On an incredible day of firsts for New Brunswick and British Columbia, a powerful Ontario team, from small St. Clements, also claimed a national ringette title.
In the final day of action at the 2012 Tim Hortons Canadian ringette championships in Burnaby, the South East Stingers won the under-16 national title, the first-ever gold medal for a team from New Brunswick. The Stingers beat the London Lynx 7-3. The St. Clements Rockets won the u-19 title with a 5-4 win over Calgary.
In the National Ringette League final, the expansion LMRL Thunder won the first-ever gold medal for British Columbia in a national ringette final, downing the Montreal Mission 7-2.
"I had goose bumps," said Stingers coach Gilles Proulx, whose mission to get gold was stepped up five years ago at an appearance at nationals in Halifax, when his team lost the gold-medal game in overtime.
"(With assistant coach Andre Vautour) we had tears in our eyes. We're so proud of these girls. It really hurt when we lost (five years ago). We thought we had the team to win it all. We started preparing this group then."
"We wanted to make our coaches proud," added Stingers goalie Nathalie Poirier, who along with many of her teammates had tears of joy streaming down her face as she accepted her gold medal.
"It was pretty emotional. I couldn't believe we had had won gold. It is an amazing feeling. I can't describe that feeling. (Friday night) I woke up four times. I wanted to win this for my teammates and coaches."
The history of the victory wasn't lost on the coaches or the players, proud to represent their province.
"This will last forever," said Proulx. "We had a motto: Pain goes away, but victory stays forever. We started out at the bottom of Mount Everest. And we reached the summit with this game."
"This proves to other provinces that New Brunswick has what it takes," said Poirier.
During the magical season, the Stingers played 42 games, losing just once to Nova Scotia. The team travelled to tournaments in Ottawa (two), Guelph, Ont., Pierrefonds, Que. and Miramichi. The team also spent much of its home time playing against the West Kent Hot Shots and the National Ringette League's Atlantic Attack.
St. Clements had been an offensive force in the u-19 division all week, led by the Nosal sisters - Samantha, Paige and Sydney. The team is coached by their parents - Terry and Scott Nosal, who alternate each season as head coach.
"We'd been to nationals before where we could pick up players, but this year, it was all hometown players," said Terry. "We've been fortunate. We've had the core group for six years now. And we've been to many championship games."
When the game ended, there was a huge sigh of relief and plenty of celebrating on the St. Clements bench. Calgary, which had fallen behind 4-0 early just kept battling.
"I was thinking, 'I can't believe it's over," said Terry. "In that one moment, it takes your breath away. It's so unbelievable."
But the NRL final had a special meaning to many in the stands of the Bill Copeland Sports Centre to watch their hometown Thunder make Canadian ringette history.
"Everyone is so proud to represent their province and the Lower Mainland Ringette League," said Thunder coach Chris Wakefield. "When there were 30 seconds left and it was 7-2, it kind of sunk in. We were looking at each other and looking at the players, seeing how happy their were.
"The goal was to make the championship game. And once you make it, you can own the moment. We wanted to make it on our own, not just as the host team. As I've said, the teams that play their best on Friday can ride that (in the championship game)."
There were plenty of heroes, starting with sparkplug Salla Kyhala, who had four goals and an assist when it counted most. "Our defence was awesome ... our goalie, too," said Kyhala. "We've always known we can score. Our challenge has been to not let them score on us."
Forty-six teams from across the country competed in three divisions - u-16 (20 teams), u-19 (18 teams) and the National Ringette League (NRL) division (18+), which represents the NRL championship tournament saw the top four Western conference teams competing against the top four Eastern conference teams.
Rosters, schedules, standings and stats can be found at the following links:
U16: http://www.leaguestat.com/ringettecanada/crc_u16/en/stats/schedule.php
U19: http://www.leaguestat.com/ringettecanada/crc_u19/en/stats/schedule.php
NRL: http://www.nationalringetteleague.ca/stats/schedule.php?view=day
More information on the event can be found on the Ringette Canada website at: http://www.cansportlive2.com/tabid/17281/language/en-US/Default.aspx
Photos can be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ringettecanada/
Final results for Saturday, April 14 at the 2012 Tim Hortons Canadian ringette championships in Burnaby, BC:
U-16 DIVISION
BLL 6 Calgary Vitality 5
South East Stingers 7 London Lynx 3
Gold: South East Stingers
Silver: London Lynx
Bronze: BLL
U-19 DIVISION
Nepean Ravens 5 Rive-Sud 1
St. Clements Rockets 5 Calgary 4
Gold: St. Clements Rockets
Silver: Calgary
Bronze: Nepean Ravens
NATIONAL RINGETTE LEAGUE
LMRL Thunder 7 Montreal Mission 2
Gold: LMRL Thunder
Silver: Montreal Mission
Bronze: Ottawa Ice
