The Dorchester Petite Ringette Dragons recently competed at the AA Ringette Provincial Championships held in Whitby. The 4 day tournament was from Feb 28 through to March 2. The girls went into the tournament knowing that it was going to be an uphill battle. Thursday 8am was the teams first game. After day one of the competition we finished 0-2, with losses to Nepean 9-3, and Whitby 9-2. Thursday night brought on the opening ceremonies held at the University of Oshawa. It was great to see the parade of athletes truly enjoying themselves and each other. Friday morning brought on another early game against Gloucester. Gloucester took an early 2 goal lead with in the first 2 minutes. Our Dragons fought hard and never quit with scoring late in the period to force overtime. In overtime we dominated the play but could not score. As luck would have it Gloucester did score on there chances and won the game 4-3. A gallant effort. This may have been our best game of the season. Friday afternoon brought on rival Guelph.These two teams know each other very well and it stood as a good challenge. Guelph pulled out a 7-3 win. The game was much closer than the score indicated as Guelph scored 3 late goals. Friday night the players took a break from the parents and went bowling. Watching 10 and 11 years olds 10 pin bowling was quite entertaining to say the least. Lets just say the for the second game they used the bumper rails. Saturday morning brought on a very strong team from Ottawa. The girls fought very hard and never gave up. Ottawa won 6-1. Saturday afternoon set up a very important game against a team from West Ottawa. The Dragons jumped out to first period 2-0 lead. The girls where playing awesome as a team. As the game progressed we ran into some penalty trouble. The West Ottawa team started to capitalize and worked there way back into the game scoring the game tying goal with 5 minutes remaining. The Dragons regained there focus and played on. Chances where had at both ends, but overtime would again be needed. In the overtime period again chances where traded at both end. West Ottawa finally broke the tie scoring in the 4th minute of overtime for the victory. Although the successes in victories where not realized, the team did play with their hearts. The team's level of play increased as the tournament went on against some of the best team's in the province. The team finished with a 9th place rating in the province of which they can be very proud of. Congratulations to all of the player's, bench staff and all of the parents who all stepped up and all contributed to support the team through the weekend. You should all be proud of your efforts and how you represented the community. The team will now continue its season with the WORL playoffs. Special thanks to all of the team's sponsors and the Dorchester Ringette Association.

The team consists of back row center, Karlee Winegardner; back row left, Laura Swatridge, Taylor Capson, Rachel Jans, Regan Pinnell, Shay Armstrong. Front row left, Davis Smith, Ali Tasker, Natalie Hill, Julia Benati and Kaitlin Fraser.