Winless in their first tournament, Eastern Ontario Force unite to earn treasured home ringette nationals appearance
April 1, 2025
By Isabella Disley
The Eastern Ontario Force have had three one-goal games, with two decided in overtime, to start their 2025 Canadian Ringette Championships tournament. Photo: Derek Mellon
The Eastern Ontario Force are a new entity on the local ringette scene, but they are quickly crafting some unforgettable moments at this week’s Canadian Ringette Championships in Ottawa.
Now reaching the finish line of its first season, the new Eastern Ontario association pulled together two ‘AA’ teams of top players who’d all previously played for other local clubs such as Gloucester-Cumberland, City of Ottawa, West Ottawa and Nepean.
“At our first tournament, we lost all our games,” recounts Force head coach Celine Leduc. “But what’s really special about the team is they’ve just become one.”
Hardly any players on the new team had previously played with one another before they were selected as a unit from tryouts in September. The Force lineup features players from as far as the Ottawa Valley and Navan. It also includes 11 players in their first year at the U19 level and three final-year players, who were all named co-captains – Maya Howard, Tia Flynn-Mantyla and Kristyna Sammon.
“It was definitely really weird,” recalls Howard, a forward. “At first, there was a lot of space between the bags in the dressing room, and no one really talked to each other.
“But honestly, for a team that started like six months ago, I think we’ve grown so much. It’s really amazing. I don’t think a lot of other teams could have done what we were able to do in six months. I’m just so proud of my team, and they’re a great group of girls too.”
Building team chemistry from scratch was a primary objective for the Force, as much off the ice as on.
“We did so many things as a team,” noted defender Flynn-Mantyla, who was looking forward to bowling and team dinners during nationals. “We went on walks and hung out all the time together, and we started to get super close. Now we’re all best friends.”
The Eastern Ontario Force are 1-2 through three games at the Canadian Ringette Championships. Photo: Derek Mellon
At each game during the nationals, the Force hang a poster on their locker room door with photos of each player and the title “16 behind.”
“There’s always 16 behind you to support you,” Leduc explained. “They’ve demonstrated that both on and off the ice. We did a lot of work discovering who we are as a person, and our strengths and understanding how people react to different situations.
“In a stressful situation, someone might be loud, someone might be quiet, someone might be crying, but we accept all of it. And because we did so much work understanding who we are and understanding how to accept each other, I think the team has such a nice gel to it.
“They don’t get angry with each other or upset and they know, ‘oh, that one needs space, that one needs a hug, this one needs a cheer.’”
Poppy Leptick scored the Eastern Ontario Force’s first goal of the Canadian Ringette Championships on Mar. 31 at the Richcraft Sensplex. Photo: Dan Plouffe
The Force slowly and steadily improved throughout the year. They didn’t have a whole lot of major wins along the way, but once they got to the provincial championships, they came up big in the most crucial moments.
The Force went 3-1 in the preliminary round and then drew their Eastern Ontario counterparts, the Charge, in the quarter-finals, with a ticket to the Mar. 31-Apr. 5 nationals on the line. From a 3-0 hole, the Force came back to win 5-3 en route to an eventual provincial bronze medal.
“It was really like winning the gold medal because they had achieved so much,” Leduc signalled. “It was actually completely insane. For one of the girls, she’s in her last year of U19 and she’s never been to nationals, and she was just crying. She’s like, ‘I’m actually going to play in nationals.’
“It’s a really big thrill for a lot of our players.”
Kristyna Sammon. Photo: Dan Plouffe
Sammon, who’s played ringette pretty much since she learned to walk, was the lone senior player originally from the nationals-host City of Ottawa Ringette Association on the Force roster this season.
“It meant a lot” to get to play at nationals, Sammon highlighted. “There’s a lot of people from my home association who have come to cheer me on. It’s so nice to be here.”
The co-captains are all first-year university students juggling the demands of their sport and school. Sammon takes health sciences at the University of Ottawa, while Howard and Flynn-Mantyla are at Carleton University studying criminology program and law respectively.
“I had to get some tests deferred to the next week because we’re in the middle of finals, but it’s okay, because ringette over school,” Flynn-Mantyla said with a chuckle.
Maya Howard. Photo: Dan Plouffe
The Force have certainly made the most of their time at the Canadian championships, with electric finishes to all of their games thus far.
Their opening contest Monday was decided on a goal with 1:01 left in the final period as Team Manitoba emerged victorious 2-1.
And then on Tuesday, both of Eastern Ontario’s matches were decided in overtime – first, a 5-4 defeat to Team New Brunswick and then a 4-3 triumph over the Saskatoon Blazers.
The evening victory improved the Force’s playoffs prospects as they aim to secure a top-four spot in their six-team pool to advance.
For Gloucester-Cumberland products Howard and Flynn-Mantyla, the goal in their final season at the U19 level is clear.
“We’ve been to easterns and nationals every year since we started, and we have never yet come home with a medal, so this is the year we’re getting a medal,” Howard underlined with conviction.
The Force will play the final two round-robin games against the Cyclones de Québec and Alberta’s Zone 2 Blaze on Wednesday.
Playing as Team Ontario, the West Ottawa Wild are 2-1 in U16 play. Photo: Derek Mellon
In other local action Tuesday, the 2-1 West Ottawa Wild booked their place in the U16 playoff round with a solid 5-1 win over the Regina Stingers. Olivia Binder followed up her four-goal performance a day earlier with a two-goal, two-assist effort in the victory. Playing as Team Ontario, the Wild will now jockey for favourable positioning in matches against Québec and Calgary Riot Wednesday.
The Nepean Ravens and Gatineau Fusion both got into the win column in the National Ringette League competition with early-afternoon one-goal victories. Emma Kelly was Nepean’s top scorer with two goals and an assist as the Ravens downed Black Gold Rush 6-4. Émily Chénier completed her hat trick to match her three assists as the Fusion rallied from a 6-4 deficit to the Saskatchewan Heat to win 7-6.
Gatineau carried on to beat the BC Thunder 4-1 in the evening, with another two goals and an assist from Chénier to improve to 2-1. Nepean fell to 1-2 with a 4-1 loss to the Manitoba Herd.