Back in action after 2 years of M.I.A

So my last post was December 29th, 2011… that’s quite a long time. A lot has happened in the 2 plus years since my last appearance here.

Jasmine Leblanc - Team Canada
U19 World Champion

• The Canadian Ringette Championship format has changed,
• Ringette Canada has a new ED,
•  Canada reclaimed International Gold,
• The IRF launched a new website, and
• Ringette has been revived in the US – thanks to a group in Ann Arbor, MI

 Oh, and... Samantha Belle and Junior Jacks were born!

Who you might ask?

Samantha Belle and Junior Jacks are the official mascots of ringette! Their birth comes on the eve of our sport’s 50^th season. 

 

Sam and Junior with Bruce Jack
Son of ringette's inventor.

Now if I need to explain the whole 50^th season to you, it’s either because you have been living under a rock for the past few months, or I have not been doing a very good job at sharing what I have been up to.

So in case there is a little bit of truth to that second statement – the blog will be alive and thriving for the next 11 months.

During the off-season, behind the scene details will be shared via this social media medium as we work out the final details on the major 50^th Anniversary events set for various locations in Canada.

Once the season kicks off in September the focus of the blog will be on sharing the adventures of Sam Belle and Junior Jacks as they take part in celebration events across the country. You will also be able to follow everything 50^th via our Facebook and Twitter pages as well.

So welcome back to those who have followed our previous LTAD Roadshow, World Championship and World Club Championship adventures. The 50^th Celebration plans are certain to keep you all entertained. There will be something for everyone over the course of the season.

Sam, Junior and I (Franski) hope to meet some of you this season!

More blogs to come… I promise not to wait 2+ years until my next blog post.

Be sure to check out www.ringette50.ca for general info on the 50^th… lots of updates to follow on the website as well.

Happy off-season to all!

- Franski

De retour après un pause de 2 ans!

Jasmine Leblanc - Équipe Canada
Championne du Monde U19

Donc mon dernier blogue date du 29 décembre 2011 ... Ouin, 2ans et quelques mois… c'est quand même assez de temps. Oops... Mais, il y a tellement de ‘nouveau’ depuis mon dernier séjour dans le monde des blogues…

• Le format du Championnat canadien de ringuette a changé,

• Le Canada a récupéré le titre de championnes sur la scène internationale,

• La fédération international a lancé un nouveau site Web, et

• La ringuette a revue le jour au États-Unis! Grace à un groupe à Ann Arbor, MI

Et… Samantha Belle et Junior Jacks sont nés!

Qui, vous demander?

Samantha Belle et Junior Jacks sont les mascottes officielles de ringuette! Leur naissance s’adonne  à la veille de la 50e saison de notre sport.

Sam et Junior avec Bruce Jacks
Fils du créateur de la ringuette

Maintenant, si j'ai besoin d'expliquer le concept de la 50^e saison, c'est soit parce que vous avez vécu sous une roche pendant les derniers mois, ou je n'ai pas fait un très bon travail à partager mon travail au cours des derniers mois.

Ainsi, dans le cas où il ya un peu de vérité dans cette deuxième déclaration - le blogue est de retour pour les 11 prochains mois. Je vous garde à jour, je vais partager les détails, même parfois avant d’être confirmés!

Pendant la saison de relâche de ringuette, les détails d’arrière scène seront partagés par ce moyen des médias sociaux que nous travaillons sur les derniers détails sur les grands événements du 50e anniversaire fixés pour divers endroits au Canada.

Une fois que la saison débutera en Septembre les aventures de Sam Belle et Junior Jacks seront partagés. Ils prendront part à des célébrations à travers le pays. Vous serez également en mesure de suivre tout ce qui est 50ème via nos pages Facebook et Twitter.

Alors bienvenue à ceux qui ont suivi nos blogues précédents : DLTA, Championnat du monde et les aventures lors de Championnat de clubs. Les plans de célébration du 50e sont certains de vous garder tous les divertir. Il y aura quelque chose pour tout le monde au cours de la saison.

Sam, Junior et moi (Franski) espèrent rencontrer certains d'entre vous cette saison!

Plus d’info à venir ... Je promets de ne pas attendre 2 ans jusqu'à mon prochain blogue.

À vous de vérifier www.ringuette50.ca Pour des informations générales sur le 50e ... plusieurs mises à jour à suivre sur le site.

Bonne saison de relâche de ringuette à tous!

Franski

WCC 2011 - Did someone say Webcast?

