Team Ontario wins hockey bronze

Team Ontario’s female midget hockey team won bronze at the 2012 National Aboriginal Hockey Championship, held May 6-12 in Saskatoon, Sask.
“The game was really close — it came down to the third period,” said Natasha Lyons, Team Ontario’s goalie and a Grade 10 student at École secondaire catholique de La Vérendrye in Thunder Bay. “We came back from 2-0 and we won 4-2. There were quite a few breakaways in that game, and I’d probably say those were the highlights, for my game anyway.”
Lyons also credited support from the crowd for the win.
“We had some people from Ontario and they just kept cheering on,” Lyons said. “That’s probably what got the team going and that’s what got us to win the game.”
Lyons said the win was “just an amazing experience,” noting the team had a discussion in the dressing room between periods.
“Everyone wanted to go home with a medal,” Lyons said.
“So we kind of had a speech, and it brought us to winning the game.”
Lyons said most of the team had not played with each other before the tournament.
“We had a few practices and we got to know each other and I think that’s probably the number one thing that helped us win — knowing the girls better and having more confidence,” Lyons said.
Lyons said the team bonded quickly throughout the tournament.
“We bonded great as a team and we were one of the teams that were closer,” Lyons said. “Just knowing each other the week before, it was really great having the chance to go on and actually get a medal.”
Team Ontario played for the bronze medal after losing 5-2 against eventual silver-medal Team Saskatchewan during the semi-finals. Eastern Door and North, from Quebec, won the gold with a 3-2 win over Saskatchewan.
“It was actually a really good game — it was exciting,” Lyons said about the 5-2 loss. “We fought hard, but in the end we didn’t make it.”
Lyon wants to keep pursuing hockey in the future, with a long-term goal of representing Canada in the Olympics.
She began playing hockey as a skater when she was about four or five years old in southern Ontario, but soon developed an interest in goaltending.
After her family moved back to Thunder Bay about a year ago, she joined an AAA midget team, the Marathon Ice Rats, and a senior women’s hockey team in Thunder Bay.
“We actually have a tournament in a few days,” Lyons said about the Rink Rats.