Cochrane will be ringing with athletes from across Alberta this weekend at the fifth annual Cochrane Classic ringette tournament.
Forty-two teams, with players ranging in age from 6-15, are in town for games starting 8 a.m. Dec. 13 and wrapping up 5:45 p.m. Dec. 15. Majority of play goes on all three Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre rinks, with one 7 p.m. Friday game and seven Saturday games, starting at 12:30 p.m., going at Edge School in Springbank.
“It’s about fun, obviously,” said Cochrane Classic organizer Tanya Ferguson. “We just keep getting bigger and bigger and developing friendships across ringette.”
Teams are coming from Fort Saskatchewan, Spruce Grove, Beaumont, Medicine Hat, St. Albert, Calgary, Leduc, Red Deer, Lacombe, Airdrie, Lethbridge and Sherwood Park.
And players and parents will be greeted with a room full of prize tables at Spray Lake Centre as sponsors like Canyon Technical Services, Challenger Geomatics, Mountainview Inn and Suites, Triple Flip, and Cochrane Image Auto Body have all contributed to the tourney prize cache.
“We’ve had so much support this year with our sponsorship,” Ferguson mentioned. “We’ve had the best turnout in our sponsorship.”
Items up for grabs in raffles and a silent auction include a hockey stick autographed by the Edmonton Oilers and some Calgary Flames tickets. And, of course, the lollypop tree from Cochrane’s Sugarbritches.
“It’s quite a good range of stuff,” Ferguson said.
But there will also be non-stop ringette over three days, much of it in competitive divisions.
“Obviously, it’s really good competition,” Ferguson surmised. “With the ‘A’ divisions getting better and better every year, you’ve got the competitive edge in what you’re seeing in the games.”
