Morning Star Staff
The Vernon Crushers, well, crushed their ringette opposition. The U10 squad went 3-for-3 in Thompson Okanagan Ringette League weekend play, outscoring their foes 29-12.
The Crushers opened against the Kelowna Ice Angels and rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to post an 11-8 win.
Lauren Cooke (3+3) and Madison Edgar (2+2) keyed the Vernon comeback. Verity White made some key saves as the Angels battled back. Kennedy Jackson fired in a natural hat trick before Emily Gilman, Devyn Hildebrand and Rory Lang each added goals.
The Crushers showed excellent ring control in a 12-0 dismantling of Salmon Arm.
Strong defensive play by Lucia Manton and Jackson helped Edgar post a shutout.
Ginger Demetrick, playing her first game for the Crushers, provided assists on goals by White and Hildebrand. Gilman and Cooke fired three goals each with Jackson adding two.
In the third game, Edgar fired in an early hat trick to get the Crushers off to a great start as they downed the Kelowna Avalanche 6-4.
Jackson scored two in the second while Cooke added a single in support of Gilman.
The Venom got the better of their friends, beating the Storm 8-2 in the all-Vernon U12 match Saturday at Kal Tire Place.
Makenna Jackson had three goals for the Venom, Kristen Francks added two and singles went to Amelia Johnson, Aimee Skinner and Hillary Quiring. Sophia Bilodeau had two assists.
Sierra Lochhead and Shayla Austin scored for the Storm.
Sunday, the Venom faced a hot goalie but rallied to double the Salmon Arm Flames 6-3.
Skinner, on a feed from Caryss Hill, had the Venom’s first-half tally.
Francks fired up the team by battling through several defenders, and, despite being hooked, flung the ring past the goalie on a delayed penalty. Sierra Fernley followed up with a shorthanded marker.
The turning point of the game came with the score even at 3-3, when a penalty shot was awarded to Salmon Arm.
With the home crowd behind her, Jordan Tung dropped gracefully to a butterfly position to stone the Salmon Arm shooter. That fired up the Venom, who had two successive scores by Francks, and one more for good measure from Taylor Hewitt in the dying seconds to make it 6-3.
The Storm bounced back to complete the Vernon sweep of the Flames Sunday, winning 8-2.
Alecia Hughes made her goaltending debut for the Storm and sparkled. Jasmine Horton showed strong checking ability on defence.
Astrid Beatty demonstrated her top speeds getting to the ring first to make the play.
Chayse Krause and Lochhead both got hat tricks, while veteran goalie Katrina Winstanley went forward and scored with an entertaining, one-footed wrist shot. Rhys Taylor-Hawes added a goal.
The TORL U16 AA Force, made up of players from Vernon, Kelowna and Salmon Arm,shook off the jetlag (all but one attended the Finland trip) and took in the 2016 Esso Golden Ring tournament in Calgary, losing 8-4 against the eventual tournament winner, the Calgary Blue, in Sunday’s semifinal.
Coach Warren Carter (Vernon) led an excellent showing by the girls. The Force was the highest scoring team in their division, averaging five goals per game, starting with a 9-4 win over Zone 4 Sting. Vernon’s Alyssa Racine had 2+1, Evan Koshure added 1+1 and Aly Carter of Vernon had a single. Emma Carter had 2A.
The Force fell 6-3 to the St. Albert Mission with Abby Williamson of Vernon scoring once. Game 3 saw the Force drop a 7-3 decision to the Calgary Apex, setting the stage for a thrilling 6-5 OT quarterfinal win over Edmonton. Racine tied it with 1:12 left with Emma Carter drawing an assist.
Racine had 2+1 in the semi loss to Calgary.
D-men Madi Fox, Evan Koshure, Emily Williams, and Hailey McRae were under attack all weekend, especially shorthanded.