Team B.C. avenged its only two losses to come back and win the province's first-ever under16 title at the Canadian Ringette Championships in Fredericton, N.B.
The Lower Mainland reps, including New Westminster defender Hailey Valancius, doubled Alberta champion Calgary Strive 8-4 in the gold-medal final on Saturday.
Ingrid Bakke of Delta scored two first-period goals, including the eventual game-winner, as B.C. dominated the first half 6-1. Burnaby/New Westminster association product Lauren Watson scored a goal and drew an assist on Bakke's game-winning tally.
Dana Dunstan of Surrey also scored a pair of goals for B.C. Second team all-star goalie Sarah MacDonald of Langley made 32 saves in goal for the winners.
Rachel Gauthier of Langley and first team all-star Arisa Cadeau of Delta chipped in with four and three points, respectively.
"It was just like, 'Wow, we actually did this.' What we worked for all year came down to this," said Valancius, who was honoured as the team's flag bearer at the event. "A lot of the girls were crying. It was thrilling."
In the semifinals, B.C. avenged its only other defeat, beating Ontario champ Guelph Predators 2-0 on goals by Cadeau and Watson. MacDonald registered the shutout, stopping all 42 shots fired her way.
Earlier in the round-robin championship, B.C.'s only losses were a 4-3 overtime loss to Strive on April 1 and a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Guelph the following day.
The loss to Strive was the second this season for the Lower Mainland girls.
"We were pretty bummed about it because we lost to them in (at an earlier tournament) in Ottawa. When we did lose, we didn't know how the rest of the tournament was going to go," Valancius said, adding the team questioned whether they wanted to win as much as they said they did.
The girls decided to do some soul searching and got together before each game - kept positive and resolved to stick with their checks. It worked.
B.C. knocked off the Central Alberta Sting 6-2 the following day and finished off the round-robin on a 4-0 run.
"We stayed focused and knew what we wanted now. We wanted to go to the finals and win it," Valancius added.
B.C. advanced past the quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory over Alberta No. 2 Calgary C.R.E.W. MacDonald was again the difference, stopping all 32 Calgary shots on goal.
B.C. finished the preliminary round with a record of 5-2, including 37 goals for and just 16 against.
In the championship round, B.C. kept its winning streak alive, outscoring the remaining three teams by a combined 12-4 score.
"It actually feels real cool. Now the younger kids know they can do it too, since we did it first," Valancius said.
The Lower Mainland u19 team, including Burnaby defender Danielle Wall and New Westminster keeper Tara Stevens, finished third in its pool and did not advance to the championship round.
Ontario champ Nepean Ravens defeated the Winnipeg Magic 5-4 in the u-19 gold-medal final.
In the National Ringette League final, Calgary RATH upset unbeaten Prairie Fire 6-5 in overtime.
Defending NRL champion B.C. Thunder finished the round-robin in a three-way tie for third place, but lost a mini game 1-0 to eventual bronze medallist Cambridge, Ont. Salla Kyhala was named a first team all-star.
