By Josh Bell
If you come across an Ottawa athlete headed to the 2015 Canada Winter Games, odds are they’ll be wearing a Team Ontario ringette jacket.
With six players (and three coaches), ringette is the sport with the greatest number of local representatives. Sydney Catlin, Jenna van Koppen, Molly Lewis, Sarah-Lynne Bégin, Nia King and Megan McGuire will all play for Ontario in Prince George, while Gloucester Devils National Ringette League player/coach Colleen Hagan will call the shots behind the bench, assisted by Ottawa Ice NRL players Carrie Lugg and Jennifer Hartley.
They’re a tight-knit bunch who have played together and against one another throughout their careers locally. Catlin, Bégin, van Koppen and Lewis were all part of the Nepean Ravens’ celebrated Belle ‘AA’ team that won the 2013 Canadian title and represented their country at the Under-19 World Championship, while King and McGuire joined the quartet on the 2014 Ontario Winter Games-champion Eastern Ontario ‘AAA’ team.
It’s a big asset that a third of Ontario’s 18-player roster share such a strong history together and are familiar with one another, coach Hagan underlines.
“Our team comes together every month or so, and every time there’s that little hump you have to get over and get everyone on the same page again,” highlights Hagan, a past Canada Winter Games gold medallist herself. “The more our players have an opportunity to play together away from Team Ontario, the easier the transition is when they come together.”
This season, most are playing on different club teams, but it their past chemistry holds strong when they reconnect.
“We all know how each other play,” Bégin echoes. “We know each other really well on the ice, so it really does help.”
The six players’ camaraderie has quickly spread throughout the Team Ontario lineup. One part of that comes from St. Clements player Syndey Nosal, and the spirit animals.
“It’s kind of a cute bonding thing that we have,” Bégin explains. “In our first training camp, Syd started giving us all animal names, kind of joking around. It started out with just a few players, and then she started giving one to everybody. Even our coaches have them.”
With lions, ostriches, flying squirrels and T-Rexs to choose from, Hagan believes her lineup has the potential to be a golden mix.
“We are going there to win,” indicates the 33-year-old from Manotick. “We want our players to have a competitive experience and to stand up and shine there on that stage. We have great speed, great offence, great goaltending and solid defence. Things are looking really good, we just need to put it all together on ice.”
Sarah-Lynne Bégin Age: 19 A ringette player since age 6, Sarah-Lynne Bégin is a notorious sniper who played the hero’s role in her team’s 2013 Canadian title win, scoring 4 2nd-half goals to lift the Ravens from a 3-1 deficit against Winnipeg. She’s now an offensive for the NRL Ice, averaging almost 2 points per game in her rookie season for the defending national champs. Her spirit animal is an otter.
Nia King Age: 19 University of Guelph student Nia King is now the enemy of Ottawa-area athletes in NRL play, dressing for the 19-0-1 Cambridge Turbos, the country’s #1-ranked team. King’s reason for joining ringette is different than most others: when King was in kindergarten, she attended a skating party and the girl who won the “guess the number of jellybeans in the jar” contest wasn’t there to accept her winnings. Curious, King asked her dad where the girl was. The answer? Ringette. King asked to sign up that night. Her spirit animal is the King of the jungle: a lion.
Sydney Catlin Age: 19 At first, Sydney Catlin was stuck in ringette because her friends played, with a desire to switch to hockey after a year, but she wound up loving the sport so much that she decided to stick with it. The Carleton Place native now travels around 5 hours most weekends from her new home base at Canadore College in North Bay to play goalie for the Gatineau Fusion in the NRL. Her spirit animal is a snake.
Megan McGuire Age: 19 Richmond native Megan McGuire has dressed for many teams locally throughout her career, including Goulbourn, West Ottawa and Ottawa. The University of Guelph student now plays for Richmond Hill in the NRL. The forward says she’s proud to represent not only her province, but also her sport, at the Canada Games. Her spirit animal is a flying squirrel.
Jenna van Koppen Age: 20 Being called a “cow” by teammates might not be flattering for most, but Jenna van Koppen’s spirit animal nickname is a badge of honour. She grew up on a dairy farm in Metcalfe, and still puts in plenty of hard hours herding each day before moonlighting as a defender with Gloucester of the NRL.
Molly Lewis Age: 18 Following her older sisters into the sport, Molly Lewis plans to continue her ringette journey well beyond the Canada Winter Games. Currently playing for the Nepean Ravens Belle ‘AA’ team, the forward would like to take the skills she has learned in ringette and apply them to become a high-level coach in the future. The University of Ottawa student says her weirdest habit is eat peanut butter and Nutella out of a jar with a spoon. Her spirit animal is a fox.