The highest level of ringette at the provincial level will be showcased at the AA championships next year in St. Albert.
The U14 tweens, U16 juniors and U19 belles will be on display at the provincial AA tournaments hosted by the St. Albert Ringette Association.
“It’s good for St. Albert because it draws more attention to the sport,” said Keri McEachern, the media relations co-ordinator for the Feb. 27 to March 1 competition.
It’s the highest profile ringette tournament in St. Albert since the 2008 Canadian junior, belle and National Ringette League championships.
St. Albert was also the location for the first AA provincials outside of Edmonton or Calgary in 1999.
“These provincials are big. We expect the stands will be full,” McEachern said. “They’re highly skilled athletes at this level.”
Admission is free for all 45 games and the venues are the Go Auto, Troy Murray, Mark Messier and Kinex arenas.
“If you have daughters interested in the sport I encourage you to bring your kids out. It’s a great sport. It’s fast, it’s fun and it builds relationships. There is nothing like it,” McEachern said.
Provincials consist of six tween, six junior and five belle teams.
“With 17 teams coming to St. Albert it’s good for the hotel businesses, restaurant businesses and retail stores,” McEachern said.
The tween, junior and belle St. Albert Mission teams are the hometown favourites at provincials.
This is the second year in St. Albert for the junior AA and belle AA teams and the third year for the tween AA team.
The tweens are 13-8-1 as the winner of the Wood AA tournament in Edmonton and silver medallists at the Turkey Ring in St. Albert and the Bernadette Price Memorial AA Tournament in Saskatoon.
The junior’s 13-3-1 record includes a fourth-place finish at the Wood.
The belles are 11-4-1 against U19 AA teams and 15-7-3 overall as the Wood champions and Bernadette Price silver medallists.
This weekend the juniors and belles are skating at the Central Alberta Sting tournament in Lacombe.
“All three teams are very competitive,” McEachern said of the provincial contenders.
The junior and belle Alberta champions advance to the nationals, March 25 to April 4 in Fort McMurray.
The tween champion heads to westerns, March 25 to 28 in Calgary. Westerns also includes the U16 A, U19 A and open A divisions.
Last year at the AA nationals Alberta was represented by six junior teams in the 16-team division and four belle teams in the 18-team division.
The Mission teams finished 13th in U16 and 14th in U19.
The U14 AA provincial champion and the runner-up qualified for the 2014 westerns.
Details are still sketchy as to the number of Alberta junior and belle teams for nationals and the tween reps for westerns. An announcement is expected Wednesday from Ringette Canada as to how many teams each province can send to nationals and it’s not clear when the Alberta quota of tween teams for westerns will be finalized.
It’s expected the majority of the junior and belle teams at provincials will advance because the Canadian championships are in Alberta and last year’s teams did fairly well at the U16 and U19 nationals. In U16 the Sting were awarded silver and the Calgary Edge (Team Alberta) won bronze and in U19 the Edmonton Elite received silver and Calgary (Team Alberta) earned bronze.
ICE CHIPS: More than 150 volunteers are needed for provincials. A minimum of six volunteers are required per game. To volunteer, contact Dwayne Girard, the chair for provincials, at [email protected].
Next weekend the Alberta and Saskatchewan teams for the Canada Winter Games have exhibitions scheduled in St. Albert. They play Saturday at 3 p.m. at Mark Messier and Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at Troy Murray.
Three players from St. Albert made Team Alberta: twins Kate and Lauren Henderson of the U19 Mission and Janelle Wilk of the U19 Elite.
The Canada Winter Games are Feb. 13 to 20 in Prince George, B.C.
Leading up to provincials is a National Ringette Game between the Edmonton WAM! (2010 and 2011 national champions) and Calgary RATH (2013 champions) on Jan. 24 to help promote the Alberta championships.
