Fifteen year old Kelsey Haworth is participating in her first Canadian Ringette Championships. She plays for the Calgary Junior AA Kokoro team and will represent Alberta at the Canadian Ringette Championships, March 29 – April 3, Calgary, Alberta.

REFLECTIONS OF NATIONALS
By: Kelsey Haworth - Junior AA Kokoro

Day 1 6:52 p.m. AT THE HOTEL I was picked up at nine o’clock from my teammates house, Jill Lafrance, by my ringette crazy Mom ready to drive me to Max Bell arena for team pictures. I thought Nationals would never arrive, but here I am eight months later since my first ice time with “Calgary Kokoro”. My last practice was on Friday, with excited emotions about new clothes and the tournament starting in three days. Nothing could bring us down. We started our practice like any other until Beth Veale, one of our coaches, called us over into a group. Assuming she was about to tell us our warm-up she slowly tells us one of our two goalies, Katie McNeil, is in the hospital with a ruptured appendix. My stomach drops as information spills about Katie – I then start to think about the night before our Provincial final. We were all gathered in a circle. Each player explained why she wanted to win Provincials and go to Nationals as Team Alberta. Katie’s turn arrives and she says she would love for us to win Provincials because she has wanted to play “AA” ringette since she was a little girl, just like her sister Robyn McNeil and how going to Nationals would be one of her biggest dreams. Tears spill out of Katie and her sister’s eyes (Sandi McNeil – coach) and we are all tearing up too. We are more disappointed than we can express that she can’t be with us this week. We hope we can bring her home a medal. Let’s play!! Nova Scotia here we come!! The Alberta Junior AA team plays their first game against Nova Scotia Monday, March 29 11:00 am East Twin Arena.

Reflections of Nationals - Day 2 9:06 p.m. 2 Wins 0 Losses Not a bad start to kicking off the Canadian Ringette Championships for Team Alberta. It looks like all of our hard work and dedication is going to pay off. All of our fitness, mental training sessions and practices have put us on top and it definitely shows all over the ice. After defeating Nova Scotia thirteen to three we moved on to Ontario which was a tougher game resulting in a win of eight to three. After our two games we headed off to MacEwan Hall at the University of Calgary to officially kick off the Canadian Ringette Championships. There was such a sense of pride and accomplishment as our teams paraded into the room in our matching outfits, representing our provinces. There were several guest speakers including Ringette representatives as well as sponsers and Agnes Jacks the wife of the inventor of Ringette from Ontario. The exciting mystery guest was Canadian Idol finalist Billy Klippert who sang several songs. After the ceremonies we headed back to our hotel to gear up and get ready for British Columbia and New Brunswick!

Reflections of Nationals - Day 3 8:02 p.m. Missing a week off school and playing the fastest and most fun sport on ice, where do I sign up? In reality I signed up 10 years ago when I started playing for South Calgary Bunnies. It didn’t take me long to decide I loved this sport. I wanted to play at the most competitive level I could and tried out for the “AA” program when I was in Petite. I have won Provincials every year of “AA”, attended Western Canadians for three years and now am attending my first Canadian Ringette Championships and lovin it!! This group of girls that I am with are incredible and the best I have ever had the opportunity to play with. We play like a team, we act like a team and we love each other like a team. It is one of those teams where you can sit beside anyone at dinner or room with anyone and always have a blast. We have attended six tournaments coming home with the Gold and a part of our success is definitely our team cohesion. I believe this cohesion has been developed by our coaches who are a huge part of our success as well and I love them to death. This all female coaching staff makes Ringette so much fun. With Jodi Jensen, our head coach, being a current Team Canada player as well as playing Open “AA” in the same tournaments as us, her speeches and talks about Ringette come from an easy to understand perspective.. Instead of “do this and do that” she explains drills like “as a player I found it easier to…..” Wow – this makes it so much easier to relate to what she is teaching us. She is an amazing athlete, person and coach. We played two games today; the first one against British Columbia with a tight score of 2 – 1, winning in overtime. Our second game was New Brunswick who we beat by more than a seven goal spread. 4 Wins, 0 Losses! We’re just excited to head to bed and get ready for tomorrow’s games!