I am really starting to enjoy this whole webcasting process! After a few NRL weekends and now into our second day here things are starting to come  together.

Over 500 of you tuned in to watch the 3 games yesterday! Thanks for tuning in and I hope you enjoy the other games all week. 

Now I understand that the time different between Finland and Canada is causing some of these broadcasts to be during your prime sleeping hours, but this event doesn't happen every year so be sure to tune in!

This is some great ringette, you are sure to see dozens of outstanding plays in each game.

If that is not enough for you then I urge you to tune in to watch the outstanding camera work by Peter Steele not only is he providing the camera work for the webcast feed, but he is also tagging the game in dartfish for both canadian teams all while snapping up a few action shot with his fancy camera (Laynski has camera envy). 

In case you were wondering how this whole webcasting goes down - here is the view from the video press box.

As I mentioned before... be sure to tune in and enjoy the action. 

I know we can getmore than 500 of you to tune in today!

-Franski

PS I am working on archiving the games. I think I have it all figured out - so games from today on should be archived by the end of each day. *fingers crossed*

2011WCC - It's all about preparation... (Day 2, Blog #1)

The Lightning are off to an early start on day 2 of the WCC. They are up in the first game against USK (Sweden) at 10 am local time here in Turku - thats 3am local time for you fans back in Richmond Hill!

So it was an early start for the Lanski-Franski duo as we hopped on the 8am bus with the Bolts this morning. Our group was the first to arrive at the rink this morning... most of the lights were still off and the press box wasn't unlocked yet. 

The athletes and coaching staff have wasted no time. As they arrived the athletes made their way to the dressing room and then out for a run (it is still dark outside here!), then broke out into individual pre-game routines. The coaching staff wasted no time to review footage from yesterday's game and worked out the game plan for this game. 

The work, preparation and thinking that goes into each one of these games became very evident this morning.

As fans of the game we don't always sees everything that goes into it. Everybody has a role to play and at this level every extra little bit counts. 

I am looking forward to this next match-up!

The game hasjust started!

Go Bolts!

- Franski

WCC 2011 - City Hall, Old City Hall and Town Hall...

It took multiple flights and a variety of modes of transportation to get us all here - but we made it to Turku Finland!


The Turbos, the Lightning, staff members and fans are all here and ready to rock this event. 


Today started with the Opening Ceremony - set to start at 9:30am at City Hall (at least that is what the information we got said) Laynki and  I walked over to  City Hall with the members of the Tubos team... and this is where the adventure begins:


9:20 - We arrive at City Hall only to be greeted by members of the staff that have no idea what we are talking about. I guess we are at the wrong location! 

9:23 - Salla (from Ringette Finland) walks by and instructs us to follow her to the venue - turns out it is at Old City Hall (or at least that is what we think)

9:27 - We seem to have lost Salla - she was walking ahead of us and then we lost her!!

9:29 - We ask a random people on the street to direct us to Old City Hall... only to be sent to different buildings every time - and all of them locked!

9:39 - Tried to call Salla from one of our cell phones... but we never go through. Is there some sort of trick to dialing in this country?


9:49 - Finally we spot someone in the Red Host committee jacket and we are directed to the right building... up the street, 5 buildings down. 


For the record - The building was called Old Town Hall - NOT City Hall... 


So I guess you could say that we arrived to the party.


Our apologies go out to the organizer of the event and all the participants that had to wait for us.  I have taken a funny tone to sharing this adventure, but in the grand scheme of event organization I know how much of an inconvenience this may have caused. 


So what did we learn from this adventure? 

- check the map before we leave for any other event locations. 

- confirm the exact name of the location

- learn how to dial a Finish number from a Canadian cell phone. 


Today the Richmond Hill Lightning take on Lapinlahden Luistin-89 and the Turbos take on Luvian Kiekko - 82.


Click here for the live stats or tune in to the webcast (I know it is still early in Canada!)

Check out our Flickr Photo stream on the right for a glimps of our adventure and the ceremonie.

More blogs to come later today!

2011 CRC - Will there be mini-games?

Jane Casson, president of Ringette Canada, arrived this morning. Now I must admit that Jane’s presence is always wonderful – but the reason I bring this up is that she also brought chocolate croissants from a local bakery near her house called Con Gusto. They were delicious! Laynski and I wasted no time devouring them early this morning. A few other staff members opted to wait until later in the day for theirs... but it seems they waited too long. You snooze you lose.

Onto event related thoughts.

