The referee raised her hand and blew the whistle with one second left on the clock and I was just saying 'no penalty shot, please no penalty shot' and thankfully she motioned her to the box and we killed the final second off for the 4-3 win."
At three wins and one loss London qualified for the semifinals Sunday against a familiar foe in the Mississauga Mustangs.
"We had beat them in the provincial final, and knew that they were out to prove something," said Cole. "They had a big contingency of fans in their home rink, but our girls came out flying and built up a 3-1 lead early in the first period. After going up 4-1 with less than two minutes left in the first, Mississauga's offense came to life and before you could catch your breath is was 4-3 and their fans were going crazy.
"This is when our girls set themselves apart from other teams. We gathered at the period end, said 'we are up 4-3 with one period to go and the winner goes to the Eastern Canadian Championship game girls, what do you think about that.'
"Not a worry in the world," he said. "You look into those girls eyes and you can just see that they don't have a single doubt about their ability to find a way to win. They came out flying, putting pressure on Mississauga in every end of the ice. A couple big saves from our goalie, and then Haleigh Cole's second and third goals of the game and we knew it was ours. A couple empty netters and we were on our way to the finals. We couldn't believe it."
In the finals London came up against the New Brunswick champions, who had just rolled over 4-Cite and had handed London its only loss of the tournament.
"It was so great to see all the support," said Cole. "The girls were getting 'good luck wishes' from all over. We had people driving up from London, Tillsonburg, Mitchell, Toronto and all over southern Ontario to cheer the girls on."
The championship game was back and forth for the longest time, said Cole, but he felt they were carrying the play and playing the game they wanted. At four minutes, Adele St. John opened the scoring and that's how the first ended. Abby Chandler picked up a pass early in the second and let a rocket go to the top corner giving the Lynx a 2-0 lead, but it didn't hold up for long as New Brunswick delivered a 'beauty of a goal' to make it 2-1 right after bringing the tension in the arena to a fever pitch.
A late goal by Alison McCann made it 3-1 off a forced turnover at centre, giving London breathing room. An empty netter by Kacie Fraser finished it off and the London Lynx were Eastern Canadian Champions.
"I can't say enough about our defensive side of the game and our goaltending," said Cole. "Our two goalies, Madison McKellar and Jessica Liermen, were just spectacular all weekend. Every time we needed that big save, it seemed they came through.
"It has just been one of those years where you have to do a double take and say, 'did that just happen?' It's a great bunch of girls that truly have had great success based on teamwork and a passion to win. You see it all the time in sports, that may be some teams were arguably better on paper player for player, but no one could match our 15 players as a team."
Cole thanked the parents for all the support they gave over the course of the year, noting they were on the ice 118 times during an extended season.
"That is a lot of commitment for everyone. In addition, the support we have seen through the community has been simply tremendous, and we put out a special thanks to everyone who supported us will well wishes, cheering and through financial sponsorships."
The support Victoria Kyriakopoulos, Haleigh Cole and Tori Cole felt from the Tillsonburg community was just tremendous, added the coach.
"If you saw all the messages of support they received, the well wishes, people driving down to Mississauga to cheer them on and the generosity of sponsors... it really was great. The girls were overwhelmed with how much support they received. As Haleigh said to me 'the people here in Tillsonburg really are great, eh dad?'"