Reflections of Nationals – Day 4 8:30 p.m. 6 Wins 0 Losses Five which were less than tight games and one hard match against B.C. which we all enjoyed playing. The competition is yet to come. We are now coming up against Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Host team. All three teams we can expect some good competition from. We played P.E.I. and Quebec today and defeated each team by more than a seven goal spread. We are now feeling anxious and excited for the next few games. Our days start early with breakfast at the hotel and then off to the arena for our pre-game warm-up. After our morning game we return to the hotel for lunch prepared by some of the team Mom’s. There is scheduled time in the day for homework and a rest and then back to the arena for our second game. We have also been able to watch some of the great games in the Belle and Open divisions. Dinner has also been at the hotel eaten together as a team and wonderfully prepared by the Mom’s. The parents have been feeding us at all the tournaments, healthy homemade meals which is great! Special thanks to our Mom’s (for all the baking too). We had family night tonight and we were all able to hang out with our families for a few hours and then head back to the hotel. Our eyes are shutting before the lights are out as we need lots of sleep to be ready for Saskatchewan and the Host team (T.B.S. Power). LET’S GO ALBERTA!

Reflections of Nationals – Day 5 8 wins 0 losses - hardwork and determination does win games, or it shows so far in our standings for the Canadian Ringette Championships. We played two games today which were both hard, tough games which we came out with victories. We played Saskatchewan in the morning defeating them four to two and then geared up for TBS Power (Host) who we had to beat in the finals at Provincials, defeating them five to three. Our goalie, Katie McNeil, who had the unfortunate experience of the ruptured appendix, was there on our bench to cheer us on. The game tomorrow against Manitoba determines the bye into the finals. After our game tonight we are watching the Belle and Open division games, cheering on our Calgary teams. It’s exciting to see how many people are now in the stands as the finals draw ever closer. The ringette community is there to support us and it’s great to see teammates from last year there to cheer us on and support us in Alberta’s drive for gold. Girls I have played with in the past and their parents’ are in the crowd ready to cheer us on. We are excited for tough competition and for the week to come to closure with a medal around our necks. I have to catch some sleep to get ready for Manitoba! Good Night. GO ALBERTA GO!

Reflections of Nationals – Day 6 10:06 pm 8 wins 1 loss – we got up feeling tired and it showed. We had to play Manitoba at 8:00 am this morning and even though we out-shot them we couldn’t quite catch up after their initial goal. We lost three to one against a very determined Manitoba team which gave Manitoba a bye into the gold medal game and getting ourselves into a semi-final game against rival British Columbia ( who we defeated 2 to 1 in overtime in Round Robin) As we went to go shake Manitoba’s hands after our first loss, our Coach told us that we should walk up with total confidence, and that’s exactly what we did, and is exactly what we will be doing tomorrow in the final for the title of National Champions. I want to achieve our dream, our dream that our whole year has been about, our dream that we have worked so hard for (when I thought I couldn’t do another wall sit). I want to make our dream a reality. I want to live the moment. GO ALBERTA!!

Reflections of Nationals – Day 7 Last day of Nationals – Gold Medal Final I woke up feeling a little different than the previous six early mornings. I had mixed emotions of wanting to be starting the game the second I woke up and never wanting it to start. I was so excited all I could think about were the moments after the buzzer and how the game would play out. I went downstairs and found all my teammates feeling anxious. Every single player on my team was experiencing serious thoughts about the National final for the first time. I helped myself to lots of breakfast but looked at the food on my plate and ended up throwing it out. I couldn’t eat a bite. Our coach, Jodi, told us a story as she usually does before finals and important games and we left the hotel thinking about the game a little, or maybe even a lot, different than we were before. At the arena we had a great warm-up and we were all feeling awesome about the game. In the dressing room some of our girls were crying, not so much about the final but the fact that this was the last game of our season. This was the last game we would all play together as a team and that was hard to accept. We had such a great year, I know for me I can say this is the best year I have ever experienced playing Ringette. We did the same dance in the dressing room, the team song and cheer we did every game and when we were done we were ready to take Manitoba on in our hometown! We went onto the ice and I have never experienced a crowd so big or loud! We did our warm-up and came in for our talk. They then announced the starting line-up and I was so excited to find myself on the blueline for the singing of O-Canada. The game started and Manitoba got a quick goal. They were then leading 2-0 and we came back to put 3-2 on the board for us, and then 4-2. There was 5.5 seconds left and they popped one in - a little too late because we had made it 5-3 with an empty net goal. The clock ran down and we were already celebrating! We ran off the bench and congratulated everyone. I have never experienced something so awesome in my entire life. It was such a great feeling!! My name was called to receive my gold medal and gold Rngette stick and it was just amazing. We went to shake the hands of the Silver and Bronze medal winners and to congratulate them on their performance. Pictures were taken, hugs were exchanged, tears were shed and then we skated off the ice with the greatest relief of accomplishment. This is what my team and I have worked for all year, and we did it, we achieved it! I can’t explain how amazing a week at Nationals as team Alberta, with the team I was with, has been. It’s unexplainable. To play a sport that you love, with a team and coaching staff you love, at Nationals and to come away with a Gold Medal is truly amazing. Closing ceremonies and a Banquet to celebrate and reflect on the past week and then sleep!