Two athletes from North Vancouver will suit up at the World Ringette Championships 2022 starting next week in Finland, with one playing for Team Canada and the other wearing the Stars and Stripes of Team U.S.A.
Nina Tajbakhsh, a 27-year-old forward, will hit the ice with Team Canada, while 19-year-old Jaclyn Lovelett, whose parents were born in the United States, will suit up for Team U.S.A.
The sport of ringette is dominated by Canada and Finland, and those two teams will constitute the Sam Jacks Pool at the tournament and will meet in a two-game series for gold on Nov. 4 and 6 at Metro Areena in Espoo, Finland. If the teams are tied after the second match, they will settle the championship in overtime. Finland has won the last seven world championships, dating back to 2004. Canada’s last win came in 2002 in Edmonton.
Tajbakhsh plays club ringette for the Edmonton WAM! Team.
U.S.A. will compete in the President’s Pool against Czechia and Sweden. The three teams will play a double round robin tournament from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4, with the top two teams meeting in the President’s Pool final Nov. 6.
This is Lovelett’s second appearance at the world championships, following the 2019 tournament held in Burnaby where she helped Team U.S.A. earn silver in the President’s Pool. You can read more about Lovelett’s involvement in the sport of ringette in this North Shore News feature from 2019. Lovelett also has a gofundme page set up to help with the costs of travelling to Finland for the tournament.
