Panthers tournament a highlight for Ringette community

The Southeast Event Centre in Steinbach was filled throughout last weekend, as the Steinbach Panthers Ringette program got their first chance to host a tournament inside the new building.

More than two dozen teams made the trip out to the centre, with games stretching from early Friday morning to Sunday evening in both the big rink and next door at the T.G. Smith Arena.

Steinbach Ringette ice scheduler Lisa Funk said any new building hiccups are well in the program’s rearview mirror.

“Everyone loves the facility,” Funk said as the medal round games took place.

“Everything has been very positive, between the decorations, the planning, everything’s been running very smooth… This year all three days were giv’er.”

Participation in ringette in Steinbach has been on the rise in the last few years, following Canada-wide trends.

“It’s great to have a place for girls to go to be able to be in sport and be competitive and learn a lot,” Funk said.

“We’ve got to move (the ring) around the ice really fast and you have to pass it across the blue-line… You’ve got to play as a team.”

A bigger tournament meant the program needed more volunteers to run it.

“It was unexpected to the parents, we needed everyone’s buy-in,” Funk said.

“We got enough, everyone pitched in and it went really well.”

The Panthers have been running the ‘chuck-a-puck’ competition at Steinbach Pistons games this season, with the game on New Year’s Eve generating a jackpot win. The local Junior A club has been supportive of ringette, donating tickets to their game Friday night to any teams playing in the Panthers tournament and hosting a mini-ringette game during intermission.

“The Pistons have been fantastic to deal with, the Southeast Event Centre has been good, things have been running pretty good this year,” Funk said.

The U14 age group was even won by a visiting team from Regina.