The Prince George Citizen - Tuesday, September 16, 1997

by Brian Drewry, Citizen staff

      The Prince George Citizen - Wednesday, October 13, 1999

Charles Laframboise, centre, the executive director of Ringette Canada, was in Prince George last weekend to present the host committee of the 2000 Canadian Ringette Championships a grant of $30,000. Accepting the grant is Roland Ziprick, Co-Chair and Nycole Ross, Treasurer.

The funds will be used to cover the cost of ice, banquet and opening ceremonies.

"Ringette nationals next on the agenda" 

  The Prince George Citizen-SPORTS-Saturday, March 4, 2000

With the Scott Tournament of Hearts now in the books, another major sporting event is poised to take over the Multiplex and Kin Centre.

The 2000 Canadian Ringette Championships runs April 3-8 in Prince George, with 100 officials, 29 teams and 600 players expected to converge on the city.

Battles will be waged in four divisions: junior (nine teams of 14-15 years olds); belle (eight teams of 16-18 years old); deb (seven teams of players ranging in age from 19-23); and intermediate (21 and over, five teams). A 30-second shot clock will be used in the intermediate grouping, an experiment forwarded by Ringette Canada to speed up the game.

Qualifiers are still being played in many of the provinces, but local teams will represent the city as hosts.

"We’re excited, but some days we get a little afraid because it’s getting so close," said Bill Engler, media relations coordinator for the event.

"When we started painting the logos on the ice (as happened Thursday) we started to get excited because it’s almost here. The whole thing is about the tournament and the girls playing, and having it here with those four rinks all together is going to be quite the event."

The complete schedule will be released in about a wee, but organizers know that teams will begin arriving on April 1, with Ringette Canada meetings slated for the following day. The opening ceremonies and the first games will take place on Monday, April 3, with round-robin action continuing until the semifinals on Friday.

The finals are slated for Saturday, April 8 at the Multiplex, although some games could be moved to Kin I if the Cougar’s playoff schedule requires them to play at home on that date. Closing ceremonies will follow the finals, with a banquet planned for the Civic Centre.

The organizing committee is nearing its goal of raising $40,000 in corporate sponsorship, but volunteers are still needed. Those who are interested in helping out can call volunteer coordinator Brenda Neff at 963-9844.

The local committee and Ringette Canada plan to announce a major title sponsor on Monday.

by Jim Swanson, Citizen Sports Editor

The Prince George Citizen, Monday, April 3, 2000

The Prince George Citizen - SPORTS - Saturday, April 1, 2000

Prince George sports fans, consider yourselves lucky.
It’s not every day you get to see a sport played at its highest level, but you’re about to get that chance again when the Tim Horton’s Canadian Ringette Championships begin Monday.
With 29 of the top ringette teams in Canada about to gather here, the week-long nationals are the triple crown in a year of high-profile events that they already included Scott Tournament of Hearts women’s curling championship and what is expected to be a lengthy Western Hockey League playoff run by the Prince George Cougars.

There’s little doubt fans who show up at the Coliseum, Kin Centre and Multiplex this coming week to watch the ringette games are in for a treat. Tournament director Bill Engler is looking forward to seeing the skill level of the teams on display.
"People are going to be amazed," Engler said. "It’s unbelievable how fast the game is and how well they can skate. This tournament will be at least three levels higher than what we’ve ever seen. Even if people know nothing about ringette they’ll be amazed at the level of play."
"You could almost compare it to junior hockey. Some of these girls go on to the national ringette team which goes to Finland for the world championships. Because they are such good skaters and can adapt fairly well to hockey, some of them go on to play on the Canadian national hockey teams."
Three Northern B.C. select teams made up of players form Prince George, Terrace, and Quesnel are entered in the week-long event.
Four championship trophies will be awarded following the final games Saturday for each age category including junior (15-16 years), belle (16-17 years), deb (18-23 years), and intermediate (21-and-over).
If the labour dispute which has kept School District 57 students out of the classroom the past week is settled, arrangements have been made for the Tim Horton’s bus to take full classroom to the tournament.
"We really want the kids to come out and see what ringette is all about.," Engler said. " The kids that play ringette here at a recreational level will see how the game can actually be played and how far they can go. It’s going to be an eyeopener to everybody."
Engler is an assistant coach for the Northern Selects deb (18-23-year-old0 team. While they don’t expect to win the tournament, the local debs figure the experience they’ll gain playing against some of Canada’s best players will be priceless.
A core of 100 volunteers and 15 members of the organizing committee will be expected to handle the crush of getting 29 teams to as many as 117 games in six days.
"We’re probably the smallest city and the smallest organization to host this event," said tournament chair Roland Ziprick. "When you have that many teams to look after it’s going to be busy but we have a lot of good capable people in our organization so I’m quite confident we’ll be able to handle it."
Admission is free for seniors and kids under 12. Day passes sell for $5 during the week, $8 for Saturday’s finals. A tournament pass good for admission to all games costs $25.

