Thank You for Supporting Team Canada
A big thank you goes out to the many volunteers, families, friends and players that attended and helped to raise over $2,800 for Team Canada through the sale of T-shirts, game admissions and the auction of autographed Team Canada Jerseys and Ring Jet sticks. On December 28th, 2013 the RHRA hosted a fundraiser exhibition game between our NRL Lightning and Team Canada with all proceeds going to Team Canada as they prepared for the World Championships in North Bay the following week.
The game did not disappoint either. The several hundred spectators knew they would be treated to some world class play, and our NRL Lightning showed that they are capable of playing on the big stage against elite players.
The Lightning jumped into an early 1-0 lead after providing some terrific precision passing in the offensive zone, while goaltender Ashley Miller was keeping Team Canada off the score sheet at the other end.
Team Canada finally managed to solve the stellar goaltending and jumped into a 3-1 lead before the Bolts closed the gap to 3-2. Every time Team Canada tried to pull away, the Bolts would close the gap and would not allow Team Canada to get more than a 2 goal lead. With the score 7-5 late in the game, and the Bolts pressing to score, Team Canada was finally able to capitalize on opportunities and walked away with a 10-5 win. In the end though, everyone was richer for the experience.
Team Canada Coach, Glen Gaudet, was thankful for the financial support, and was also thankful that the Lightning revealed a couple of things Team Canada needed to work on before the World Championships got underway.
Richmond Hill Regional Councillor, Brenda Hogg, attended the event and said “Since it was my first time watching Ringette, I was very fortunate to be sitting beside a past Coach, Wayne Edward and his Ringette playing daughters. He explained enough to help me follow the game. My first impression was that the game is fast and on ice so of course I related it to hockey... Watching the game, you forget the players are female until they take off their visors. It was a surprise to see makeup! The players appeared strong and tough and very fit. I was impressed with their athleticism. I was also very surprised by the lack of padding unlike hockey which has players in full armour. The advantage to that from my perspective is that you get to see a Ringette game instead of a fight. Bonus!”
Check out Team Canada’s video spoof of Carley Rae Jepsen’s “Call me maybe”,
For more information on the 2013 World Ringette Championships, please visit
www.ringette2013.com.
Full game summaries and stats from the games may be accessed through the following
link: http://www.leaguestat.com/ringettecanada/worlds/en/stats/schedule.php