Let’s talk mini games. It is totally possible that we will see mini games in the U16 and u19 division. Depending on what happens in the games tomorrow morning... fans might be treated to mini-game action tomorrow! Stressful for the athletes to play in... but incredibly exciting for all of us in the stands.

The fight for a spot in the medal round is tight in all divisions. Based on the today’s games in the NRL we can truly say that the championship is up for grabs by all teams in the championship round.

Who will make it to the finals? Not many games left before we can crown national champs.

Tomorrow we will see the Semi-finals in which the bronze medal will be awarded and the wining team will move on to the finals set to take place on Saturday.

All bronze and gold medal games will be webcast! Click here to access the webcast. Be sure to tune in and catch all games live. Here is the schedule:

Friday
17h00 – U16 Bronze
18h30 – U19 Bronze
20h00 – NRL Bronze

Saturday
10h00 – U16 Gold
U19 Skills Competition
12h30 – NRL Gold
U16 Skills Competition
15h00 – U19 Gold

Today we had over 150 students from Glen Morris Public School and North Ward School attend the U19 Ontario vs Québec game. These groups were treated an outstanding game. The game ended with an overtime goal by Kaylee Whitcroft to give Ontario the win.

Students from North Ward School took part in our media program and interviewed the overtime goal scorer and winning goalkeeper. Both Whitcroft and Alana Raymond also shared their thoughts on the game during a video interview.

Students from Glen Morris Public School were present for the post game interview with Kyrie Love following The Ice’s win over top-seeded Prairie Fire.  Love put one past the Fire goalkeeper with under two minutes left in regulation time. An exciting finish!

The games tomorrow in all divisions will mean a lot. Who moves on will be decided based on tomorrow morning’s games. The evening will feature the Bronze medal games (which I remind you will be webcast.)

Tune in tomorrow – don’t miss a moment of the action!

À demain!

-Franski

CCR 2011 - Allons nous avoir des mini-parties?

Jane Casson, la présidente de Ringuette Canada, est arrive aujourd’hui! Sa présence est toujours appréciée, mais aujourd’hui ce fut encore plus spécial. Elle a elle est arrivée avec une boîte de croissants au chocolat d’une boulangerie près de chez eux. DÉLICIEUX! Laynski et moi n’avons pas perdu de temps et avons dévoré les nôtres ce matin. D’autres membres du personnel de RC on choisi d’attendre à plus tard. Mais il semblerait que quelqu’un les a mangés avant eux! Haha

Et maintenant… de retour aux infos de l’événement :

Les mini-parties! Il y a possibilité d’en avoir demain! C’est toujours intéressant de voir des mini-parties! Stressant pour les athlètes et les entraîneurs…. Mais excitant à voir pour les partisans dans les estrades!

Les parties de demain matin sont d’une grande importance – elles peuvent vouloir dire la différence entre jouer pour une médaille et la fin du tournoi pour certaines équipes. Nous allons voir des parties intenses demain matin c’est certain!

Parlons webdiffusion… Les parties pour les médailles de bronze et d’or seront web diffusées. Appuyez ici pour le site de diffusion.

Voici l’horaire des parties :

Vendredi
17h00 – U16 Bronze
18h30 – U19 Bronze
20h00 – NRL Bronze

Samedi
10h00 – U16 Or
U19 Concours d’habilitées
12h30 – NRL Or
U16 Concours d’habilitées
15h00 – U19 Or

Aujourd’hui nous avions 150 élèves dans les estrades pour la partie U19 entre Québec et Ontario. Les élèves des écoles Glen Morris Public School et North Ward School on eu toute une partie. En plus voir la fin de la partie en Ottawa Ice et Prairie Fire, la partie ON vs QC s’est rendu en prolongation.

En plus d’assister aux parties, les élèves de North Ward School ont participé à notre programme média. Nos élèves-journalistes ont fait des entrevues avec des athlètes suite à la partie afin de pouvoir compléter leurs articles.  

Voici les entrevues de la journée :

ON U19 – Kaylee Whitcroft

ON U19 - Alana Raymond

Ottawa Ice – Kyrie Love

Les parties de demain auront un grand impact sur les classements. Assurez vous de suivre les résultats en ligne… et par la suite la webdiffusion des demi-finales!

À demain!

-Franski

2011 CRC - And the games continue...

Before I get into the full details about today... I must report that Emily has yet to make a mistake on the results charts. I am beginning to think that this is not a common problem... it’s just causes problems for me. Hmm... maybe if I practice, in 10 years (or 10 000 hours) I will master that skill. Shameless LTAD plug right there!