by Ted Clarke, Citizen staff

The Prince George Citizen, Monday, April 3, 2000

Citizen SPORTS, Monday, April 3, 2000

While it resembles hockey in many ways, spectators at this week’s national championships in Prince George will see a sport played with a unique set of rules.
Teams are allowed six players on the ice - a goalie, two defences, a centre and two forwards - but only three, not including the goalie, are allowed in the offence zone.
That usually means the attacking team has their two forwards and a centre, while the defensive team has two defences (the ringette term for defencemen) and a centre.
If the defensive team has more than three skaters in their zone during the final two minutes of a game a penalty shot is called. At any other time of the game the team losses possession of the ring.
The attacking zone extends from the end boards to the ’ringette line’, a thin blue line at the top of the faceoff circles.
One rule that is a reverse of hockey is that no player can carry the ring over the regular blueline, it must be passed over the blueline to another teammate and the teammate is allowed to be ahead of the ring carrier, a situation which would be offside in hockey.

Other ringette laws include:
The game is played in two 20-minute periods of stop time.
A goalie ring: the goalie is awarded the ring and has five seconds to throw it towards a teammate. A goalie can be awarded the ring if an offensive player enters the crease or attempts to take the ring out of the crease.
Free pass: This starts play. The ring is placed in the closest free pass circle (hockey’s face off circle) and the player with possession has five seconds to shoot or pass.
There are no icings or two-line offsides (the centre line doesn’t come into play).
Penalties are similar to hockey but body contact of any type is not allowed.
Second control: This occurs when two or more opposing players place sticks in the ring and gain joint control. If the ring is immovable, play is stopped and the ring is awarded (free pass or goalie ring) to the team gaining second control.
For the intermediate (21-and-over) division only, a 30-second clock is being introduced at this tournament for the first time.
The first ring will be passed at 8:30 a.m. today when Prince George’s Northern Junior Selects take on Saskatchewan at Kin 2.
The championship finals for all four divisions are slated for Saturday at the Multiplex.

Citizen SPORTS - Tuesday, April 4, 2000

PRINCE GEORGE - Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan went undefeated on opening day at the 2000 Canadian ringette championships Monday, while the host team in the junior division got off to a rough start.
Prince George’s Northern Selects went 0-2 in Junior play on opening day. The host side fell 3-1 to Saskatchewan and then were beaten 7-1 by B.C. Both games were played at Kin 2.
Jordan Ossachuk had the lone Prince George goal against Saskatchewan, while Brittany Watss was the scorer against B.C.
Competition included round-robin play in both the Junior (ages 14-15) and Intermediate (ages 21 and over) divisions, with games in the Belle (ages 16-18) and Deb (ages 23 and under) divisions beginning today.
More than 500 athletes representing 29 teams from all provinces except Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island are competing in round-robin play throughout the week at the Kin Centres and Multiplex. The finals are scheduled for Saturday at the Multiplex. 
In other Junior games, Alberta downed Nova Scotia 9-2, with Michelle Chamberland from St. Albert scoring three goals. Jessica Boersma from Mitchell, Ont. led her team with four goals to post an 8-1 win against Quebec. Manitoba shut out New Brunswick 7-0 in the other game.
In the Intermediate division, Ontario shut out Manitoba 5-0, with Sarah Miller from Lively securing four goals. Alberta posted a 5-1 win over B.C., who came back later in the day to win 5-3 over Quebec. Cindy Felske, from Port Coquitlam had four goals for B.C.

Cheers for ringette - Sasah Gotro from the Prince George juniors gives a loud cheer during opening ceremonies of the Tim Horton’s Canadian Ringette Championships at the Multiplex on Monday evening. There are 29 teams with nearly 600 athletes competing in the tournament, which runs all week at the Multiplex and the Kin Centre.

