Running rings around competition

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This article was published 19/02/2019 (2137 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Facing a 6-1 deficit at the hands of Team Alberta on Tuesday night, you’d think Manitoba’s ringette team would have pressed the panic button.

But they didn’t.

“You can always say to take it one shift at a time, chip away and get one goal at a time, and that is how you have to approach those things,” said Rob Walker, head coach of Team Manitoba at the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer, Alta.

“But when I walked in the dressing room (at the break), all I had to do was look in the eyes of the players, and I knew they were ready to go and ready to come back. There was no quit in anyone, which was really nice to see.”

Led by a four-goal performance from Alana Lesperance, Manitoba’s flag-bearer at the Games, Manitoba rallied back to tie the game and force overtime. Lesperance scored the game-winner in the second overtime session for an 8-7 victory.

The win gave Manitoba the top seed in Pool A, as they finished the round robin with a 3-0 record.

“You can score so many goals in ringette so quickly,” Lesperance, 19, said. “I think we were always positive. We knew we could come back. We never had a doubt in our mind.”

There wasn’t much time to celebrate, though. Manitoba had to regroup for an elimination game on Wednesday morning against Saskatchewan in the quarter-finals. It ended up being another close game, with Manitoba prevailing 5-4 to advance to the final four. Manitoba will now face Quebec today at 3 p.m. with a spot in the gold-medal game on the line.

Walker said coming off of a roller-coaster of a game against Alberta, it was a challenge to play again so soon.

“We started slow. You’re so adrenaline-drenched in your system from coming back to win the day before,” said Walker on Wednesday’s game with Saskatchewan. “It’s like the game didn’t end. I think we got caught quickly. Saskatchewan played a great game today and got ahead of us quickly and matched us for goals pretty well all the way through, until we managed to pull away in the second half.”

Walker and Lesperance aren’t looking past Quebec, but they’re confident this group has what it takes to bring home gold. It would be the second straight Canada Games gold medal for Manitoba’s ringette squad, as Walker coached the team to first place at the 2015 Games in Prince George, B.C.

“I think deep down, everyone knows we’re in it for the gold,” said Lesperance, who’s playing in her first Games. “But we know the only way we’re going to get gold is if we go game by game and shift by shift. In any sport, or anything really, if you look too far ahead you kind of forget about how to get there. You have to remember you can’t just jump five steps at once, you have to go step by step.”

Regardless of what happens in its final two games, Manitoba has proven to be one of the top ringette provinces in the country.

“I think we put a lot into the development of our ringette teams,” Lesperance said. “We have a lot of camps, we have a lot of good coaches in our province, and we’re lucky to have a lot of strong players, as well. All of that combined, I think makes a really strong province.”

But nothing would solidify that more than a gold medal at these Games.

“It would mean a lot. There’s more to a medal than just the medal itself,” said Lesperance, who’s been playing ringette for 15 years. “Behind the medal is all the hours you put in, all the sacrifices you made, and all the ups and downs. Winning a medal to put a cap on it all is the best way to go.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31