Thunder-ous Gold
The Chatham Thunder U16 ringette team won the gold medal at a tournament held in St. Mary’s this past weekend. They posted two wins and a tie in round robin play before winning the final. An amazing differential told the story, as they scored a whopping 25 goals while allowing only 7.
Starting the tournament against a game London Lynx team, Chatham fell behind quickly 3-0 (the only time this season that has happened) and got one back just before the half. London scored first in the second half before the momentum started to swing in Chatham’s favour. Finally with just over a minute to go, Brooke Howe scored to tie the game for a 4-4 final score. The second time the two teams played to a tie in the last two weeks. Lily Allado scored twice and Kate Thompson added one as well. Helpers went to Lindsey Durocher and Brianna Badder.
The second game was against the host St Mary’s Snipers. The teams had battled to some close games through the regular season, but Chatham wasn’t content with their earlier performance and was determined to bring their “A” game. A 7-3 throttling of the Snipers was the outcome in a penalty filled game. Emma Winkler dropped 4 goals and an assist to lead the Thunder, with Howe scoring twice and Thompson once again(1 helper). Allado added 4 assists while Durocher added one. The victory allowed Chatham a chance at the final if they were to win their final game Sunday morning against a struggling Goderich team.
With the goal of hitting the championship game in the afternoon, Chatham came out firing, popping home 9! goals in the first half alone. Goderich is in a rebuilding year, and the final outcome was 11-0. Claire Forshee and Howe both had hat tricks. Grace Norris, Brianna Badder , Winkler, Durocher and Allado also scored. The result put Chatham in the final against the pesky London team once again.
The final against London was looming large as they had been the only team to even tie the undefeated Thunder all year. You could almost say that Chatham had struggled to play their “ OWN“ way against London each time they played before. A fired up team came out of the gate running and before they hit the half Chatham had put that theory to rest with a 6-0 lead. The second half was more of the same and a 10-0 final was as shocking to anyone that had watched the teams battle previously. Allado and Durocher with 3 apiece, Winkler, Thompson, Howe and Norris chipped in with singles. Coach Paul Norris summed it up later stating, “They (London) got our attention the last couple games, and the team responded with their most complete game of the year to take the championship.`”
Not to be missed in this column, Olivia Wilson and Mallarie Badder with their shutdown defence and elusive skating breaking the team out of their own end all tournament. Goalie Natalie Haggerty was in net all four games and continued her solid play, finishing with a 1.75 goals against average.
Pictured Above: Front row l-r: Claire Forshee, Grace Norris, Natalie Haggerty, Kate Thompson, Lily AlladoBack row l-r : Coach John Thompson, Mallarie Badder, Emma Winkler , Lindsey Durocher, Olivia Wilson, Brianna Badder and Coach Paul NorrisAbsent: Brooke Howe