Citizen SPORTS, Wednesday, April 5, 2000

Citizen News Service
PRINCE GEORGE - Ontario remained undefeated at the Canadian ringette championships on Tuesday.

Teams in the Belle (ages 16-18) and Deb (ages 23 and under) divisions began round-robin competition today, joining teams in the Junior (ages 14-15) and Intermediate (ages 21 and over) divisions, which began play Monday.

More than 500 athletes representing 29 teams from all provinces except Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island are competing in round-robin play throughout the week. The finals are scheduled for Saturday in all four age divisions.

In Junior competition, Alberta downed Manitoba 6-1, with Jill Lange from Edmonton scoring three goals.  Ontario defeated British Columbia 3-2 and Saskatchewan downed Quebec  5-4. Later in the day, host Prince George pick up its first win defeating New Brunswick 9-3 behind the four-goal effort of Jordan Ossachuk and a pair by Brittney Watts. Alberta also downed  New Brunswick 8-1. In other junior games, Manitoba defeated Prince George 8-1; B.C. defeated Saskatchewan 6-5; Ontario downed Nova Scotia 9-3 and Quebec posted a 9-2 win over Nova Scotia.

In the Belle division, Ontario went undefeated shutting out Quebec 2-0 and downing British Columbia 2-1. Saskatchewan beat Northwest Territories 8-1, with Melanie Brockman, of St. Benedict, and Leanne Field, of Prince Albert scoring two goals each. Field also scored twice as Saskatchewan shut out Prince George Northern. In other games,  Alberta downed British Columbia 3-2, but lost 3-2 to Quebec and Prince George and the Northwest Territories both lost to Manitoba 8-2 and 8-1 respectively.

In Deb division play,  Alberta lost 5-4 to Quebec and Ontario defeated Prince
George  8-1, with Laura Stix of Kitchener scoring three goals and Melissa Lauder from Metcalfe scoring two.  In other games, Saskatchewan lost 5-3 to Ontario; Quebec beat Manitoba 3-2;  Saskatchewan downed British Columbia 3-2, and B. C. beat  Prince George 7-0.

Prince George’s Lisa Ross tried to elude the checks of several Team B.C.  
players during Deb action at Kin 2 Tuesday night.  

Citizen SPORTS - Thursday, April 6, 2000

Team Ontario has fallen.
Ontario’s winning streak was broken after the province lost 4-3 to the Saskatchewan Juniors and 6-5 to the British Columbia Debs at the 2000 Canadian ringette championships.
More than 500 athletes representing 29 teams from all provinces except Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island continue to compete in round-robin play throughout the day and the remainder of the week.
Finals are scheduled for Saturday in all four age divisions - Junior (ages 14-15), Belle (ages 16-18), Deb (ages 23 and under) and Intermediate (ages 21 and over).
Alberta remains the only undefeated team in the Junior division after posting 5-1 and 4-3 wins over the Prince George Northern Selects and the team from Saskatchewan.

Citizen photo Dave Milne

"Ringer! Chrissy Neff brings a power game to the Canadian Ringette Championships"

Sports This Week - Your Community Sports, Thursday, April 6, 2000

Towering
and
Powering

Neff plays big for Northern Junior Selects

Story by Jason Peters, This Week Staff

Chrissy Neff is at her best when she’s driving hard to the net. The Prince George teen is a key member of the Northern Junior Selects ringette team.

                                                                          Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
Northern Selects junior team member Kasey Fedoruk and B.C.’s Caroline             
Lutes fight for possession of the ring during Thursday’s game at the 
Multiplex. B.C. won 8-3.

"I guess I would be Mario Lemieux, because I’m taller, and she would be Wayne Gretzky because she’s  a great leader on and off the ice," said Reynolds shortly after her team popped in an empty-net goal to defeat Manitoba 5-3 Thursday night.
Familiarity certainly helps the pair dissect the offensive zone.
"We’ve played together for about 12 years now,’ said McKenzie, a national team player since 1994 who first started playing ringette at age 8. Reynolds first put on a team Canada jersey in 1992.
"We have a pretty good work ethic and work well together. We’ve been linemates on several provincial teams and on the national team. I couldn’t ask for a better linemate and a better friend."
But individual accolades are not what the pair is after. Reynolds and McKenzie, who played at the nationals in the deb division last year and lost in overtime in the final, want to give Alberta a second-straight intermediate Canadian championship.
"This is what we live for, this week," said McKenzie.
"It’s going to be tough because we still have to get through the semifinal and final. But we’ve all been here before and been champions before. We’re in the sudden-death game now against Ontario for a spot in the final, and anything can happen."

by Jim Swanson, Citizen Sports Editor

Citizen SPORTS - Saturday, April 8, 2000

by Ted Clarke, Citizen staff

The Free Press SPORTS, Sunday, April 9, 2000

The hosts played hard, but lost 8-3 to the B.C. champions in the belles division.

