By Christine RivetGODERICH -- The peewee C girls are bringing a new purple banner home to the Mount Forest and District Sports Complex.
After suffering a heart-breaking 3-2 loss in a shootout to Lucknow in a semifinal at the Young Canada hockey tournament, the resilient Mount Forest Rams responded with a gutsy 3-1 win over the West Grey Warriors in the consolation later Sunday.
The Rams' superior fitness level was key in Sunday's romp -- and their heart.
"Our girls learned a valuable life lesson on Sunday," said Rams coach Bill W. "It would have been so easy for them to fold up after that defeat earlier in the day, but they stuck with the game plan and proved that hard work brings success eventually."
Morgan F. potted a couple of goals in the bronze game for the winners, giving the hard-charging power forward her 29th of the season.
Paige D. added an insurance marker late in the third, converting a beautiful 2-on-1 with teammate Shea M.
It was the Rams' seventh game in eight days and yet they showed no sign of wilting.
"Not bad for a team with only 10 skaters," said Coach Bill. "There's a reason why we train so hard off the ice. Our fitness really showed in the third period. Our girls were tired but found an extra gear that our opponents didn't have."
The Rams got goals from captain Haven L. and Chloe R. in Sunday's earlier loss.
Mount Forest's superb defence and goaltending surrendered just seven goals in five games at the three-day tournament.
The Rams finished third after the round robin thanks to a 4-1 win over West Grey on Saturday.
Chloe R., Chloe K, Haven L, and Shea had goals for Mount Forest which scored three times in the second period to blow the game open.
Chloe K. scored with just under 35 seconds left in regulation to help the Rams salvage a must-needed 2-2 tie with Brussels-Clinton-Hensall on Friday.
Haven L. also scored in the tie.
Ilderton, who beat the Rams 1-0 in their tourney opener on Friday, defeated Lucknow 2-0 in the gold-medal game.
The Rams reconvene on Thursday for a practice at their home rink at 7:30 p.m.