I don’t usually get the chance to watch full games at this event... but today I was lucky enough to catch the NRL game between Montreal and Edmonton. After 1 period of play the WAM! was down by 2 goals... but after an exciting 2 goals in the first minute of the second period they turned the game around and pulled off the win. Post game interviews with Ashley Peters and Dani Holliday (NRL Rookie of the Year nominee) have been posted on our YouTube.

Following the interview I was also treated to a few athletes and their team cheer... Chelsea Stone, Peters and Holliday performed there ‘Hey GO Blue’ cheer. A few of their teammates are also featured in this clip... any way you can find to get on camera right ladies.

It’s fun to be around these athletes. They bring their A game on the ice, they are so intense and determined to perform, But off the ice they have a great time. That’s what sport is truly about. The cheers, smiles and good times will always be there, regardless of the level of play.

I also had the chance to interview athletes from the undefeated Québec U19 team. Élizabeth Audette-Bourdeau and Jade Abboud talk about their experience at this event and offer advice to young athletes.

Day 3 wraps up the NRL round robin play. After today teams will move on to either the championship or consolation round. In one of the pools it came down to the final game of the day. Montreal vs Prairie Fire. If Montreal won, this would mean mini-games in the morning. If Montreal lost they were relegated to the consolation pool.

Turns out that... Prairie Fire controlled the last game of the day on Hespler 2, Montreal came back to be within one but in the end the Fire came out with the win. This means that Richmond Hill does not have to get up early to play in the 8am mini-game.

The NRL championship pool will feature: Turbos, WAM!,The Ice, RATH, Prairie Fire and the Lightning.  The consolation pool will feature: Mission, Attack, Cyclones and Devils.

I am sure you have all been following the live stats over the course of the event. Thanks to a wonderful group of volunteers the stats are entered into the system seconds after goals are scored. This is all possible thanks to text messaging.  The host committee has come up with quite a system here – and they have truly mastered it. (Don’t worry I have nothing to do with the stats input – my inability to input the scores on the paper results charts make me ineligible).

It seems we failed to mention an impressive win that took place yesterday. With one second left in regulation, Andrea Ferguson of the Prairie Fire put one past the WAM Goalie to avoid overtime and give her team the coveted 2 points. I guess we should really get out to Galt Arena more often – it seems we forget about those games when comes time to do our daily wrap up. Maybe tomorrow I will head over to Galt... or better yet, is anybody heading out to that rink that could provide me with fun stories to share?

I was unsuccessful in convincing my fellow RC staff to stop at Cold Stone Creamery on the way to the hotel last night. We did however hook into a Wii Party. Turns out Wii Resort translates into hours of hilarious fun – especially after a long day at the arena. Thanks KP and the rest of your crew for the invite.

That’s a wrap for today!

Laynski you rock (This is a message from your secret friend – they promised to buy me Cold Stone ice cream to mention this in the blog)

À demain!

-Franski

CCR 2011 - Et les parties continues...

Avant de partager les détails de la journée, je dois commencer par vous faire part du fait qu’Emily reste toujours avec une fiche parfaite à l’égard des tableaux de résultats. Je commence vraiment à penser que ce n’est pas un problème commun,  c’est juste moi qui éprouve ce problème. Mais… avec 10 ans ou 10 000 heures de pratique je pourrais arriver à le maîtriser.

Je n’ai pas souvent la chance de voir une partie au complet lors du CCR, mais j’ai eu la chance de voir la partie entre Montréal et Edmonton. Après une période de jeu – le WAM! tirait de l’arrière par deux. Mais ils n’ont eu besoin qu’une minute au début de la 2^e période pour égaliser le pointage… et par la suite la victoire. Suite à la partie j’ai eu la chance de m’entretenir avec Ashley Peters et Dani Holliday (Nommée pour la Recrue de l’année de la LNR).

Suite aux entrevues, leur coéquipières se sont joint à eux pour nous démontrer le cri  ‘Hey GO Blue’. C’est plaisant de voir les athlètes hors-glace. Elles sont tellement intense et déterminées lors des parties, mais elles ont tellement de plaisir en équipes. Les cris d’équipe, les bon souvenirs et les sourires sont toujours présent, peu importe la niveau de jeu.

J’ai aussi eu la chance d’interviewer Élizabeth Audette-Bourdeau et Jade Abboud d’équipe Québec U19. Elle partage avec nous leurs expériences au CCR ainsi que des conseilles pour nos jeunes athlètes.

