Emily Plihal
Local Journalism
Initiative Reporter

A local recreational sport group is hoping youth between the ages of 10-14 years will want to discover the excitement of ringette.

A sport that is widely advertised as the sport for everyone is now taking a hold in Peace River, and the local teams are hoping other communities in the region will put together teams to increase the number in Northern Alberta.

The Peace River Under 14 team is named Mighty Peace Chargers and the Under 10 team is called the Mighty Peace Ring Pops. Secretary Cory Hogbin, and mother to one of the U14 players, says the team hopes to encourage other youth to put teams together.

“It is important for ringette to continue building in the north to create more competition, so players are wanting to stay with the sport,” Hogbin says.

“Ringette is very popular in the bigger cities, so if our players are able to continue with the sport there is opportunity to play as young adults representing our province.”

Ringette has been in the area for a couple of decades, with one coach saying in the late 90s there were approximately six other teams in the area at the time. Teams from Tangent and High Prairie enjoyed success in the sport. Hogbin says she was told that in 2014-16 there was only one team with ages seven to 14 playing together.

“There are only four communities north of Edmonton with ringette teams,” she says.

“Mighty Peace Ringette (U10/U14), Ridgevalley, (U10), Clairmont area (U10/U14), and La Glace (U10/U14). Our U14 team has players aged 10 and up, so it’s awesome to watch the teamwork between the ages, and how the younger ones develop in skill while on ice with the older players.”

Hogbin says the Peace River teams were grateful to pick up four affiliate players from the Peace Country Ringette team to help them in their bid to win gold at a tournament in Red Deer earlier this month. The tournament was held from Jan. 3-5.

“Our first game vs. Indus Lightning led us to a 6-3 win and that was our first win in a city tournament,” she says.

“Game 2 we fell short with a loss against Rockyford 4-2. Game 3 the girls dug deep and came back from 3-0 at the end of the first half, tying the game with two minutes left in the second half, winning the game 5-4 vs. Red Deer taking them to the finals against Rockyford,” she adds.

Hogbin says Game 4 the team fought hard, taking it to a tie at the end of the second half, and extending the game to five minutes of overtime.

“This led to a shootout with the Chargers taking the win 9-8 (to win) the gold medal,” she says.

Hogbin says there is currently a player shortage, and they are unable to form a U12 team, so their U10 team has players ages six to 10 and the U14 team has children 10 years to 16 years old. She says both boys and girls are welcome to play ringette. Players on the team are currently from Peace River, Grimshaw, and Northern Sunrise County.

“Interested players can drop in and watch a practice or home game at the Baytex Energy Centre, or we have a free Come Try Ringette Day which will be held Feb. 23 at 10 a.m. at the Baytex Energy Center in Peace River,” Hogbin says, urging interested kids to come out.

“This gives kids the chance to get on the ice and practice with our team. We also have one in September as well.”

This year, the Peace River teams have had five local games and have participated in two city tournaments, one in Edmonton and one in Red Deer.

“We are hoping to put together a travel team for next season,” Hogbin says. “This will combine players from all the north teams into age-appropriate teams in order to enter more away tournaments.”

She’s also hoping other local communities will form ringette teams and notes that interested communities can visit the Ringette Alberta website for more information at ringettealberta.com.

“We would love to see a few more teams form in the north, maybe Manning, Fairview, or High Prairie,” she adds.

“Also, more awareness of the sport itself because some people don’t even know what ringette is. There are also great opportunities for athletes to compete in Alberta Winter Games, Canada Winter Games, and other competitions.”

Hogbin says ringette is a great game for kids to play, she feels the players have gained strength, confidence, endurance, responsibility, leadership skills, and learned how to work as a team.

If your child would be interested in playing ringette, Hogbin says to attend the Come Try Ringette for a Day on Feb. 23.