Announcement

Bentley, Ringma named co-winners of memorial award

Posted by Vancouver Island Ladies Field Hockey Association on Oct 08 2022 at 03:03PM PDT in Season 2022-23
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At the mid-day break of the 2022 Bridgman Cup tournament, hosted Oct. 7-9 at the University of Victoria, two Victoria players were named co-winners of the prestigious Stephanie Doney (Johnston) Award. This award is presented annually during the Bridgman Cup to a graduating high school player who best exemplifies the traits of Stephanie.

Congratulations to Lynx players Katie Bentley (Oak Bay High School) and Shyana Ringma (Mount Douglas Secondary). Bentley and Ringma follow recent winners Nora Struchtrup of Oak Bay (2020) and Janet Dawson of Mount Douglas Secondary (2019), while the award was not presented in 2021. This is also the return of the Bridgman Cup that has not been held since 2019 due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Final games take place on Oct. 9 at UVic and a full schedule is online here: https://www.bridgmancup.com/schedule

2022 Co-Winner: Katie Bentley, Oak Bay High
Katie Bentley is yet-another superb product out of the Oak Bay High School athletics program. As talented at soccer as she is at field hockey, the sport is grateful she chose to pursue hockey in her post-secondary pursuits. Katie is a first-year UVic Vikes women’s field hockey team member, showcasing her skills in the midfield and she fits right in after demonstrating such great athleticism, work ethic and leadership through her high school athletics career. Katie and her Oak Bay teammates worked hard for four seasons become provincial champions and have an undefeated season in 2020, while in 2019 they won the Bridgman Cup in a shootout for the first time in 60 years. Outside of Oak Bay Katie was a dedicated regional and provincial player in the elite Field Hockey BC programs and was both a captain and Tournament 11 all-star at the 2019 National Championships. Katie was selected to Canada’s NextGEN programming and was a designated Provincial Development Level 1 player in the CSI Olympic pathway. Katie is invested as an athlete but also finds time to be a dedicated academic and community member. Katie coaches, referees soccer and was a member of Oak Bay’s Athletic Leadership group for two years. Katie was a member of the Fast & Female Youth Advisory Council and takes part in numerous initiatives, clubs and activities that support the growth and empowerment of women. Katie is pursuing civil engineering at UVic and is a most deserving co-recipient of this award.

2022 Co-Winner: Shyana Ringma, Mount Douglas Secondary
Shyana Ringma has been playing field hockey since the age of seven. A long-standing member of Victoria’s Junior League, Shyana is now an avid contributor as a coach to several youth teams and has been for several years. Now a member of the UBC Thunderbirds women’s field hockey team, Shyana can look back fondly on her high school years with Mount Douglas Secondary and her many appearances on provincial and Canadian junior national squads. Shyana represented B.C. at national championships in Toronto and Calgary and then was selected for Canada’s NextGEN program, named to a top U16 Canadian team to tour in San Diego and compete against the USA. While the COVID pandemic disrupted several opportunities leading in to her university start-up, that didn’t seem to de-rail Shyana’s spirit. In grade 10, Shyana was named MVP of the field hockey team she went on to captain the program in grade 11 and 12. She is also a competitive dancer, having trained in a variety of dance types for nearly 12 years, and dedicates a lot of her time to giving back to the communities that have helped build her up. In addition to coaching in the junior field hockey league, Shyana is also a dedicated field hockey umpire and she earned the Foley Shield for the most improved umpire in the Vancouver Island Ladies league. Shyana intends to pursue a Bachelor of Commerce at UBC while continuing with her field hockey pursuits with the Thunderbirds. Shyana is well-deserving to be a co-recipient of this award.

About Stephanie Doney Johnston
Stephanie was a graduate of Esquimalt High School where she excelled at Track and Field and Field Hockey. She went on to complete her teaching degree at the University of Victoria where she was a valuable member of the Vikette’s Field Hockey team. During Stephanie’s teaching career she was the coach of several school teams taking them to the provincial championship level.

Stephanie was an active member in the Vancouver Island Ladies Field Hockey Association right up until she was diagnosed with leukemia.

As an athlete she excelled in all sports, and could turn her hand to anything. She was competitive, hardworking and inspirational and demonstrated good sportsmanship at all times. As a person, she was loving, genuine, generous and beautiful inside and out. As a mother of three small children, she was devoted; as a friend, unforgettable. She died in March 1991 at the age of 39, but her amazing qualities as a person and athlete live on in the memories of her family, friends and students and are valued by the recipients of the Stephanie Johnston (Doney) Memorial Scholarship.

View a full list of winners here: https://www.bridgmancup.com/about

Photo (L-R): Nancy Mollenhauer (Brigman Cup organizing committee), Katie Bentley, Shyana Ringma, Shelley Andrews (Bridgman Cup tournament chair)

Comments

2022-10-22T21:01:20.000-07:00October 22 2022, at 09:01 PM PDT, Pat Hall said:

Well done to the contributors and the recipients.