Twins suit up for Belles but play different roles

Coach Keith Sullivan has almost been seeing double looking down the bench of the host belles team this week at the Tim Horton’s national ringette championships. And that’s fine with him.

Twin sisters Elizabeth and Stephanie Wilson, who both study at O’Grady Catholic High School, are playing in their first Canadian championships.

Citizen SPORTS - Tuesday, April 11, 2000

If there was any question whether the shot clock is here to stay in ringette, that was answered at the 2000 Tim Hortons Canadian Ringette Championship tournament.
The 30-second clock was tested for the first time in a national championship this past week in Prince George for the intermediate division only.
But based on the overwhelming positive response, it’s only a matter of time before it trickles down to the other age levels.
The clock forces teams to move the ring faster in the offensive zone and eliminates what often becomes tedious circling of the net by offensive players carrying the ring.
"Ringette Canada’s intent was to try it at one age category at the national championship and if the shot clock was successful here we would start to move it down an age group every year and I see that happening," said Ringette Canada director Monty Aldous.
"The acceptance of the shot clock is unanimous. the feedback I’ve gotten from participants, the crowd and anybody involved is that it’s a fabulous thing. It forces the pace of the game and you can’t stall now.
Saturday’s deb final offered a classic example how the game can get boring without the shot clock. Late in the game, Ontario got possession of the ring while killing a penalty and held onto it in the Quebec end without shooting it for the duration of the penalty.
The only problem Aldous foresees is implementing the clock at the house league level. Clocks cost up to $4,000 a set and it also takes people to operate them.
It works very well at the double-A level where you have a small number of teams playing a restricted number of games over the season," said Aldous, also the president of Manitoba Ringette.
"The average community centre isn’t going to lay out $3,500 or $4,000 for shot clocks so there has to be another solution for the house leagues."
Another rule change up for discussion by Ringette Canada this summer is whether to force a penalized team to play one player short in the defensive zone. As the rule now stands, penalized teams can still play with the maximum three players allowed in the defensive zone, which doesn’t give the three offensive players any advantage.
"If you take a penalty there should be some hardship with that and if you made it so the first penalty made that team shorthanded in the defensive zone that would impact on the game," Aldous said.
English wasn’t the only language spoken at the Canadian Ringette Championship. That came as a pleasant surprise to members of the Quebec team and other Francophones among the 500 players that were here for the week-long tournament.
The opening ceremonies, closing banquet and all announcements at the final games were in French and English and that made Quebec debs Brigitte Gosselin and Claudia Jette feel right at home.
"Even when we go to Ontario, which is close to Quebec, you never hear any French, and we’re at the other end of the country and we hear French quite a bit so that’s very good," the 23-year-old Jette said.
Added the 21-year-old Gosselin, whose team loss 3-2 to Ontario in Saturday’s final:" We were kind of hoping it was going to be in Vancouver but Prince George is nice and the people here are so welcoming."
A core of about 150 volunteers kept the tournament running smoothly with only a few minor glitches and tournament chair Roland Ziprick says that’s largely due to the great co-operation they received from the City’s Leisure Services staff.
Tournament highlights will be broadcast nationally on TSN and Ziprick figures that will provide an added bonus to the city’s tourism industry.
The ringette nationals are considered by some as the sport’s top-level event. Canada’s status as a world power leaves room for argument that it is the best ringette tournament in the world.
"It’s excellent ringette when you come to nationals, probably even better than some of the international competition,’ said Ontario intermediate Barb Batista, one of 37 players who will try out for the national team next month in Winnipeg.
"Most of the competition in ringette comes from Canada itself and hopefully we can keep spreading it to other countries and get a lot of people involved."
A total of 1,150 people attended Saturday night’s banquet, a record crowd for the Civic Centre’s banquet facility.
The 2001 national tournament will be held in Moncton, N. B., April 2-7.

by Ted Clarke, Citizen staff

Community EXTRA - Citizen, Tuesday, April 11, 2000

Twenty-nine teams, totalling 600 players, took part in the six-day tournament at the Kin Centre and the Multiplex.
Alberta teams won three of  four divisions: its juniors doubled Manitoba 6-3 in the final game, while Alberta’s belles and intermediates prevailed in overtime against Ontario teams. Ontario won the gold medal in the deb division (23 and over).
Ringette is one of Canada’s most popular pastimes for females, with more than 50,000 participants across the country.

