'They did themselves proud:' P.E.I. wins first medal at Canadian Ringette Championships

The P.E.I. U16 Wave should be proud of the way they represented themselves and the Island at the Canadian Ringette Championships in Charlottetown and Summerside this week, their coach says.

Before this year, the best showing by a P.E.I. team at the national event was 11th

Shane Ross CBC News Posted: Apr 14, 2019 10:17 AM EDT | Last Updated: April 14, 2019

The P.E.I. Wave pose after winning the silver medal at the Canadian Ringette Championships on Saturday. Front row, left to right: Addie MacPhee, Chloe LaBrech, Kenzy Hawkins, Nellie Campbell, Brooklyn MacInnis, Sarah Bain, Mia Martell, Lily MacPhee. Back row, left to right: Francois Caron (coach), Emily Hughes (assistant coach), Emily Peters, Sophia Jeffery, Andrea Caron, Hailey Murphy, Alexa Carpenter, Grace MacKinnon, Tori Jayne Chapman, Jamie MacAulay, Delaney Roche, Michelle McCabe (assistant coach), Madison James (assistant coach). (Tanya Caron)

The P.E.I. U16 Wave should be proud of the way they represented themselves and the Island at the Canadian Ringette Championships in Charlottetown and Summerside this week, their coach says.

Not only did they win the province's first medal at the championships a silver, finishing second out of 19 teams their opponents voted them the tournament's most sportingteam.

"It's quite remarkable," said coach Francois Caron. "They did themselves proud, they did the province proud and I know we've gotten a lot of real good support from the ringette community and the province as a whole."

P.E.I. welcomes 100s of athletes for Canadian Ringette Championship

The team picked up some individual awards, as well.

Sophia Jeffery of Charlottetown was named a first-team all-star at forward, while Mia Martel of Belfast won the fastest skater award from the skills competition and was named a second-team all-star on defence.

U16 Team PEI is getting ready for their championship game at 10am @CUPEvents. Head over and cheer this amazing and talented squad on! @CRC_CCR @RingettePEI pic.twitter.com/Olc4WkUf1D
—@PEICreditUnions

The team was put together in September with the goal of competing at the championships, Caron said.

The players came from four different ringette associations across the province. There were eight players from the Souris association, five from Charlottetown, three from Montague and one from Summerside.

It's been a process to get to where we are and certainly we saw the fruits of our labour this week. FrancoisCaron

"It is a true provincial team in the sense that we kind of cover 200 to 300 kilometres of P.E.I.," Caron said.

"It's been a process to get to where we are and certainly we saw the fruits of our labour this week."

The Calgary Core won the gold medal, beating P.E.I. 5-1 in the final. New Brunswick took the bronze medal.

In the U19 division, P.E.I. finished 10thout of 18 teams.

In the National Ringette League division, Calgary beat the Atlantic Attack for the gold medal. The Attack has one player from P.E.I., Ashley Hollisof Stratford. Another, Jessica Snowden of Moncton, is a teacher at Stratford Elementary School.

Before this year, the best showing by a P.E.I. team at the national event was 11th.