The Manitoba Ringette Association's U-16B Provincial Championships start today in Portage la Prairie.

The U-16 B Portage Thunder team and the PCU Centre play host of the tournament, with teams from Garden City, Thompson, Southside, Eastman, and Winakwa attending. Portage Thunder Assistant Coach Jade Barrault's excited for the event, as they don't play at home too often in the post season.

"It's good because for playoffs, we never really have our games in Portage. So it's really nice to stay at home and have the teams come to us, instead of always driving to Winnipeg."

Barrault says they girls are looking forward to the weekend.

"Yeah, it's exciting because their friends can come watch, especially when they're 16 years old. They're excited, and they get to walk around. This is their home town, and those team are coming to their home town. So it's nice."

The Thunder's first game of the tournament is tonight against Southside, a team Barrault says they're very familiar with.

"They're a good team. I would say they're definitely in the top 4 with us. We went into a shootout with them in our semi-final in the playoffs, and they just don't quit."

The first game of the tournament is tonight at 6:45 between Garden City and Eastman. The Portage Thunder and Southside follow at 8 p.m. Both games are at the PCU Centre.

Get the full tournament draw here.