SPORTS FLASHBACK 1991: Manaigre leads Manitoba to silver at ringette nationals

Fifteen-year-old Gaetane Manaigre of Lorette was instrumental in helping the Manitoba Juniors win the silver medal at the Canadian Ringette Championships in Hull, Quebec.

It is the second silver medal Manaigre has won at the national championships in two years. As a 14-year-old at the nationals in Calgary last year, she won silver with the Eastman Flames Juniors. The Junior Division for girls, 15 and under.

Last week at Hull, Manaigre, who is a center, was the second leading scorer on the Manitoba team during the week, scoring six goals and setting up 10 others.

In the semi-finals, against Saskatchewan, Manaigre scored the tying goal, then the winner in overtime, as Manitoba won 7-6, to earn a berth in the gold medal game.

Manitoba suffered a heart-breaking loss in overtime to Ontario in the gold medal game. Manaigre had a goal and three assists in the final game.

Trailing 3-0 early, Manitoba battled back, and took the lead for the first time in the game on a goal by Manaigre to make it 5-4 with 1:40 left in regulation time. But Manitoba could not hang on as Ontario tied the game with 23 seconds left, then scored the winner in overtime.

Following the medal presentation, the Manitoba players left the ice in tears, realizing they were just 23 seconds away from winning a national championship. Manaigre said that winning the silver was nothing to be ashamed of. She says the team was proud of their accomplishment. The grade 10 student at Lorette Collegiate feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to play in two national championships, and also at the Canadian Winter Games in Prince Edward Island this winter.

Cliff Wurtak, the coach of the Manitoba Juniors, says Manaigre played very well at the national championships. The Manitoba Juniors reps were the APFG Sixers, and Wurtak says Manaigre, who played for the Eastman Juniors during the season, blended in very well with the team.

The Manitoba coach says Manaigre was a good enough player to be able to readily adapt to the team.

Manaigre will play for the Eastman in the Belles division next year, where she will be gunning for her third consecutive appearance in the national championships.

The Eastman Flames, representing Manitoba in the Belles division, were in the stands for the final game at Hull, cheering on the Manitoba Junior team, after missing the medals in their division of the nationals.

The Eastman Flames defeated Nova Scotia 10-6 in the final game of the championships for a sixth place finish, in the Belles division, after getting off to a slow start.

Lynne Blanchette of Ste Anne, who was voted a first team all-star on defence for the Flames, said the team could have done better. She echoed the sentiments of her teammates saying the team got down after losing the first couple of games and it took a while to recover from that.

Coach John Neufeld said the team was nervous and had a lack of confidence in the early games, and by the time they recovered from that, it was too late.

“The Eastman Flames Belles were good enough to win a medal at the national championships, but it was not to be.”