4 Manitobans help Canada win gold in OT at world ringette championship
Team Canada's men's team may not have fared well in the world juniors over the holidays, but four Manitoba women on the country's U21 ringette team certainly did.
"It's been a long journey for these girls," said Laralie Higginson, executive director of the Manitoba Ringette Association. "When you think back over the last couple of years, those girls have been constantly, constantly involved with ringette."
Canada won gold at the world junior ringette championships, which wrapped up in Helsinki, Finland, on Jan. 3. They beat Finland 10-9 in the final.
The team was comprised of 16 players under the age of 21, four of whom are from Manitoba.
"We were happy when they were selected to the team, I don't think we were surprised they did," she said.
"It's unbelievable how dedicated those women are, and their families," she said, adding the parents of the Manitoba players all followed the women over to Finland to take in the game.
Winnipeg goalie Ryann Bannerman from St. Vital and centre Talia Gallant from The Maples, defender Sam Renooy and centre Keyona Tomiuk from Oakbank, made the cut this summer.
Three of the four — Tomiuk, Renooy and Gallant — were on the same AA club team in the province that won a national U19 championship in 2014 in Regina. Bannerman was selected along with those three to represent Canada after an impressive showing at last year's Canada Games.
They helped net Manitoba its first Canada Games gold medal in February of 2014 in Prince George, B.C.
While the level of inter-provincial play is competitive in Canada, representing Team Canada was something new for all of the Manitoba women.
Canada and Finland were early favourites heading into the tournament, Higginson said.
"Finland and Canada have been historically, predominantly, the powerhouses in ringette in the world," she said.
Finland won the last world championship tournament, Higginson said, so the Canadians had the home team in their cross-hairs from the start.
Canada breezed through the round robin. They went undefeated through the opening round, dominating Finland in the process and foreshadowing what was to come in the final. That placed them at the top of the heap in their pool and had them poised to skate away with the gold.
'Gelling as a team'
Despite being such an elite group of players, talent on the individual level never guarantees a team's success, Higginson said.
"They don't get to play with that team often in the year. It's a matter of getting those athletes together, gelling as a team," Higginson said.
In the end, the diverse team gelled quite nicely. "They're probably at the top of the world right now," Higginson said.
One of the returns to Winnipeg Tuesday, two arrive Wednesday and the fourth is coming home on Sunday.
Higginson said she is proud of how dedicated the women are to the game. She thinks the win has made the Manitoba women important role models for young girls in the sport in Manitoba.
"I think it will help ringette in terms of its viability, its exposure, that there's lots of things that kids can aspire to to become top-notch ringette athletes," she said, adding roughly 2,800 people currently play ringette in Manitoba.
"When kids can see that, 'Hey, you know what, these girls, they played club level at one time, then they came up to a AA program … I can do that, too."
The 2017 world junior ringette championships will be held in Canada.
