By Christine Rivet
The host Mount Forest bantam C Rams sent a message to teams throughout
the province on the weekend before they bowed out of their own
tournament on Saturday night.Coming off a difficult three-in-one stretch, the Rams fell 3-0 to a rough-and-ready Chatsworth squad on Saturday night but not before the local girls rolled to a 3-2 victory over a tough North Bay team and a 1-1 draw with a solid club from St. Thomas.
All of it in one action-packed day.
"We saw a lot of hockey on Saturday and we are starting to find out what our girls are made of," said Rams coach Bill W. "What we saw was a great group of girls who love to spend time with each other both on and off the ice. And that they have a lot of pride in how they play the game.
"No question, we have some things to work on but it's a long season and we are extremely proud of how hard our girls will work for us."
In Saturday's eye-opener against North Bay, the Mount Forest girls just may have assembled their most complete game of the season.
After scoring three markers in the first period's first nine minutes, the Rams forced the visitors to spend their timeout. Mount Forest got quick goals from captain Kyla P., Hayley G. and the eventual winner from Emily A.
The hosts watched as the North Bay girls stormed back to within one goal in the third but held on for an impressive win.
In their afternoon match against St. Thomas, the Rams started a bit slower but were able to hang on for the tie with a superb one-timer from the slot off Paige D.'s stick. She took a rocket cross-ice feed from Haven L.
On Friday, the Mount Forest girls notched a 1-0 victory over Owen Sound and then posted a scoreless tie with East Lambton.
All of that meant the Rams finished their tournament with a rock-solid record of two wins, two ties and one loss which left them third overall.
"A very good weekend for our girls. Something we can really build on," said coach Bill.
The bantam Rams would like to send out a special "thank you" to all the tournament's volunteers and organizers who put on a first-rate show this weekend, something the entire community can be proud of.
Next action for the Mount Forest girls is Wednesday at the Mount Forest and District Community Centre when Owen Sound pays a visit. It's a 7:40 p.m. start.