Blight, Hollestelle-Black to represent Ontario at Eastern Canada Ringette final

Pictured from left to right are Payton Blight and Adrianna Hollestelle-Black. The two St. Marys natives are part of the U19 A Dorchester Dragons team that will compete as Team Ontario 2 at the Eastern Canada Ringette Championships April 16-19 in Mississauga.

By Spencer Seymour

St. Marys natives Payton Blight and Adrianna Hollestelle-Black, along with their U19 A Dorchester Dragons squad, will represent their home province as Team Ontario 2 at the Eastern Canada Ringette Championships April 16-19 in Mississauga.

Blight and Hollestelle-Black both called qualifying for Easterns as a great exclamation point on their time playing youth ringette.

“I am so proud to represent Ontario at the Eastern Canadian Championships,” said Hollestelle-Black. “I am honoured to be one of a few players to represent their province at this tournament. The competition will be tough as we face off against the best teams from each of the other provinces. I am excited, having not reached this final tournament at the A level, and it is the perfect way to finish my career in youth ringette.”

“I am very excited and proud to get the opportunity to attend Easterns and represent our province,” said Blight, echoing her teammate’s sentiment. “Having played ringette at the provincial level since U12, I had always hoped to have the opportunity to move on to the Eastern Canadian Championships. Our team has worked very hard for this opportunity, and I can’t think of a better way to complete my 15 years of ringette before heading off to university in September.”

The team qualified for the Eastern Canada Championships by advancing to the finals of their provincial championship March 12-15. A strong performance throughout the provincial tournament was punctuated by a win in the semi-final that earned their spot at Easterns.

Hollestelle-Black described the team’s approach to getting ready for Easterns.

“As we prepare, we continue to put in strong efforts at practices, and we’re working hard to get stronger as a team,” Hollestelle-Black said. “For most players, this is a first for them. We will need to stay calm and play our game. The excitement and pressure of representing your province is big, but if we just take a few deep breaths and support each other, we will be successful.”

Blight said the group’s teamwork and compete level are their biggest priorities.

“I think the key is hard work, dedication and working together as a team,” Blight said. “Our team has players that span from Goderich to Tillsonburg, and we have spent the season trying to learn how each other thinks and reacts during the game in order to predict what is going to happen in certain circumstances. We have spent countless hours working on various plays, as well as strength training and staying calm and focused throughout the game.”

Both Blight and Hollestelle-Black are playing for the Dragons for the first time this year, and both credited the coaching staff, led by head coach Laura Dayman, for playing a big role in their improvement both on and off the ice.

“The coaching staff this season, especially our head coach, Laura, has been a huge part of my personal growth this season,” Hollestelle-Black said. “Technically, my edge work continues to improve, and I am better able to shake things off when things don’t go as planned on the ice. One saying we use frequently is, ‘hard work beats talent.’ This motivates my team and me to stay focused on the end goal, which was qualifying for Easterns.”

“Laura and her sister, Grace (Dayman), have taught us many new skills and also how to manage our emotions during stressful situations and throughout important games,” added Blight. “Our other two coaches, Kristy (Beldman) and Keri (Kowalski), have helped with skills training but also with our nutrition while competing at tournaments, even putting together daily nutrition packages for each of the players during competitions so that we are eating for optimal performance.”

When reflecting on what it means to reach the Eastern Canada Championships and the possibility of finding success there, Hollestelle-Black noted it’s a special way to wrap up the pair’s time playing youth ringette together.

“Having success at Easterns would mean a lot to me because we are competing against the top teams from all eastern provinces including P.E.I., Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia,” noted Hollestelle-Black. “Personally, this is the last year of minor sport for me, and I’m glad that I get to go with my teammate, Payton (Blight), who I started playing ringette with all those years ago.”

For Blight, there would be no better way to close out her youth ringette career than Easterns success.

“Success at Easterns would mean so much,” Blight said. “I have spent 15 years playing ringette and have been struggling with the fact that this will likely be my last year – until I finish University, anyways. Having the opportunity to compete against some of the strongest teams in the country is such an incredible experience, and I feel so lucky to be able to attend these Championships. Adrianna (Hollestelle-Black), Emily (Deighton) and I have played together for many years and are so happy to be able to share this experience with each other as well as with our new teammates. It truly is an experience of a lifetime.”