The Foothills U12B ringette team took home the Division 1 Regional banner on March 17, after beating Indus in the gold medal game 7-4.

Alex Mouland, the head coach talked about how the weekend went during the regional competition.

"It was excellent, it was a really trying, tough weekend. Regional weekend was in Lethbridge this year, so we had an 8 a.m. game on Friday. We played six games total across three days, so it was a real grind," Mouland said.

"The early start was mixed, some players handled it really well, like it wasn't even an issue. Some were obviously pretty tired, but that goes back to relying on the whole team."

Throughout the year, the early start times weren't a regular thing for the U12B team, so it was a bit of a change when they had to hit the ice so early. Foothills would do well winning two of the games with an 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. start time.

"How it works for Regionals this year, they took the U12B Division and divided it into Division 1 and 2. They took the five top teams and pooled them into Division 1 and put them against each other for the Regional Title. Then pooled everyone else together to play for another tournament basically," he said.

"We were playing against the top five teams who all had extremely good records and we only have one to two head-to-heads with these teams all year long. We came into the round-robin play and we ended up with two draws and two wins."     

During the round-robin play, the Foothills U12B team went down a girl after she sprained her ankle. She would return during the championship games, but Mouland had to call up one of his players' sisters who plays on the U10 team.

It was fitting the Division 1 championship game was played against Indus, a team that gave Foothills a challenge throughout the year.

"We went to the final to play against Indus. Indus is the only team that beat us in the regular season, they knocked us out of league playoffs. They are really the only team that gave us trouble all year, in a consistent way," Mouland said.

"We came up against them in the final, and we really wanted another piece of them, and we came out on top. It was a close game, it was 7-4. In a game of U12 ringette, 7-4 is a really close score."

While the Foothills U12B came home happy with the Regionals, it's the bonds that they made during the tournament that will stick with them forever.

"I honestly think trips like that are really the only thing that matters, especially in youth sport and girls' youth sport at this level. We have a couple of out-of-town tournaments each year usually and we usually host a tournament," Mouland said.

"It's really those two or three moments that make the entire season. Especially when you look back, reflect, and ask your daughters. It's those away tournaments and all the fun they had between the games, with team lunches and the swimming. That is 100 per cent what makes it for them." 

For those who would like to try Ringette or would like to introduce their kids to the sport, Foothill Ringette is hosting a "Come Try Ringette" event at Centennial Arena on Sunday, April 7 at 2:45 p.m.

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