Another year, another season of perfection for novice ringette in Chatham.
Well, it’s not always that way. Last year, the U-10 Novice Thunder ringette team lost a game or two, but that is largely because they got bumped up a division, according to team manager Perry Haines.
For this year, as well as 2013-14 and 2012-13, the Thunder were quite simply perfect in Southwestern Ontario league play.
“It’s quite the program,” Haines said. “There is some great coaching.”
He credits head coach Renee Rivard and assistants Paul Morris, Jeff Walters and Abb Carr with providing excellent guidance.
Last season, Haines said the team rolled through the first half undefeated as a U-9 squad before getting bumped up to play older kids.
Haines said there were a lot of close games this year, and sometimes a lopsided score at the end of the game is not indicative of how close the match really was.
“Ringette is a pretty explosive sport. In two minutes, there can be three or four goals scored,” he said. “There was some good competition this season. A lot of the other associations are really improving.”
Haines thinks Chatham has an advantage in the popularity of the learn-to-skate program – “popular with the little ones” – where the local lasses get a head start on the ice.
“We’re notorious for having fast skaters,” he said.
Continuing such domination will be a challenge, but Haines believes the Thunder will continue to find perfect or near-perfect success. Next year, about 10 players return to the U-10 squad, bringing valuable experience with them. And the next crop of fleet-footed youngsters will join the fray.
“It wouldn’t be surprising to see them go undefeated again,” Haines said.
But this season isn’t over just yet for the U-10 Thunder. They will play in the regional showdown in London at the end of the month, and Haines said teams aren’t lining up to be in the same pool as the Thunder.
“Nobody wants to play us,” he said.
