U14A Ice Hawks golden again

Tournaments have seen plenty of success early on for the U14A Sault Ice Hawks of the Sault Ringette Club.

The local team captured its second consecutive tournament title over the weekend, winning the annual Greater Sudbury Ringette Tournament.

Following is a full release from the team on the tournament win:

Make it back-to-back tournament wins for the U14A Sault Ice Hawks based out of the Sault Ringette Club. This past weekend the girls made the short trip to Sudbury for the annual Greater Sudbury Ringette Tournament for their second tournament of the season. This tournament saw some new opponents, some team struggles and a big rebound to a strong full team effort to secure the gold medal.

Friday’s matchups saw the Sault team face off against the Etobicoke Stingers. The Stingers got off to a quick start scoring 30 seconds into the game. The Sault was able to tie it up shortly after, but struggled to get momentum going as they ended up in penalty trouble throughout the first half of the first period. The Ice Hawks however were able to build a 3-1 lead heading into the second. Both teams struggled with staying out of the penalty box in the second period but the girls from the Sault grouped together scoring six unanswered goals and getting the 9-1 victory. The afternoon contest saw them take on their biggest rivals so far this season in the Greater Sudbury North Stars. The Sault girls picked up the win in the Oshawa tournament and Sudbury was looking for revenge here. In this game the Sault got off to the quick start scoring one minute in and held on to that throughout the period ending it 1-0. Sudbury however didn’t let up and scored 3 in the 2nd taking the 3-1 lead and giving the Sault their first loss of the season. The girls struggled in the second half of this game and lost the team first mentality that they excel at.

Saturday morning was a new day and new challenges. The first game of the day saw the Ice Hawks take on the Sunderland Stingerz in a matchup of two teams who won both sides of the Oshawa tournament last month. A spot in the finals was also on the line as Sudbury had already secured wins over the Sault and Sunderland. The Sault team came out hot and Sunderland was no match for the rejuvenated team play. The Ice Hawks put up five goals in the first period and carried the momentum through the 2nd finishing the game with a 7-3 final. The evening game against the West Ferris 63’s was a win-and-in game for the Sault. Knowing they controlled their own fate the Sault put the pedal to the metal and powered home eight goals in the first and three in the second securing the 11-1 victory and a rematch against Sudbury in the finals.

With the same game plan in place as game one the Sault girls now just needed to execute it. The focus was on team play and movement of the ring and they didn’t disappoint. After trading goals in the first few minutes of the game the Sault took the game to Sudbury scoring 3 more times bringing a 4-1 lead into the second. Sudbury was able to get a goal early in the second cutting the score in half to 4-2 and the teams battled back-and-forth with both goalies not letting anything by. The Ice Hawks were finally able to score again with just over three minutes left in the game and added another in the final minute securing the 6-2 win!

The U14A Ice Hawks weren’t the only Sault team celebrating this weekend either as the other four teams from the Sault Ringette Club who made the journey to Sudbury all came back with medals as well. In the Fun3 Division (U10) both Fun3 teams (Guise and Wright) won their respective sides to take home the gold. The U12A Ice Hawks also left the tournament with a gold medal and the U14B Ice Hawks just came up short in the finals but secured a silver!