Lightning strikes gold in Nepean
On paper some people might have suggested that the U16B-Thompson team would have difficulty competing in the Nepean tournament given that they were missing a couple of key players (Katherine Hamilton & Rachel Angaran) due to injury and were employing the services of an underage goaltender from Gloucester-Cumberland. However, those people would be unaware of how these Lightning players rise up when faced with adversity.
Although the Lightning got off to a disastrous start when they dropped a 5-3 decision to the U16 Gloucester-Cumberland team; they managed to dig deep to win the rest of their games and earn a berth in the final and a rematch with Gloucester-Cumberland.
In the final the Lightning put together a complete game both offensively and defensively as they helped 12 year old Gillian Howell earn a 4-0 shut out over her U16 home association counterparts while at the same time posting the lowest goals against average in the division in securing the gold medal.
The Lightning’s Amy Thompson finished atop the leader board with Serena Perera finishing fourth, Alessandra Tuzi seventh, and Vivian Araujo ninth. Congratulations Lightning!
Also playing in Nepean were the U14AA-West team and the U16AA-Sarjeant Team. The U14AA team were unable to advance from round robin play; however the U16AA team finished fourth overall in their division to advance to a semi-final match-up with first place and eventual gold medalists, New Brunswick. In the semi-final the lead changed hands several times with the Lightning taking a 7-6 lead with 1:36 remaining in regulation time; however New Brunswick tied the score 22 seconds later and then sealed their place in the final when they scored with 48 seconds remaining.
In other ringette action, the NRL Lightning won all four of their weekend games and leaped past the Montreal Mission and Ottawa Ice to sit in second place in the Eastern NRL standings after outlasting the Mission 9-8 before besting Riv Sud Revolution 7-3; Bourassa Royal 8-6; and Lac St Louis Adrenaline 10-2.
The U9-Price team got a 6-4 road win in Oshawa before coming home and playing Newmarket to a 4-4 draw. The U10-Ianni/Weaver team downed the Newmarket Rays thanks to center Sophia Laliberte potting 4 goals, and Hannah Weaver netting 2. Mia Leroux rounded out the scoring with Vanessa Kernohan backstopping the Lightning to 7-6 win. The U12-Harling team won both of their weekend games with an identical 8-1 score in defeating Caledonia and Sunderland. The U12-McKnight team also won both of their weekend games when they got past Mississauga 5-2 before handing Caledonia their second 8-1 loss in less than 24 hours. Sydney Nobes held the hot hand netting 4 goals in the victory over Caledonia. The U12P-Ianni team skated to a 3-3 tie with Whitby with Camilla Kernohan netting a pair of goals and Caden Lee potting the other.
The U14B-Mews team had a strong outing in the first of two weekend games skating to a 3-2 victory over the visiting Oshawa Storm. Kaitlin Han led the way with a pair of goals, with Madeline Angaran providing the game winner. Tied at 2's, heading into the last 10 minutes of the game, Lightning goal keeper Emma Di Pietro turned away a number of Oshawa opportunities to secure the win. Rising early for a Sunday matchup with the Newmarket Rays the Lightning were in a 4-0 hole before the game was 10 minutes old. They outscored the Rays 2-1 the rest of the way but still fell 5-2.
The U16A-Roman team got past Mississauga 3-1 while the Open-A Lightning topped the Brock Badgers 4-1