Wildfire spreads from tournaments to provincials

The Macdonald girls capture provincial title

It’s a common trend for ringette teams to lose their players to girls’ hockey.

In Cailin Becker’s case, though, it was just the opposite.

Becker, 11, played on a mixed hockey team for three years before switching to ringette.

“My friend had played before,” she said, “and I thought it would be interesting to try.”

“It was quite a big change.”

Becker has been playing ringette for three years now, and said her skills have improved a lot.

“My shooting and my skating have really improved,” she said.

Her father, Brad, decided to coach the team when his daughter moved over from hockey, the sport he played as a kid.

He supported Cailin’s choice to switch sports, and says she seems to enjoy ringette a lot more.

“She really loves the game — she’s always pumped to go to practice.”

Cailin says she liked the idea of playing on an all-female team, and playing a no-contact sport.

Although there’s now a female hockey team in her area for girls her age, she said chances are she’ll stick with ringette.

“Since I’ve started playing ringette, I’m beginning to like it more than hockey,” she said.

Becker played for the Macdonald Wildfire petite B ringette team this year, along with nine other girls from Oak Bluff, Sanford, Fannystelle, La Salle and Starbuck.

The Wildfire, who played in the Manitoba Ringette League, lost just four games in the regular season and won the South-Winnipeg Classic, Selkirk, and Lorette tournaments.

The girls finished off their amazing season with a 3-0 win against Heritage Victoria to capture the provincial title.

Becker said she thinks the reason the team did so well is because the players had played together for a couple years and worked well as a team.

“I made a lot of new friends,” said Cailin. “That was the part I liked the most.”

Father Brad, who coached the girls along with Ken McMullan, Ken Burton, and Linda Nielsen, said the season was tough.

“There was some really good competition,” he said.

“Most games were really close.”

But he kept saying all along that it wasn’t about winning or losing.

“I told them winning doesn’t matter; it’s more important that you put your best effort in.”