Guelph sisters Moira and Hilary Davidson will be teaming up at the 2017 World Ringette Championships being held in Mississauga next week.
But the duo won’t be suiting up for Team Canada. Instead Moira, 21 and Hilary, 16, will be wearing Team USA jerseys.
With ringette still a developing sport in many countries, Team USA has brought in six players from Ontario with American ties to help boost their team and raise awareness of the sport south of the border.
Moira and Hilary’s mom was born in Detroit.
The championships take place Nov. 27 to Dec. 3 at the Hershey Centre.
The two world powerhouses in the sports – Canada and Finland – will have a junior and senior team entered. The United States, Czech Republic and Sweden make up the rest of the field.
Moira, who plays for Team Fusion in Kitchener, started playing ringette at the age of six after she went to see a friend play ringette. She started refereeing at 14 and last year started coaching.
This is Moira’s second time playing for Team USA.
“The stakes are high and I want to make my family, friends and teammates proud of what I am doing and what we accomplish this time around,” she said in a news release. “I want to be in that gold medal game on Sunday, to beat Sweden and to make sure that the newer players on our team get to feel the love of this sport that the more experienced players have felt ever since they were little.”
Moira said the speed of ringette is one of the things she loves about the sport.
“There is nothing more amazing to watch than a quick breakout from the goalie to the defence, a quick pass up the middle to a forward and another pass into the offensive zone for a shot and a goal,” she says. “Learning that speed and agility -- the various cuts, decks, changes in direction, and change in speed needed to control the ring and keep it away from your opponent -- the skills need for playing at a higher level, that’s the hardest part of ringette.”
Hilary started playing when she was four, following in Moira’s footsteps.
“I would like to grow as a player, become more confident, support my teammates so they can be the best they can be and make my friends and family proud,” she said in the news release.
“I would like to be in the gold medal game. It will definitely mean a lot more to me since I will be playing with my older sister Moira,” Hilary said in a news release.
“It’s amazing how fast this sport is. The fastest goal I’ve seen is within nine seconds of the start of the game. It amazes me how fast some players can skate and move the ring.”
