There was a time, many moons ago, when local teams ranked among the ultra-elite in the landscape of Canadian ringette.

The 2024-2025 Sudbury U16 AA North Stars are working hard with a goal of reviving those memories.

Icing a nickel city based “AA” provincial entry in this sport for the first time in as long as anyone can remember, the Greater Sudbury Ringette Association representatives are competing in the Great Lakes Ringette League this winter.

And like the Sudbury Lady Wolves hockey crew before them, this initially entails essentially playing all of their home games in southern Ontario – as a condition of entry into the loop.

Thankfully – and quite graciously – both the Richmond Hill Lightning and the Barrie Blizzard agreed to join the festivities at the Greater Sudbury Ringette Tournament this past weekend, incorporating four GLRL regular season outings into the schedule of the 50-team event hosted in northern Ontario.

One of four members of the North Stars’ roster who are making regular commutes from Sault Ste Marie to practice and compete with the team, Kylie Beland was most appreciative of the opportunity to play at home ... sort of.

“It’s not really at home,” she said with a shy smile. “But it is nice to see that we have a bunch of people watching our games. It’s good to bring awareness to our sport.”

In fairness, the encounters did draw plenty of attention from the folks from the Sault, with no less than five (SSM) Ice Hawks entries taking to the ice at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex as part of the tournament field, including the U12 A squad that Beland helps out in a coaching capacity.

Still, for as strong as her ties are to the Lock City, the 14 year old grade 9 student understands that her dreams of suiting up with the likes of Team Ontario or Team Canada are far better served by making her way to the home of their northern rivals.

“I wanted the experience of playing “AA” and this team is sure offering it,” she said. That experience comes with the expected growing pains, including an 0-4 weekend. “We’re a new team so we’re still working on getting to know each other,” suggested Beland.

While the visiting teams showed signs of the type of offensive precision required to put up more than a small handful of goals when facing top-end defenders, the North Stars are largely learning those lessons gradually – and sometimes painfully – on the attack.

“I like to try and drive to the middle, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll pass it out to my low post,” stated Beland, a diminutive but quick-footed forward who netted four goals in an 8-6 loss to Barrie on Saturday.

“I like to try and give one-timers.”

A 15 year old grade ten student at Bishop Alexander Carter Secondary School, Madison Troscinski is now entrusted with trying to defend against the likes of Charlotte Natsheh (Richmond Hill) and Katie Bunting (Barrie – and daughter of Sudbury Sports Hall of Famer, Karen Duguay), opponents who can perform magic with the stick and the ring.

“You always want to look at their body and where they are positioning themselves to go,” said Troscinski, the youngest of three children from a very sporting family. “Don’t look at the ring because that will just mess you up.”

As she makes the jump to the “AA” ranks, Troscinski knows that she will need to up her game if she and the U16 North Stars are to improve upon their record of 4-7-1 when regular season play resumes in the new year.

“For me, it’s about being more explosive, pushing out of the triangle and switching directions and stuff like that,” she said.

And for as much as a winless weekend is hardly ideal, this option is still preferred to returning to the “A” division where much of this crew captured silver at the Ontario championships a few years ago.

“I would still choose “AA”,” said Troscinski. “I like the challenge, I like to push myself. Overall, this helps make me better.”

Rounding out the U16 AA North Stars roster are: Alyssa Joslin, Jenna Provincial, Lauren Dupuis, Sophie Marcellus, Cora Dippong, Ashlyn Doyle, Emilie Philippe, Yasmine Ahmed, Mia Michaud, Avery Gauthier, Calyx Stewart, Brooke Lanovaz, Sophia Doyle and Sophie Savignac.

The team bench staff includes: Shelley Ahmed, Joel Michaud, Danielle Joslin, Steven Marcellus, Shayne Troscinski, Christine Beland and Angele Savignac.