Ringette club reaches Bronze medal game

Nipissing Ringette club reaches Bronze medal game in University Challenge CupNipissing University’s ringette club competed in the University Challenge Cup over the holidays, reaching the semifinals. The tournament, featuring 14 schools from across the country, is the national championship for university ringette in Canada.The Nipissing team, in its second year, competed in Tier 2 against teams from Carleton, Brock, Guelph, Waterloo and McMaster. Tier 1 included more established teams from as far east as Dalhousie and as far west as the University of Alberta and University of Calgary.
In round robin play, Nipissing lost its first game 7-2 against Carleton, and were beat 4-1 by Guelph.  On the second day of competition, Nipissing needed a pair wins to make the medal round.  In the first game, against Waterloo, Nipissing’s offense came to life, and the team notched a 7-2 victory.  In their second game of the day, Nipissing overwhelmed the squad from Brock by a score of 8-1. Their third game of the day and last match of the round robin saw a very tired team lose 5-2 to the eventual gold medal winning team from McMaster.
In the quarter finals, Nipissing met Brock again, defeating them 5-0, with Jamie Polesky registering the shutout. This put Nipissing in the semi-finals, where they met McMaster once again. Although they played well defensively with stellar goaltending by Alanna Ticknor, the team could not get the offence rolling and lost 4-1, sending them to the bronze medal game.
In the bronze game, Nipissing met the first place team from the round robin, Carleton University, who had been upset 3-2 by Guelph in the semi-finals. In what was probably the most exciting game of the event, Nipissing was down 1-0 after the first period.
Coach Jeff Francom explains how the game unfolded: “There were many near misses on offence in that game but we could not buy a goal until the very end. We had many chances but could not capitalize as their goalie stood on her head and our girls wore out the goalposts and crossbars.”The final score was 3-1 for Carleton.
After the game, Coach Francom said, “This is only the second year for the ringette program at Nipissing, so to make the medal round and have some success is a great step forward for these ladies.  We are already making plans for next year, where we intend to come home with a medal.”
For more information about university ringette, see www.canadianuniversityringette.ca.