The coaches of the Guelph Predators Ringette Association’s under-19A squad knew pretty early on that this season could be a special one.
“From the beginning, I already knew what kind of talent these girls have as I've coached a bunch of them previously,” assistant coach Freedom Warne said. “For me, right from the beginning I knew they had a lot of talent and I knew they can compete.”
The squad finished as runners-up in Ontario Ringette Association’s championship tournament in mid-March in arenas in Kitchener, Waterloo and St. Jacob’s to claim one of the province’s two berths in the Eastern Canadian championships at Charlottetown, P.E.I., April 11 to 14.
Warne and Gill Marrow are assistants with head coach Rebecca Seguin.
At the provincial tournament, the Predators recovered from a start that saw them drop games to Forest Xtreme and West Ottawa, both by 5-2 scores, after opening with a 7-2 victory over Timmins. They came back from the losses with wins over Richmond Hill (6-2) and Markham Stouffville (2-0) to become the fourth and final team to qualify for the semifinals.
“Oh, it was so exciting. It was a great weekend,” co-captain Mavis Carberry said. “I think a lot of us going in had the mindset of this is kind of our last year, so we had to put it all out on the ice. So I think we really persevered. We started out strong with the win and we had to persevere coming off the two losses, and the next games were all must-win games. So I think it was really, really fun to see and fun to watch for the parents and all the fans, the energy out there and how excited everyone was to be there and how we all worked together.”
The semifinal was a rematch with Forest Xtreme and the Predators prevailed 7-6 in overtime to advance to the final and clinch a spot in the Eastern Canadian tournament.
The locals were edged 3-1 by West Ottawa to return home with provincial silver medals.
“There were a lot of nerves going into those games,” co-captain Grace Weber said. “You could tell as soon as we got there, people looked scared and, like, we took it and we went with what we do. We knew what we had to do to get our headspace ready to go and in warm-ups we did the exact same thing that we normally do. We played our game. We did everything that we needed to do to win."
“They worked really hard. They played together throughout the whole weekend,” Marrow said. “The energy was good. There's times where maybe the reffing wasn't going our way and the girls instead of getting angry and frustrated, they were able to rally together and keep playing as a team, as a unit and keeping it together.
"Our captains also did a great job of rallying the team together, being good leaders for what we wanted some of our younger players to see how the resiliency is a really important part of the game because you're going to be down. There's going to be times when the other team comes back and they are working just as hard. Instead of getting down and worked up, they were able to just say, 'okay, take a few deep breaths. It's a close game and we want it more than they do.'”
The medal victory adds to the Predators’ medal haul this season as they didn't leave a tournament empty-handed.
“The girls did well in all of our tournaments,” Warne said. “We ended up playing in the finals at every tournament. We have two silver, two golds, so I actually expected them to finish in the top four and then move on to Sunday at Provincials. From there, you never know. It's a different day and all four teams are vying for those two spots (in the Eastern Canadians). So it wasn't really a surprise because these girls are really talented.”
The Eastern Canadians are as far as the team can go and they’ll be joined there by West Ottawa as the other Ontario representative along with single entries from P.E.I., Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec. The West Ottawa squad is the only one that the Predators have played this season.
“It's all going to be new teams and so we're going to have to go into that, play our game and focus on what we do best,” Carberry said.
“At this point they know how to play, they know how to win, they know how to work together,” Marrow said. “It's really about that mental component and that's a huge thing that we'll be working a bit on (in pre-tournament practices).”
“I think we just have to keep reminding them of what we've worked on all season,” Warne said. “It’s just going over the things that we've done all year and just going over them, repeating. That's the way they learn is to repeat, repeat, repeat – that and keeping up the resilience, too. It's going to be a grind just as much as provincials is, Easterns will be as well because we can play five to seven games there, too.”
However, teams know pretty early in the games what makes their opponents tick.
“Typically, it's pretty easy to tell within the first couple shifts how a team is going to play and what you need to do to make adjustments and stuff,” Weber said. “And from that point on, we make those adjustments as we need.”
The whole idea is, of course, to have the opposition adjust to what you’re doing.
“Exactly,” Weber said. “But not all the times are teams going to do that. So, sometimes there are adjustments that we need to make, whether it be lines or whether it be what you are doing specifically – like plays and stuff like that. And sometimes we have to do it in order to come out on top.”
And that could lead to an outcome that makes the season extra special.
“It's been electric,” Carberry said of the season. “That's how I would describe it. I mean, I've had a great time all year and I think that energy has really been there this year. We've all been really positive and focused and I think we've all been working really hard together. We all want the same thing, right? And, you know, we've all come together. I've made some great friendships through this sport, you know, and this is 12 years in the making for me. This is my first opportunity. Not all teams get that chance so I'm really happy to be there and I think we all are super pumped.”
It’ll also be the last time the team plays together as a group. The older players, the 18-year-olds like Carberry and Weber, will be continuing their schooling at universities or colleges next fall.
“Yeah, so this is kind of my last go at it at this level,” Carberry said. “There's university and open (level) and stuff, but some of these players I've played with since I was really little and we're all going our separate ways next year. While those friendships may stay, we won't be playing together.”
“This will be my last year, but I definitely won' stop playing,” Weber said. “There are other teams always out there to play on and you can find all sorts of
levels and whatnot, but this is a nice last year (of minor ringette) to finish on, that's for sure.”
