By Josh Bell
“Before heading over there, I remember thinking I have no idea what is going to happen,” Sarah-Lynne Begin said of the 2016 World Ringette Championship in Helsinki.
She certainly had no clue that in the 66th minute of the championship game against Finland’s junior national team that she would score the tournament-winning overtime goal.
“It was incredible,” Begin recalls. “When I got the ring going to the net, I was so exhausted and kind of on a mini-breakaway. I saw the opening right when I got the ring. I just kind of shot, I didn’t even really see the shot go past the goalie, but I saw it in the net.
“It was an incredible feeling. It was the end of my shift, I was so tired and I just wanted to get off. But then I scored the winning goal and it was just such a relief.”
The Team Canada under-21 group went 6-0 at the event, outscoring their opponents by a margin of 126-6 in the development pool of the combined junior/senior worlds. For her efforts, Begin was honoured as the MVP for Canada, and the tournament’s top centre.
“There are no words to explain it,” says the Ottawa Ice National Ringette League player. “Going into the tournament, you always expect that you want to perform at your best but you never know if you’ll be able to because there’s always obstacles in the way.
“Going out there and being able to give 100% and perform at my best for all the games that I played throughout the tournament and then especially in the final game, I got so lucky.”
Begin says that she felt nervous before the second game of the tournament, but it was quick to pass.
“When I looked around the dressing room, I knew that I could trust every single one of them,” the 20-year-old details. “It just made me feel that if I made a mistake they were going to be there to stick up for me.”
It also helps that Begin had an ex-teammate from her days as a Nepean Raven with her in Finland, Molly Lewis.
“It’s really cool to see us come from the same organization when we were young and work our way up to the national team,” Begin adds. “It’s definitely a crazy journey.”
Finns thump canuck seniors
The Canadian senior team didn’t get a similar fate at the event, losing two straight in their best-of-3 series with Finland, including a 13-0 drubbing in the second game.
Ottawa was well represented on the team, with Jennifer Hartley of the Ottawa Ice and Gloucester Devils players Jasmine Leblanc and sisters Kelsey and Kaitlyn Youldon. This was the Youldons’ second tour with the team after taking 2013 silver in North Bay.
“It was definitely bittersweet,” Kelsey Youldon indicates. “We didn’t get the outcome that we wanted. Putting in all of that time and effort to not get the result that you hoped for is definitely bitter.
“But they did put on a great event. They had all of the fire and smoke coming in, they had great visuals of the game and then seeing the juniors play, they did great and they won. So it was really fun to see them have success.”
There are a number of differences between the Canadian and Finnish national teams that made a huge difference in the end, she notes.
“Mainly their body positioning and the way that they make contact,” explains the 24-year-old Nepean product, noting the Finns were excellent at pinning the ring when the Canadians had possession to create turnovers. “Finland definitely has a different style than we play in the NRL or just in Canada.”