The Hardware Comes To Timmins
The Timmins Tornadoes U12, U14, U16, and U19 all competed for the first time in two years on February 10th to the 13th in Ajax. The players were very excited to return to competitive ringette and play the sport that they love.
The U12s competed in their very first tournament as Tornadoes and represented the association with pride. In the always competitive U12 division, these young ladies played their hearts out and learned many valuable lessons that will help with their development in the coming years. Most importantly these young players had fun. The U12s went 1-3 playing very competitive games against Richmond Hill, City of Ottawa and Barrie. Adèle Plouffe, their goaltender, was the breakout player of the team keeping the Tornadoes in every game. Their win came against Sault Ste Marie in an exciting 5 to 4 victory. The future is bright for this group of talented ringette players. Now the coaches and players prepare for their Regional Championships in April.
The U14s were back on the ice almost 2 years to the day of their last competition and showed that the pandemic did not slow this talented group of players. They went a perfect 4-0 in round robin play beating teams such as Sudbury, Whitby, Sault Ste Marie and host team Ajax Pickering. The team was able to get production from all their lines and defence played a strong role in getting them into the semi finals. In the semis, the Tornadoes played the Sault and was able to advance to the finals with the help of great goal tending from Christelle Berthier. The Sunday afternoon finals featured the undefeated Tornadoes versus the undefeated team from Burlington. Both teams gave it their all and Timmins came up short losing a close 5 to 3 game. The U14 Tornadoes secured the silver medal and are now looking forward to their Provincial Championship in March.
The U16 Timmins Tornadoes travelled to Ajax to play in their first competitive tournament in two years due to Covid 19 restrictions. Two years ago this team was one of the best A teams in the province when the country was shut down by the pandemic. They were a team of 14 players back then and due to a few different reasons five of those players did not participate this season. The team got lucky when a U14 player registered late this year and was not able to play competitive ringette in her own division and was welcomed her with open arms to give them 10 skaters and a goalie. The team started to practice in October with the hopes of tournament play returning in January. In December there were more lock downs causing their first tournament in January to be cancelled. Fortunately the next scheduled tournament was in Ajax and they were looking to host as long as the arenas would be open and as luck would have it arenas were allowed to be open with a 50% fan capacity limit. The team packed up their gear and made the long trip down on the Thursday with round robin play beginning on Friday. On Friday morning the girls came out flying against Sault Ste Marie and won 7 to 0. Anika Alarie played in her first competitive tournament and scored four goals and added an assist while Camryn Hyde scored a goal and added two assists and played a fantastic game. The defensive pair of Ella Brumwell and Talia Rivard played a strong defensive game and our goalie Jo-Anne Vane posted the shut out. The teams confidence built with every shift as half of the team was playing a new position then they had been in previous years. The afternoon game was against the host team Ajax Pickering and they were a very physical team. It was a very close game and the Tornadoes were able to hang on late for another 4-2 victory. The captain Keenyah Murray scored two goals with Amaya Come and Zoe Brazeau scoring as well. The defensive pair of Janelle Lapierre and Lauren Bonsall played a great game limiting Ajax’s scoring opportunities. Game three was played on Saturday morning against Forest which always has a very strong team. The Tornadoes played well but fell behind early and could not catch up and suffered their first loss of the tournament 5-2. The fourth game of the round robin was played on Saturday afternoon and the team knew that with a win they would make it to the semifinals on Sunday morning. The team started off slowly but built momentum in the second period and pulled away late with a 7-2 victory. The forward pair of Karine Bolduc and Amaya Come were finding some great chemistry together as the Tornadoes kept the Sunderland team pinned in their zone for the majority of the period. The Sunday morning semifinals set up a rematch against the physical team from Ajax Pickering and the team was feeling a bit nervous after being away from these pressure situations for a long time. The Tornadoes collected their emotions early and played their best game of the weekend when it mattered the most and out worked Ajax in a hard fought 5-2 win that was dominated by their defensive play and superb goal tending. The team had earned another crack in the finals against the undefeated team from Forest. In the finals Forest came out strong and the Tornadoes had trouble keeping up with them and fell behind 4-0 after the first period. The extremely tired team from Timmins dug down deep and played a second period that they can be proud of and fell short with the final score being 5-1. The team was able to put the loss behind them quickly when they realised how far they have come in such a short period of time. They were able to leave with their heads held high and big smiles on their faces because they were Silver Medalists in their first tournament in two years, Goooooo Tornadoes!!!!
The Timmins Tornadoes U19 competitive team has waited 2 long years to get back on the ice for tournament play. Despite limited training sessions and ice times, this squad managed to stay motivated to train hard through it all. The February 10-13 weekend in Ajax, they played their first tournament since the pandemic began. They stepped up and proved that they are resilient and showed how passion for their sport and teamwork are the key to success. They brought back gold!
During round robin play, they had their work cut out for them as their first opponent was Forest, the only team that defeated them 2 years ago. Anticipating a hard battle to fight, the Tornadoes hit the ice with an unparalleled passion. Their speed and stamina proved to be the difference in the game. They quickly jumped to a lead and never looked back. They won their first contest 8-4. Then, the Tornadoes faced the Ajax host team. The Tornadoes stormed out of the gate and cruised to a 12-2 victory.
Day 2 of competition was the battle of the North. The rivalry between North Bay’s West Ferris team and Timmins has provided many hard-fought games over the years. The first half of the first period lived up to expectations as both teams were intense. However, the Tornadoes finally found the back of the net putting relentless pressure on West Ferris to put the game away with a score of 10-1. The last game was against the Sault-Ste-Marie Ice Hawks. Wanting to get a bye to go directly to the finals, the Tornadoes hit fast and hard and managed to get a convincing 12-0 win.
After a semi-final that saw the Ice Hawks pick themselves up and upset the undefeated City of Ottawa team, it was a rematch between Timmins and the Sault-Ste-Marie Ice Hawks. Timmins scored 3 early goals to take an early lead but, with 2 Tornadoes players in the box, the Ice Hawks mounted a come back and scored 2 goals to make it 3-2. A few minutes after the power play, they evened the score to 3-3 and were determined to upset the Tornadoes. However, Timmins never wavered from their game plan and went back on offence. They took control and maintained their composure to win the game and tournament with a 12-4 score.
The Tornadoes success was backed by solid performances from both goalies (Kyara Breton and Katie Page) who made key saves to prevent the other teams to get back in games. Stellar play from defence (Danika Ratté, Gabby Larocque, Karine Harvey and Tessa Desjardins) not only stopped the other teams but also quarterbacked many of the attacks with quick break outs. Finally, relentless forechecking, blinding speed and great passing from the offensive squad (Marguerite Bourdages-Côté, Émilie Viel, Caelen Easton, Sierra Landry, Jessica Boileau and Marie-Pier Durepos-Létourneau) created havoc and put the games away from the other teams. The Tornadoes displayed a true team effort with important contributions from every player to grab the championship title!
The coaching and training staff are extremely proud of this amazing group of athletes and champions!
