LIAM BERTI PHOTOS
If Tuesday night’s exhibition game between Canada and Finland is any indication as to how the Sam Jacks Championship Series is going to play out, ringette fans are in for a treat.
As the sound of a Finnish snare drum filled Memorial Gardens, it was evident Team Finland’s ringette team will work hard to retain their World championship title after downing Canada 8-6.
The two teams traded streaks of momentum and unanswered goals before settling the match in the late stages of the fourth quarter, where Finland showed offensive flare, scoring three goals in less than a minute.
“We saw things that we think we can fix and we saw things that we think we can attack,” said Team Canada head coach Glen Gaudet. “We learned from the game and hopefully we can pull things together two days from now.”
Centre Anne Pohjola led the Finnish attack with a goal and five assists, while Captain Marjukka Virta chipped in with two goals and assist.
After so much anticipation for the two teams to face off, it took Canada just 52 seconds to break the ice. Forward Jennifer Gaudet fooled the Finnish defence with a blind behind the back pass, setting up Jacqueline Gaudet for a beautiful top shelf shot.
Just two minutes later, Canadian defense Kaitlyn Youldon buried a short side shot as she was falling to the ice. Jennifer Gaudet would add Canada’s third unanswered goal in the late stages of the first.
“When we were up 3-0, I think the play was pretty even,” said coach Gaudet. “We executed well at the net.”
Despite being outshot 12-11 in the first period it was the Canadians, both the players and fans, who dominated the arena in the first half of the game.
But after getting off to the hot start and entering the third quarter up 4-2, Team Finland settled into an offensive rhythm and outscored the Canadians 6-2 in the final two frames.
“Their first four goals were all created by us making a mistake in a position that they could get an odd-man rush and they ended up scoring on those,” said Gaudet. “That’s what we have to try and focus to eliminate.
“We turned the ring over a little more than we’d like,” Gaudet continued. “We got sloppy in the third and fourth period, they fore-checked us hard and they created the turnovers.”
After scoring with less than a minute left to tie the game, the Finns would go on to score two more goals, burying any chance the Canadians had of mounting a comeback.
A contagious buzz filled the Gardens as the Finnish fan chants were constantly competing with the Canadian crowd. Despite being a pre-tournament exhibition game, the healthy rivalry between the teams and fans was obvious.
“The fans are great, and the Finnish fans are great. There might not be as many of them, but they’re loud,” said coach Gaudet. “They’re passionate about the game and hopefully the Canadian community comes out to watch how passionate we are about the game.”
The two teams will battle again at 7 p.m. on Jan. 2 when they face off in game one of the Sam Jacks Series. The series is a best-of-three with the winner taking home the Same Jacks Trophy, emblematic of world ringette supremacy.
For more information on the tournament click HERE.
For the official Twitter account click HERE. You can also use the hashtag #2013WRC.
For the official Facebook account click HERE.
For the official YouTube site click HERE.
For a schedule of games available by live stream click HERE.
