Ignited by eight St. Albert skaters, the zone 5 Demolition ringette team exploded for a gold medal at the U12 petite AA provincial tournament in Edmonton.
The St. Albert connection included Anatonia Hood, Kennedy Palmer, Mckenna Eklund, Darian Delhez, Kristen Fedoriw, Ryiah Siffledeen, Danielle Petter and Shahn Yaceyko.
Rounding out the roster were Kiana Assenheimer, Rachel McMillan, Leah Toma, Logan Sims, Jenna Sullivan, Kiara Sims and Megan Garon.
In the final the Demolition defeated Calgary Sisu 6-4. It was 3-2 at the break.
Palmer scored the game winner and insurance marker in the last five minutes of play after Calgary tied it at 4-4.
Petter opened the scoring and Eklund notched the third goal. Hood added the fourth goal in period two.
In the five-team draw, the Demolition finished in a three-way tie with Calgary Kazi and Central Sting. In the mini-games to determine who would play Sisu in the final, the Demolition edged Kazi 2-1 in sudden-death overtime and after a 15-minute break shut out the Sting 1-0. The losses sent both teams into the bronze-medal game.
The highest finish in tournament action for the Demolition before provincials was silver.
The Bellerose Bulldogs finished third overall in the men’s division and 10th in the female division at the recent Edmonton zone wrestling championships at Memorial High School in Stony Plain.
The point total for the Bellerose males was 26. Jasper Place placed first with 59 and Memorial was second with 29.
The overall medal haul for the Bulldogs was one gold, seven silver and two bronze.
Lewis Biamonte was crowned the 98-kilogram champion.
Placing second in their respective weight categories were Aidan Shiels (120 kg), Rebecca Wright (53 kg), Darian Elgert (68 kg), Kieran Fraser (82 kg), Megan McKinstry (61 kg), Katarina Mokrus (75 kg) and Emily Riehl (70 kg).
Coming in third were Ben Graunke (68 kg) and Jake Mentz (76 kg).
In fourth place were Katrina Augustyn (57 kg) and Tyler Withers (90 kg).
Matthew Barry (98 kg), Robert Blunden (90 kg) and Stephanie Nichol (57 kg) finished fifth.
Bethany Olivier (57 kg), Stewart Simmers (68 kg) and Rob Tingley (90 kg) wound up sixth.
What started out three years ago as a seven-person Bellerose wrestling team evolved into a 21-grappler unit, including nine females in 11 weight categories. The majority were newcomers to the sport.
Up next for the Bulldogs are provincials, starting Friday at Memorial.
Dan Durham of St. Albert was selected to the all-conference first team in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference volleyball.
The six-foot-two left-side player with Mount Royal University finished second in kills/set with a 4.2 average.
The high school product of the Paul Kane Blues is enrolled in sciences.
