Ringette Canada awards scholarships

April 5, 2004
Ringette Canada

Alberta captures two gold and Ontario picks up one at the 2004 Canadian ringette championships

Calgary, Alberta - April 3, 2004 - The Alberta junior and open teams and the Ontario belles will be going home with gold from the 2004 Canadian ringette championships held this past week in Calgary, Alberta.

In the junior final, Balzac's Jennifer Hartley picked up a pair to give Alberta the gold with a 5-3 win over Manitoba. Calgarians Jillian LaFrance, Kirsten Smith and Tatum Wensink all posted singles in the win. Ste Anne's Chantal Freynet picked up a pair for Manitoba and Steinbach's Kayla Krentz posted one. Both Krentz and Hartley received individual achievement awards and Calgary's Sarah Beaton picked up the defensive game star award. Manitoba picked up the silver medal and BC was awarded the bronze.

The Ontario belles captured gold after downing Alberta 4-3. Karen McWilliams from Whitby and Katie Lugg, Carrie Lugg and Kyrie Love all from Ottawa picked up singles. Calgarians Jennifer Kuhn and Chelsea Stone, along with Edmonton's Meredith Warner posted the goals for Alberta. Edmonton's Ashley Diduck and Ottawa's Katie Lugg received individual achievement awards, while Ottawa's Jenna McBride picked up the defensive game star award. Alberta was awarded the silver and the host team picked up the bronze.

The Alberta open team continued their unbeaten streak into the finals to down the Ontario Wild Card team 7-5. Laura Warner and Jenny Wood picked up a pair each, while Megan Todd, Jill Lange and Suzanne Fuller all grabbed singles. All Alberta goal scorers are from Edmonton. Scoring for the Ontario Wild Card team were Lisa Newton (Kanata), Isabelle Fleury (Hull), Beth Hurren (Pickering), Barb Bautista (Ottawa) and Kim Beach (Kingston). Warner and Newton picked up individual achievement awards, while Lange received the defensive game star award. The Ontario Wild Card team picked up silver and Manitoba took home the bronze.

Nearly 500 athletes, representing 28 teams from all provinces except Newfoundland and the territories, have been competing in the championships. This year, an additional three teams participated in the open division of the championships. These teams, known as Wild Cards, were from Quebec, Ontario and Alberta and have been playing in the preliminary season of the Canadian Ringette League, which will be formally launched later this year.

This year's championships represent the 26th annual competition for the sport and the 40th anniversary of the sport in Canada. At last year's championships, held in Waterloo, Ontario, gold was claimed by Manitoba in the junior division, Ontario in the belle division and Alberta in the open division. The 2005 Canadian ringette championships will be held in Winnipeg, Manitoba from April 11 to 16, 2005.

Final results for Saturday, April 3rd at the 2004 Canadian ringette championships in Calgary, Alberta:

JUNIOR DIVISION (Age 14-15) Final: Alberta 5 Manitoba 3 Gold - Alberta Silver - Manitoba Bronze - BC 4th Ontario 5th Quebec 6th Host 7th New Brunswick 8th Saskatchewan 9th Nova Scotia 10th Prince Edward Island

BELLE DIVISION (Ages 16-18) Final: Ontario 4 Alberta 3 Gold - Ontario Silver - Alberta Bronze - Host 4th BC 5th Manitoba 6th Quebec 7th Saskatchewan 8th New Brunswick

OPEN DIVISION (Age 19 and over) Final: Alberta 7 Ontario Wild Card 5 Gold - Alberta Silver - Ontario Wild Card Bronze - Manitoba 4th Quebec 5th Host 6th Ontario 7th Saskatchewan 8th Western Wild Card 9th Quebec Wild Card 10th BC

Calgary, Alberta - April 3, 2004 - Ringette Canada announced the recipients of the sixth annual Agnes Jacks Scholarship Awards and the fourth annual Cara Brown Ringette Scholarship Awards at the closing ceremonies of the 2004 Canadian ringette championships in Calgary, Alberta. Receiving Agnes Jacks scholarships were Sylvie Bohémier (Landmark, MB), Andrea Fairfax (Berwick, NS), Ashley Simon (Hammonds Plains, NS), Jenna Unger (Stonewall, MB) and Shaunagh Howard (Ile Bizard, QC). Receiving Cara Brown Ringette scholarships were Brianne Hagardt (Salmon Arm, BC) and Valérie Arseneau (Beresford, NB).

Agnes Jacks is the widow of Sam Jacks, who invented the sport of ringette back in 1963 in North Bay, Ontario. While the sport lost Mr. Jacks' guiding hand through his untimely passing in 1975, the ringette community has benefited greatly from Agnes' dedicated and enthusiastic promotion of the sport. The ringette community has appropriately laid claim to Mrs. Jacks as their very own goodwill ambassador. The Agnes Jacks Scholarship Award is presented to ringette players, coaches and/or officials who have demonstrated a strong academic performance and a commitment to the sport of ringette. Recipients receive a $1,000 scholarship towards post-secondary education and also receive a scholarship award certificate recognizing their achievements.

Cara Brown is a ringette athlete who has played competitively in both Sudbury and Calgary and has participated in 16 Canadian ringette championships, as well as serving as team captain at the World ringette championship in 1990, 1992 and 1994. The Cara Brown Ringette Scholarship, which was formed to recognize Cara's involvement in ringette, is awarded to a registered ringette player who is actively playing ringette at the elite level, who is entering a Canadian university on a full-time basis for the first time, who combines academic excellence and a minimum of a B average with a strong commitment to the sport of ringette. Recipients receive a $750 scholarship towards post-secondary education and also receive a scholarship award certificate recognizing their achievements.