Westside wins provincials
In an all-Heat final, Westside beat Prince George 3-2 in overtime to capture gold in the under-19 B Division at the recent B.C. ringette provincials in Port Coquitlam.
Shyla McMullen scored the winning goal at 11:43 of overtime on a set up from Destiny McCallum, as Westside avenged a 5-4 loss to Prince George in the tournament opener. It was McMullen’s third goal of the season.
Prince George went undefeated in roundrobin play and earned a bye to the championship game, while Westside had to get past Northwest Vancouver in the semifinal.
That game wasn’t close, with Westside scoring a 6-0 victory over Northwest Vancouver, a team that had defeated Westside for gold in a previous tournament.
In the final — a rematch between two teams nicknamed the Heat — Westside opened the scoring in the first half on a goal from Tessa Wotherspoon.
Prince George pushed back and pulled ahead 2-1 early in the second half before Westside’s top scorer Sydnie McCann scored the equalizer late in regulation to force OT.
Westside held off the P.G. attack from there, with shutdown defence from Dakota Roy, Cheyenne McCallum, Sadie Clough and Emma Girard.
Nick Csek also made numerous heroic saves, stealing goals from Prince George’s snipers.
Westside forwards Maci Dyck and Erin Brown were effective at both ends, causing turnovers and creating scoring chances.
Game MVP awards went to Csek, Roy, Brown and Clough, while the tournament MVP was awarded to Tessa Wotherspoon for her tireless work ethic and leadership.
Girard, McCallum and McCann were also named Game MVPs en route to provincials, with standout performances at previous tournaments. Westside also won bronze at the Sweetheart event in Kelowna and silver at the West Coast Classic in Richmond earlier this season.
Co-coach Mike Dyck was instrumental in juggling the forward lines, and manager Loreen McCann was in charge of organizing the team and parent volunteers.
Coach Ray Roy attributed Westside’s success to having a good dressing room where everyone was having fun. Westside won the Fair Play Award as a team for the second consecutive year, proving that you can be good sports and still have success. That award is for sportsmanship, as voted by the teams after each game.
Gold at provincials capped quite the campaign for Westside, which had lost both previous meetings with Prince George this year.
Westside had to overcome adversity from the outset of the season, being short on players and almost unable to ice a team. McCann worked to put the roster together, getting a few girls to come out of retirement and recruiting one U16 girl to join the U19 team, while also picking up a player and a goalie who had no place to play in Kelowna.