Open A Snipers strike gold at Snipers tournament

The 18+ Open A St. Marys Snipers won the gold medal at the Snipers’ Ringette Tournament Dec. 12-14. Pictured in front is goaltender Rachel VanBakel. Pictured in the back row, from left to right, are Laynee Partridge, Nicki VanBakel, Rachel Mann, Natalie Reay, Rachelle Keys, Rylee Harrison, Josie Butler-Watson, Allison Sage, Avery Wedow and Kaylee Tobias.

By Spencer Seymour

The 18+ Open A St. Marys Snipers earned the top prize at the Snipers’ Ringette Tournament hosted in St. Marys Dec. 12-14.

Player-coach Allison Sage told the Independent the team began clicking as a unit in a stronger way during the tournament.

“I think that, overall, we had a great performance throughout the weekend,” said Sage. “We were really starting to gel as a team and get used to playing with each other. We have a core group that’s been together for a couple of years now, but we also have new girls joining and some that have left this year, so our first couple months have really been getting used to each other’s play styles. It looked like it’s all really come together as of this weekend. We played to our strengths all weekend, which was likely a big reason why we came out successful.”

After winning their first three round-robin games, the Snipers met the Waterloo Wildfire on the second day of the tournament in a game that ended in a 5-5 tie and proved to be a preview of the finals, as St. Marys met the Wildfire the next day for the gold medal. The Snipers came away with a convincing 5-1 victory to win the gold, and Sage noted the round-robin game allowed the Snipers to find ways to pick apart Waterloo.

“We had played Waterloo the day before, so we recognized their weaknesses and capitalized on them,” Sage said. “We never slowed down throughout that final game, and I think we just really wore them down throughout the game. We were all really pleased with the game once it was over, and obviously happy with our showing.”

Josie Butler-Watson opened the scoring for St. Marys less than two minutes into the gold-medal game before Breanna Athill extended the lead to two goals at the 9:24 mark of the first period. Exactly five minutes later, Natalie Reay put the Snipers ahead 3-0. Waterloo’s lone goal of the contest came less than a minute later, but Tess Erb responded just 21 seconds later to restore the Snipers’ three-goal advantage. Avery Wedow scored the only goal of the second period to seal the 5-1 win for St. Marys.

Sage also cited the team’s familiarity with the tighter confines of their home rink as well as the team’s focus on enjoying their time on the ice as key reasons for their success.

“As we know, St. Marys has a really small centre-ice zone, which can be tricky for a lot of teams if you’re not used to it. Us playing our home exhibition games there definitely gives us an upper hand in breaking out of the zone and making smart plays without always having two-line passes.

“We had a really solid, consistent weekend in my opinion,” Sage continued. “Everyone carried their weight, from goaltending to defence to the forwards. Everyone was willing to step up and help out where needed. Our team is really focused on having fun. Obviously, we are competitive and want to win, but our main goal is to enjoy our time out there. I think putting that at the forefront of our game is really what leads us to being successful.”