If there ever was a testimony to the popularity of the sport of ringette you would find it here at the Cochrane Rockies Classic Ringette Tournament.

For the 10th time, the sights and sounds of many cherished moments reverberated through town, Dec. 7-9.

The Cochrane Rockies are well known for their well-organized tournament and it’s one of the “must do” events for ringette teams.

In all, there were nearly 700 players, a record 50 teams and upwards of 1,000 people involved. This year’s tournament introduced a U19A event for the first time that contributed to the size of the event.

Six ice surfaces were used through the course of the tournament, including all of Cochrane’s rinks and two at the Springbank Park for All Seasons and there was a multitude of divisions for players that ranged in age from 3 to 18. 

The Cochrane Rockies had 13 teams participating and five of them claimed gold in their divisions: Cochrane Chaos, U10 Step 3; Cochrane Monsters, U12C; Cochrane Warriors, U12C; Cochrane Rockies, U14A; and Cochrane Rockies, U16A. The Cochrane Rockies U14B also won silver.

Other winners were: Pembina, U14C; Red Deer, U14B; Red Deer Rush, U16B; Beaumont Rush, U18B; and Kelowna Heat, U19A.

“This weekend was so fun,” says tournament chair Crystal Nagy. “The U12C final ended in an intense shootout and the U16A team went into overtime to determine the gold medal winner.”

The Kelowna, B.C. team was the only out-of-province team and Alberta teams came from as far north as the Edmonton area and all the way south to Lethbridge.

“I’ve had awesome compliments that everyone’s had lots of fun, that the raffles were awesome and that the games went well. Everything was on time, everything was smooth. It was great.”

A tournament of this magnitude takes a small army of volunteers to orchestrate. Nagy says everyone in the association has a volunteer spot this weekend.

Cochrane clearly loves this tournament and droves of businesses and individuals are eager to lend sponsorship. Each tournament participant receives a t-shirt with the name of the gold, silver and bronze sponsors on the back. There’s also many who donate silent auction items and give anonymous donations.

The dates have already been set for next year’s tournament. It’s being held Dec.13-15, 2019.