Novice B Lions move into first

Reading a book with a child is about to take on a whole new meaning in South Dundas.

Beginning this week, youngsters and their parents will be able to head down to the waterfront in the villages of Morrisburg and Iroquois to read together a new book. And they’ll be doing it as they walk along the waterfront paths in the two communities.

“I saw The StoryWalk® Project on the Web and I thought, what a great idea,” says Fiona Carr, Family Resource Coordinator for the Ontario Early Years Centre. “When I saw it, I thought of course we are going to do that in South Dundas. So I pitched it to Ben, (Macpherson, Recreation Program Coordinator for South Dundas).”

The StoryWalk® Project, developed in 2007 by Anne Ferguson of Vermont, promotes physical fitness and literacy skills by creating opportunities to walk and read outdoors.

A child’s book is selected, the pages are separated, then laminated and attached to posts which are driven into the ground at regular intervals along the path. 

With the two beautiful waterfront paths in Morrisburg, between the dock and the beach, and in Iroquois, between the beach and the marina, it is a perfect fit.

“So families can go to the dock, park their car and walk along the path where we have the posts with the story pages,” says Carr. “By the time they are finished the walk, they are finished the book.”

“It’s brilliant and even the library is on board. Ben did up all the wooden posts, and I did all the books and the laminating.”

The kick off for the StoryWalk® launch was yesterday, November 20 which is also National Child Day.

Carr says she has selected two different books for the two communities in the hopes that perhaps families will take in both locations.

She is also looking to expanding it to include the Two Creeks Forest area north of Highway 2 where the book selection will be geared to older children, with a longer story to accommodate the longer trail. “That will be our winter walk, which I hope to put out before the first snow.”

It is expected that the two riverfront StoryWalks® will be left in place for several weeks. At the Morrisburg Dock starting point, and the Iroquois Beach starting point a red bag will be suspended at the first pole.

Carr is asking that those who take in the walk will sign in, on the books enclosed in the red bags, and perhaps comment on the concept.

“That way we will an idea of numbers and whether or not there is enough interest to continue.” 

[…]

With just three exceptions, the executive of the South Dundas Minor Hockey Association remains unchanged with president Jeff van Moorsel returning for another term.

The annual general meeting of the association was held last Tuesday, April 24 with the various reports given for the year.

President Jeff van Moorsel said it was a great year for the association with two teams winning championships, the Novice B Lions and the Bantam Rep Lions. van Moorsel expressed his thanks to all the coaches and the executive for a job well done.

He mentioned too, that fees for the South Dundas Minor Hockey Association have been increased for next year by $50 at all levels, save Initiation, due largely to the increasing cost of ice, which is the association’s biggest expense.

Ice rental costs for the 2011-12 season were $83,035.24, up from $76,577.55 the season before.

With registrations totalling $79,245, the association counted heavily on fund raising which brought in $35,400 and donations which accounted for another $4,000.

After ice rental, the biggest expense was refereeing at a cost of $17,304. Insurance (coaches and players) cost $7,236 and another $6,375 was spent on equipment. 

Other costs were for instruction, league fees, trophies and banners and general and administrative expenses. 

With a total revenue of $120,169.13 and total expenses at $122,921.44, the association dipped into its reserves for the second consecutive season. Last year the association reported a small loss of $2,300.

Although experiencing back to back years with small losses, the association remains healthy, financially. In addition to the fee increase, plans are in the works to recruit more children into the Initiation program.

Referee in Chief, David Lapier reported the South Dundas referees had a great year, claiming the local association has the best referees in the league.

The association’s web master, Jason Broad, shared some of the stats regarding hits on the website.

Joining the executive of the South Dundas Minor Hockey Association for the 2012/13 season are Mike Domanko in the 1st vice-president position and Jamie Smith as 2nd vice president and Risk Management rep.

Also new to the executive is Tanya Domanko who will be Co-registrar with Cassandra Barry who has handled the position for a number of years.

Past-president Gary Hart returns as fund raising coordinator. 

Also returning are Secretary Andrea Cartier, Treasurer Pam Mullin, Rules and Discipline Chair and Referee-in-Chief David Lapier, Coaching/Development Coordinator Bruce Mullin, Equipment Manager Rob Perry, Ice Scheduler Steve Martineau, Referee Assignor Lisa Schwerdtfeger and Web Master Jason Broad.

[…]

“We had fun.” That expression by player Jack Cole sums up the Morrisburg Combines performance at the Canada Senior Games in Edmonton from August 27-29. 

Each game was close, but the Combines lost all four. 

The 2014 version of the Canadian Senior Games attracted over 2000 participants setting for itself a new record in attendance. 

The Morrisburg Combines qualified for the Canadian Games by winning a hockey gold medal in the 2013 Ontario Senior Games in the 65-plus age division. 

“This national event itself was a quite a big, well-organized deal with impressive opening and closing events, quality entertainment and darn good food,” says Jake Cole of Ottawa who was enjoying his first time at the games with the Combines.

Accompanied by several of the players’ wives, the Combines made some noise both on and off the ice.”

“It was super encouraging to hear the cheers from our fans when we scored or goalie Les McAllister made a great save,” says Cole. “It was also a fine time of laughing and teasing during the dressing room time before and after each game. In fact, as most old timers players will undoubtedly agree, hockey dressing room banter has basically not changed since we were teenagers, with the same corny jokes and everyone taunting and poking fun at each other mercilessly.”

The Combines arrived in Edmonton as a team that had only played together for four exhibition games back home. 

“We learned that our competition had been playing regularly all summer and also that they had played together for years. Right away, we could tell we were up against some very good hockey teams.”

The Combines first game was against the Rocky Mountain Elks. The Elks scored first, but the Combines recovered to tie it. Alberta went up 3-1 with the Combines getting a late one back and then pulling goaltender Les McAllister only to have their goalie make a terrific save off Fern Gauvreau in the dying seconds to preserve the 3-2 win. 

The second game put the Combines against Calgary’s Jeff Bowles, “a team that seemed to know just how far to bend the rules without getting penalized” says Cole. Bowles got some early goals and the Combines never really got going until near the end, losing 5-2. 

The Combines final two games were close, with leads see-sawing back and forth but they lost both games identical 4-2 scores to the Elks and to Bowles. The Bowles team won the championship with a 5-2 victory over the Elks.

The Combines’ tournament scoring leaders were Lester Holmes and Jack Haines (who scored an outstanding goal on a howitzer-like shot in the Combines last game). 

Special recognition was given to Combines defencemen, Bryan Helmer, Alvin Darling, Wally Ryan, and Ron Alguire, who, along with Les McAllister kept out many potential goals and basically kept the team in every game.

The “Combines”, are now a 65-plus team (with players up to 78 years old) that been competing in the Senior Games, at the provincial and national levels since 2000. 

While never winning gold nationally, the team has won several provincial titles and expects to be back competing again next February in Haliburton, Ontario for another provincial gold.

[…]