Aujourd’hui marquait la fin du tournoi à la ronde de la LNR. Suite à une partie excitante entre le Prairie Fire et le Mission on peut maintenant conclure qu’il n’y aura pas de mini-parties. La victoire du Fire a fais en sorte que le Lightning passe à la ronde du championnat et que le Mission se retrouve encore une fois dans la ronde de consolation.

Les groupes seront comme suit :

Championnat : Turbos, WAM!, Ice, RATH, Prairie Fire et le Lightning

Consolation : Mission, Attack, Cyclones et Devils.

Vous suivez sans doute les statistiques en direct sur notre site Web. Si vous ne pouvez être des nôtre ici à Cambridge les buts sont ajoutés en temps réel! Avec l’aide de messages textes, les informations passe du marqueur à la centrale des statistique afin d’être ajouté au site. Super comme concept! (Je vous assure que je ne joue aucun rôle dans ce processus. Étant donné mon incapacité de compléter les tableaux (papier) je ne qualifie pas pour jouer un role dans le processus virtuel.

Il semblerait que nous avons oublié de mentionner une victoire spectaculaire hier qui a eu lieu à l’aréna Galt. Avec seulement un seconde au cadran Andrea Ferguson du Prairie Fire a marquer pour donner la victoire aux siennes contre le WAM!. Impressionnant!

J’ai n’ai pas été en mesure de convaincre mes amies de travail d’arrêter au Cold Stone Creamery en route vers l’hôtel hier soir. Par contre nous avons pris part à un ‘party de Wii’. Il semblerait que le jeu Wii Resort = plusieurs heures de divertissement. Surtout lorsque le groupe est fatigué suite à une journée complète à l’aréna. Merci KP et ton groupe pour l’invitation!

C’est tout pour aujourd’hui!

Laynski tu est SUPER COOL! (Ceci est un message de ton ami(e) secrèt(e). Il/elle m’a promis une crème glacée chez ColdStone si je mentionne ceci dans mon blogue)

À demain!

-Franski

2011 CRC – Last minute wins, 349 goals and Cold Stone Creamery

With the start of NRL Round Robin play, all division had a full slate of games today. U16 results. U19 Results. NRL Results. A few upsets, close games and Big Wins!

The NRL Awards finalists were also announced today. Who will claim the top prizes? You’ll have to wait until Saturday night to find out when the winners are announced at the CRC closing ceremony.

As we only had 2 divisions competing yesterday all the action took place at Hespler Arena. With all 3 divisions in action today, some games took place at Galt arena. I have not yet been, but I hear it’s a great arena. One of the oldest functioning rinks! I might have to make my way over there sometime this week – I’ll be sure to snap a few pics for you all.

Hespler was a very busy place today... which means lots of circulation in the Ringette Store. They have great items for sale and fans and athletes are stopping in to buy souvenirs from this event.

For two of our earlier games today, we had 130 7^th grade students come out to cheer on the local athletes competing in this event. It is always great to see new fans see our sport for the first time! Thanks to all the students who came out today!

In my experiences at previous events, I had been given the responsibility of updating the results charts. Let’s just say that I was causing the event to go over budget due to the amount of whiteout I needed because of the mistakes I was making. When this job was handed off to Emily this year I warned her of the difficulties that come with that job. She laughed and proceeded to declare that she was a pro at this and there is no way she would make a mistake. So far she has not needed the white out... but the week is still young! LOL

Fans were treated to more action packed games today. With only 2 days of competition completed teams have combined to score a total of 349 goals! Always exciting for all of us in the stands to see so many goals... and goal celebrations.

One of the most exciting goal celebrations I saw today was the game winning goal for Nova Scotia U16 over Ontario. With minutes left in the game Brittany Melanson scored to give Nova Scotia the lead over Ontario. Here is a clip of her goal and a post-game interview with her and her coach. This was a big win for Nova Scotia – no shortage of excitement amongst the Nova Scotia athletes, fans and coaching staff.

The games here just keep getting better and better. I can’t wait to see tomorrow’s matchups.

On a completely unrelated note... I have been introduced to Cold Stone Creamery. The Tim Hortons that is on our way home from the rink features this ice cream chain. For those who have not yet been introduced to this ice cream you are TOTALLY missing out. It is delicious! Seriously, look up the nearest Cold Stones, it is totally worth the trip! Maybe my Ringette Canada friends will want to stop on the way home again tonight?

Tomorrow is video day! Look for lots more videos to be uploaded over the course of the day.

Good night folks!

À demain

-Franski