Molly Chorney’s overtime goal was pure gold for St. Albert Quantum at the belle A provincial ringette championship.
The hat-trick marker by the Quantum centre was the gold-medal winner in Sunday’s 6-5 final against the Calgary Southview Sharks in Spruce Grove.
“It was very, very exciting,” said head coach Travis Sawchuk. “There were tears and joy and laughter when she scored. The whole team mobbed her in front of the net. It was crazy.”
Chorney converted a pass by forward Kathryn Hicks during a two-man power play at 3:36 of the first overtime period.
“Kathryn pulled the goalie out of position, held on to the ring and then passed it over to Molly and she really had a wide open net to score in,” Sawchuk said.
Chorney also tied the game with about five minutes left to play.
“They probably carried the play to us and had the better opportunities but we were more opportunistic,” Sawchuk said.
Hicks, Laura Zubick and Meghan Biggar also scored in the final. Hilary McHale added four assists, Sam Cowan had three helpers and netminder Bianca Barry stopped 42 shots against a familiar foe from last season.
“It’s a team that we struggled against in the past. A lot of their players were the same as last year,” Sawchuk said. “I believe they only lost one game this year and they were definitely the top team in the province in everyone’s eyes.”
Quantum was a team possessed at the U19 provincials while racking up convincing wins of 9-4 against the Medicine Hat Extreme, 10-4 against the Calgary Northwest Legacy and 6-2 against the Leduc Jaguars in the round robin and 6-3 against the Edmonton Elan in the semifinal.
“I’m proud of the girls. A lot of them had never experienced winning a provincial championship before so it was especially rewarding,” Sawchuk said. “We had about eight girls come back who are third-year players, which is kind of unusual, and they came back specifically to win provincials.”
The team’s overall record is 31-7-4.
“It had to do with a lot of sacrificing by the girls because at this age they’ve got other interests in regards to jobs and school,” Sawchuk said. “A lot of the girls also played together for a few years and they had that desire to play for each other to achieve that ultimate goal.”
The next major challenge for Quantum is the March 21-24 western championship tournament in Kelowna.
“It’s the next step in what they want to achieve in their ringette careers because after that a lot of them will still play, but it would be in more of a beer-league type setting,” Sawchuk said. “They really do want to finish on top.”
