It's an exciting time for Forest XTreme Ringette.
The U16-A and U19-A teams will represent Team Ontario at the Eastern Region Championships, set for April 20 to 23 in Moncton, NB.
Both squads recently won gold at their respective Ringette Ontario provincial tournament, competing against teams from West Ottawa, Waterloo, and Timmins.
The U19 event was held in Mississauga, and featured 11 Tier 1 teams. In the gold medal game, the Forest team defeated London by a score of 5-4.
"We had some unique challenges this year and our players worked hard and really focused on their goal of earning a gold medal at provincials,” said U19-A head coach Tanya McKinlay, “To achieve Team Ontario representation really reflects our love of the sport and our determination to be the best we can possibly be.”
In the U16 division, the Forest squad beat Nepean 3-2 in the gold medal match.
Head Coach Adam McKinlay said they have been a strong and determined team this year and had high hopes for the provincial tournament.
"The competition was also strong this past weekend and we had some challenging games so we had to dig pretty deep to pull off our gold medal win," he said.
Forest XTreme Ringette President Shae Stanbra said the goal for regionals is to at least advance to Sunday's semi-final rounds.
"We hope to see that the girls can come home with some more bling around their necks, absolutely," said Stanbra. "They've worked hard all season, and they're continuing to skate on the ice and practice hard for that competition."
Stanbra said travelling to Moncton will be an expensive venture.
They have 31 players and bench staff as well as families to take on the trip.
"It's not just the trip across the provinces, but it's the expense of the extra ice time, the expense of the travel and the equipment to get put out there. It's easily over a couple grand a player to get out there, and that's not including the cost of their families to join them," she said.
Stanbra said you can check out Forest Xtreme Ringette Association on Instagram and Facebook for the latest on their fundraising efforts.
"As always, the members and businesses in the surrounding area have been extremely supportive. The Forest Firefighters Association, Forest Legion Branch 176, Jacob's, Strathroy Canadian Tire, and Dust Stop Air Filters are all supporting us," she said. "We hope community members will be able to come out to some of our fundraising efforts as well."
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