Gloucester Open AA Devils

The Gloucester Open AA Devils won the Ontario Provincial Ringette Championships with a 5 - 4 last minute Win over Cambridge.

Gloucester defeated Waterloo 9-2 at 7:30 Friday morning to begin their quest for gold. Later that afternoon they mustered a 4-1 victory over Sudbury. Another early morning brought an 8-2 win over Pickering Saturday at 7:15 am. Then came the three most hard fought games of the season to that moment against powerful and talented Cambridge.

Game One... The final round-robin match to see who would finish first. Gloucester scored first on an unassisted Melissa Lauder goal at 16:31. Cambridge matched that goal with one of their own at 14:22. the Devils stormed back two minutes later with Barb Bautista notching the go ahead goal, assisted by Dominique Frechette and Katie Allen. With six minutes to go in the first period Cambridge scored again to even the match. Cambridge took the lead for the first time in the game 5 minutes into the final period, and followed that up with an insurance goal with 8:44 left on the clock. Katie Allen brought Gloucester within one with under six minutes to go in the game. Gloucester pressed and pressed and with a minute 23 left, pulled the goalie to try to equalize the score. Cambridge held on for a hard fought, exciting 3-4 victory.

Game Two... Ontario Ringette, ever innovative tried a new method of medal round play called the page system. (used in National Curling Championships) In this method of qualifying for medals, the numbers one and two teams in the standings play a game for the right to go directly to the final. The loser of that game would play the winner of a game between teams three and four in the standings for the right to play again in the final. Cambridge finished First, Gloucester Second... and so the battle for the bye to the Championship Game was on. The Devils scored first half way through the first period. Jodi Jensen assisted by Dom Frechette and Jodi Connolly gave Gloucester the lead. That goal held up till half time. Katie Allen gave the Green Shirts a two goal lead 37 seconds into the second half, set up by Barb Bautista.... Little did they know then that that would be the winning marker. Allen returned the favour passing to Bautista for goal number 3 just three minutes later. Not to be outdone, Cambridge vaulted back... scoring with just over five minutes to go in the game. Trying for overtime, Cambridge did everything but score in the final two minutes... at last they put the ring in the net.... just as the buzzer sounder... NO GOAL! signalled the ref, giving Gloucester a hard fought 3 - 1 victory which put them directly into the Gold Medal game.

Game Three... Championship Match. Cambridge as expected, won their semi-final game with a 7-3 victory over Pickering to advance to the Final against Gloucester. The matchup proceeded cautiously with each team feeling one another out. The Devils drew first blood. Barb Bautista assisted by Jodi Jensen put Gloucester ahead, followed by a Melissa Lauder rocket on passes from Katie Allen and Nadia Tomy. Gloucester 2 - Cambridge 0... Halfway through the first period Bautista, set up by Lauder gave the Devils what looked like an insurmountable 3 goal lead. However you can never count the Cambridge team out. They dug deep and fought back immediately scoring just 30 seconds later to stop the Green shirts celebration. That's how the first half ended. Gloucester still in charge 3-1. Second Period... 20 seconds in... BOOM! a Jacqueline Gaudet of Cambridge bombshell... Devils 3 - Cambridge 2. Jensen quelled that uprising putting away a Frechette/Connolly passing play for a 4-2 lead with 5 minutes gone in the half. Game over eh?   Not on your life... two more quick goals by Cambridge, one at 14:41 and another two minutes later had Gloucester reeling. What a great comeback by Cambridge... exactly what everyone in the crowd was expecting... 13 minutes to play.... a new game... 4 - 4.... 0 - 0... Back and forth it went, neither team willing to give up... both teams giving every inch of themselves... 35 seconds to go... a Gloucester Free Pass to the right of Cambridge's goalie. Gloucester set themselves up for a set play to try to get a quick crease pass shot. They left themselves an out if the player going to the goal was covered... whistle blows....... skater starts to get free... the ring is in the net. No pass... a bullet shot on goal from the Free Pass by Katie Allen... Gloucester 5 - Cambridge 4... and that folks is how it ended...   GLOUCESTER GOLD - CAMBRIDGE SILVER. On to the National Championships for the Devils.

Courtesy of Orleans Online. Click Photo to read Story.

Click on Brown Wrapping Paper to read crayon dinner musings after Day One.