Morning Star Staff
Vernon Ignite burned the competition to win gold at the B.C. U14B ringette finals in North Vancouver.
The Ignite, coached by Mike Cornell, Mike Gilman, Terri Frances and managed by Joelle Ho, went undefeated, including a 6-3 win over Prince George in the gold-medal match.
“It really was a great year and a great way to end it off with the gold medal,” said Cornell. “The girls played amazingly well and we’re really proud of them.”
Grace Cornell scored the first two goals in the championship game for Vernon, set up both times by Tristan DeWitt. Prince George – who advanced to the final with a win over Salmon Arm – made it 2-1 only to have Abby Sveistrup restore the two-goal advantage 11 seconds later, set up by Alassa Johnson.
Julie Francis made it 4-1 Ignite at the intermission.
After Prince George scored twice in the first five minutes of the second half to pull to within a goal, Cornell scored her third of the game with an assist from Amy Demetrick, and then added the insurance marker with a set-up from Kristin Ho.
The two teams met in their opening game of the provincials with the Ignite dominating in an 11-3 rout.
Ho had five goals, Cornell added 2+2, and singles went to Brynn Korol, Mackenzie Gilman, Sveistrup and Francis. Johnson had three assists.
Vernon then whipped Coquitlam-Moody 10-1 with Francis scoring a hat trick in the first eight minutes. Cornell (2+4) and Ho (2+2) contributed deuces while singles went to Korol, Demetrick and DeWitt.
Faith Reynolds and goalie Kaila Summerfelt had great games for the Ignite, who when faced league rivals Salmon Arm.
Vernon won 4-0 with Summerfelt stellar in recording the shutout. Johnson, Ho, Cornell and Sveistrup handled the scoring.
The fourth Ignite game was against Delta and it drew a large crowd of Prince George supporters, who quickly became Ignite fans, as Vernon needed to beat Delta by seven goals so Prince George could advance to the playoff round.
Final score: Vernon 8 Delta 1.
Ho and Cornell had two goals while singles went DeWitt, Francis, Johnson and Korol, whose goal with 95 seconds left put Prince George into the playoffs.
Johnson and Korol each had three assists.
Also on the Ignite but unable to play in the provincial finals were Hannah McMorran and Tara Charlton.