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Page 22 - Wat-goo Chronic“. Wednesday, April 16, mo THE BRITISH COLUMplA Junior Belles were awarded the sportsmanship award for setting the best example during the four-day championship. KC. also pulled off a major upset by handing Ontario its only loss in any division when the west coast girls shocked Sudbury 3-2 Friday. Other sportsmanship awards went to Saskatchewan Belles and New brunswick Debs. Lisa 'Maiks' things happen "The provincials were the big thing for us. we beat some pretty good clubs to win there and the girls have been on a downer all week." said Maik Sunday mo- ments after Etobico disposed of Nova ScotiaSA, in the championship game to complete the nationals un- defeated at " “It was a big letdown after working so hard to win the Ontario title. but today about a half hour before the game, the girls really got up and went out there and did a Job." Although he tossed a few individual bouquets in the direction of his players for their performance. Maik broke into a wide smile when a reporter compliment- ed the play of his daughter Lisa. a superb skater and offensive kingpin in Etoblco‘s attack. She tallied 13 times and added four assists in five games. Coach Peter Maik wasn't exactly enthused about the play of his Etobico Debs as representatives of On- tario at the Ringette nationals last weekend. But thetact M, club took top honors made their per- formance a little easier to live with. ETOBICO DEBS' outstanding Lisa Maik had the crowd buzzing with her brilliant skating, "She (Lisa) never took figure skating. but she was always one to go out and play hockey with the boys on the block when she was younger." said the elder Maik. "Then one day l was at the rink and saw a bunch of girls playing iringette) and so I went home and said to her (she was nine), hey. they're playing a game called ringette down at the rink. how'd you like to try it! So she said she would and hasjust been get- ting better ever since. But one good thing about her. not only does she play well, she also handles the no. toriety well too." Speaking of notoriety, Sudbury Junior Belles gained fame of a dubious sort Friday when they became the first Ontario team in two years to lose at the nationals when they dropped a 3-2 decision to BC. But the strong Ontario entry rebounded in fine style and dumped Alberta 9-5 in the final to take the title. Sudbury had a strong psychological edge after past/ng Alberta 14-3 Saturday. “I think we might have come in here expecting to walk away with this wig (nationals)_" said Ontario coach Ed Stewart. "But at certainly wasn't the way it was. We outplayed B.C. in our loss. but we just couldn't score the goals. I think we Ielmed a lot from the loss coming into the final game. and besides. it's been proven we play better with ourhacks to the wall anyway." 7 __ . She isn’t likely to be seen on the disco dance Jloor, but that doesn't mean June Tiessen doesn't know the words to all that boogie "Yes, I think that's a per- fect description." Tiessen said Sunday morning when asked if the expression "We are Family" " sung by Sis- ter Sledge was an appropria- te expression for the mag- nificant manner that the people of _ Waterloo opened their hearts and their homes to the national ringette championships. "From what I've seen. the people in this town, the bil- lets and the volunteers have Just been fantastic and have given the sport a bitt boost in In stark contrast to the miserably cold and rainy weather prevalent for most of the events. the visitors to this city were treated to a warm and friendly at- mosphere throughout by tournament organizers and especially by those unsung heroes. the billets who housed a great percentage of the 350 athletes attending. Smooth-running championships finishing touches: Tiessen [HE ALL-GIRLS Venturere Drum end Bugle Corps delighted the crowd with its precision and ceremony during the closing ceremoniee.. Highlights of the closing included the ewetding ol medele to winning teeme and e epeciel preeentetidn to locel cheirmen John Zupko lot the meny hours he end the volunteen invested to melte the chempionehip e complete succeee. . "ou DLY HOLDING the Sam Jacks Memorial Trophy as national champions of the Belle Division are Waterloo captains Jerri-Lynn Such (left). Lynn Der- becker ‘lcentrel end Julie Peleczny. Weterloo won the title for Ontario with a 7-4 win over Manitoba in the final game Sunday played baton mom than 1,200 fans. " Positive feeling the arm," said Ringette Canada president Barry Mattern of Manitoba. "Everyone has been helpful to us to bring off these na- tionals. and the people around here (Waterloo Arena) have just been great to work with." For Tiessen, a ground- floor pillar in the growing structure of Waterloo Rin- gette, and the national chairperson of both last year's and this yeae,'s na- tional event, the weekend was representative of a dream she envisioned some- where off in the distance as few as two or three years “I didn't figure we'd be ready (to hold, the nationals) for another five years," but what we've seen here has obviously pioven . me wrong," she said. What was most rewarding for the people directly in- volved with staging the se- cond nationals was that it was pulled off solely at the local level without provin- cial backing. Saskatchewan was supposed to be host to this fear's event but Just MARCHING TO THE BEAT . "To have it run so well just puts the finishing touches on the whole thing," said Tiessen. "We went from a very negative situa- tion to a very positive one as far as credibility is con- cerned." . The major worry of the local officials was that be- cause the sport has not re- ceived widespread 'exposure in the community, attendan- ce response would be mini- mal. And while numbers lagged (as expected) for Thursday and Friday com- petition. crowds were sizea- ble for both days of the wee- kend. couldn‘t get together with Ringette Canada on several important details and so re- linquished the respon- sibility. "We did a little PR (pub: lic relations) work for the first two days, we brought in school kids from Waterloo who had the permission of their teachers to attend. and divided them up. half to cheer for one province and the other half the other," said Tiessen. "And on the Everyone, including Ties- sen, who witnessed last year's championships in Winnipeg agreed that the weaker provinces. especial- ly British Columbia, have made giant strides towards the obvious goal of parity at the skill level. The BC. jun- ior belles pulled off the upset of the tournament Fri- day morning at Albert Mc- Cormick arena when they shocked Ontario (Sudbury) 3-2 to hand this province its only loss of the nationals. weekend there were defini- tely people here who had not seen ringette before, but who just came out to see what it was all about. And most of the games were very entertaining, which doesn't hurt either." "Every year the other provinces are showing a marked improvement," said Tiessen. “I would say next year we could pos- sibility have a new cham- pion (Ontario has won all six over the two years) in one of the divisions, and complete parity should follow not far down the road ."