Glen Gaudet, coach for the Ontario Deb team, yells instructions from the bench.

Quebec’s Kassy Chimm and Ontario’s Lisa Newton in the deb final.

Keith Sullivan, Vice-Chair of the local steering committee, gives silver medals to Quebec after the Deb final against Ontario

Ontario’s Ghislaine Goudreau gets caught between
 Alberta’s Tamara McKernan and Maria McKenzie during intermediate final.

Alberta coach Jodi Jensen gives pep talk to her team prior to the star of the Belle final against Ontario.

Brittnay Hannon brings in the B.C. flag during medal presentation in the intermediate division. B.C. received the bronze.

Joel Mann plays a trumpet to help cheer on Alberta during the Belle final against Ontario.

Sports This Week, Thursday, April 13, 2000

To the Point by Jason Peters

Sports This Week Photography

Thursday, April 13, 2000 

Melanie Krug of the Northern Selects Belle team watches intently as her club battles Manitoba at the Multiplex.

Wendy Shelford, goaltender for the Northern Selects, makes one of several big saves against Manitoba.

THE NORTHERN SELECT BELLES played tough against Manitoba. The host team trailed 3-2 at one point went on to fall by an 8-2 score.

Jocelyn Buhler of the Northern Selects maintains control of the ring under some tight checking from Manitoba.

Jodi Taylor, Northern Selects forward, fires a shot from her knees during action against Manitoba.

The 2000 Canadian Ringette Championships dominated the ice at several rinks around Prince George last week.
The tournament featured 29 teams in four divisions. Host teams competed in the Junior, Belle, and Deb divisions.
Alberta teams dominated, winning titles in all but the Deb division.

Sports This Week, Thursday, April 13, 2000

"She’s a very hard worker," he says of Liz, who played on the Selects "Kid Line" with Jodi Taylor and Jocelyn Buhler. "There are very few games where I’ve ever seen her quit on a play. She goes after it."
As for Stephanie, Sullivan says she has learned to use her size and strength to full advantage defensively, but also offensively.
"When she does get a hold of that ring, there are very few players who can take it from her because of her strength," he says.

The Free Press SPORTS, April 13, 2000

Alberta celebrates a 4-3 overtime win in the intermediate final of the Canadian ringette championships.

Rick Daly, technical director for BC Ringette, calls the tournament a "spectacular" event. "They spared no expense making sure the participants felt at ease. The association promoted extremely well for the past two years. They went to the two nationals before this to see how it was done and they put on a really good show.
"The one thing Prince George has done is shown the hospitality of the BC People," adds Daly, who heard that a local resident bought lunch one day for the entire Nova Scotia team.  Players didn’t have much time to explore the city or the area because they were busy playing or preparing for their next game. But they formed a favourable impression of us when they did get out.
"I think the people here are extremely friendly and open," says Pam Lenz, who scored in overtime to give Alberta a 6-5 win over Ontario and the championship in the belles (18 and younger) division. " They’re super nice  people," adds Lenz, a feeling shared by teammate Lauren Peterson.
"People were great. They were kind," agrees Emmanuelle Arbour of Quebec City, a member of the silver medallist debs ( 23 and younger) squad that lost 3-2 to Ontario in the final.
Arbour, who had previously visited B.C. but not Prince George, says people commented about her French accent, but in nice way.
Jennifer Walker of Mississauga, Ontario confessed she and most of her teammate didn’t know anything about Prince George. That’s changed because they won the debs gold medal.
"We like it now. We won the gold. It’ll have good, long-lasting memory for us."
Alberta nipped Ontario 4-3 in thrilling, fast-paced intermediate (21 and older) final. B.C. finished third. Saskatchewan earned bronze medals in the debs division and B.C. was third in the belles division.
Alberta doubled Manitoba 6-3 for the junior (15 and under) title. Ontario was third.
Host teams were expected to lose every game, but the host junior team with its four Prince George players lost a close 3-2 decision to Ontario and beat New Brunswick. The host belles, including nine city players, beat the North West Territories. The host debs who had 11 local players, were winless.