The Annual Manitoba High School Ringette
Tournament By Al Gowriluk
The Manitoba High School Ringette Tournament is in the books , the executive director of the Manitoba Ringette Association ( MRA ) congratulates Transcona Ringette for hosting a successful high school tournament . Laralie Higginson thanks Kim Fraser and the committee from Transcona . Sixteen teams participated in the tourney ( 8 rural and 8 urban ). Oak Park won gold , Portage Collegiate captured silver with Lorette took home the bronze . Higginson adds the high school tournament is a tremendous opportunity for athletes to represent their school . As we know , these athletes love to play ringette , they appreciate the fact that their friends who have never played ringette can also participate . The MRA looks forward to our 2017 high school tournament being hosted by the North Winnipeg Ringette Association . We believe there is an opportunity for our high school tournament to become a bigger event in the future , involving more teams .
Portage La Prairie :
Lorette - Bronze Medalists :
High School
Ringette Tournament
As former hosts of this tournament , we knew what to expect and Transcona Ringette did not disappoint . The school , the community and the players love this tournament as they get to play with some players who normally would not be rostered on the same team . This tournament gets everyone , including sisters the opportunity to play together . This is always a greatly anticipated tournament and we are always eager to attend . I just hope the AA tryouts and CanLan tournament does not conflict with next year ’ s tournament , says team spokesperson Joy Howden of Lorette Collegiate . As the2017 tournament dates of April 20 – 23 at Seven Oaks have been selected , any perceivable conflict could be easily avoided by CanLan and the MRA .
Oak Park Raiders : Gold Medal Champions
At first , our high school was not on board with the tournament as ringette is not a sanctioned sport in high school . Through our perseverance the high school came around and allowed the players to take part . It was so well received by the players that we had more interest than we could roster and we had try outs . The last time we participated in this tournament was so long ago , that none of our present roster would have been able to take part . It gave the girls a chance to play with old teammates or with those who they have never played with before . Our 2016 roster , 2 players had made the move to high school hockey , so it was nice to see their return , says team spokesperson Michelle Jack .
Jack goes on to say our head coach , Darren Miller was able to coach his daughter ’ s , Morgan ( grade 12 ) and Kami ( grade 9 ) in the tournament which he wouldn ’ t otherwise been able to do . Morgan Paryinuk also joined our team , who has being playing AA Ringette for a few years now , allowing her to play with girls she started out with . It was a very positive experience for everyone , and we look forward to participating next year when North Winnipeg Ringette will host the tournament at the new Seven Oaks Arena .
16 / sportslife
Back row ( L to R ): Trish Harrison ( manager ), Cali Charron , Ashley Seitz , Sydney Southall , Courtney Thiessen , Allison Canvin , Gillian Laninga , Ken Groen ( coach ) Front row : Maria Marsh-Carilles , Breanna Hildebrandt , Belle Groen , Sammy Groen , Taylor Harrison , Meghan Austen-Blake . Missing : Courtney Kruse , Dana Poulton and Alyssa Olsen .
Tricia Harrison of Oak Park says “ we saw the ads for this tournament many years ago and many players could not wait until they could play . As Oak Park is very proud to consider themselves a sports school , the administration was more than happy to assist in the paper work for us to participate in this tournament . Surprisingly , only 3 of the girls of a roster of 15 had played in the tournament in the past and another 3 have never even played the sport before , but as word spread the excitement grew and it wasn ’ t long until the school was