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St. Albert Ringette hosts Turkey Ring

The U12B St. Albert Legends was the only hometown team to take home a gold medal.
SARA TR
The U14C St. Albert team battles with the Pembina Wildcats in the gold medal game at Go Auto Arena on Oct. 10, 2021.

The St. Albert Ringette Association welcomed 76 teams from St. Albert and the surrounding area for their annual Turkey Ring event this weekend.

A whopping 1,050 athletes over several age groups converged at Servus Credit Union Place to play in the premier kick-off tournament to the ringette season. 

An event of this scale happening over Thanksgiving weekend with COVID restrictions sounds like a scheduling nightmare. Tournament organizer Debbie Stahn is no stranger to this type of event — she has been handling the logistics of setting up the Turkey Ring for nine years now and said this year was no different, other than the health restrictions. 

“It was pretty much the same [as years past] except for the COVID protocols that we had to follow,” said Stahn. “We went above and beyond to make sure everyone was safe and that everyone could enjoy it here and have fun.

“The biggest thing was getting the kids back on the ice.”

Despite the potential hurdles that the current situation presented, she said the tournament went on without many problems.

“We’ve had no issues,” said Stahn. “Everyone has followed every protocol and it has been very smooth considering the circumstances.

“Everything has gone great this weekend. We’ve had a successful 50/50 and I think everyone is excited to be back at the rink.” 

The Ringette Association is coming off a successful try-ringette event in August that saw a high turnout. As they welcomed a bevy of teams for this tournament, president Colleen Caldwell said their registration this year was higher than usual. 

“I would say our registration continues to be really healthy compared to previous years,” said Caldwell. “At the U10 level we have 10 teams this year, so there is lots of interest from the young kids and lots of continued interest from the kids who have been playing from U12 to U19 who are coming back year after year.” 

While there were tons of athletes who took home medals from the tournament, Caldwell said the true magic of the tournament will not be who won or lost, but the experiences they made while playing. 

“The kids aren’t going to remember the score on the board, they’re going to remember the experience they had and the fun they had at hotels, pools, and with their teams,” said Caldwell. “I feel very lucky that we were able to put this on.” 

A few teams from St. Albert took home some hardware, however the U12B St. Albert Legends was the only hometown team to take home a gold medal. The U12C St. Albert Bandits came close with a silver medal. 

The U10 step three St. Albert Nightwolves won the bronze in their division. The U14C St. Albert team won silver and the U19 AA St. Albert Mission followed suit with a silver medal as well. 

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