Local curlers on the road

The Morrisburg Junior B Lions slipped to the bottom of the St. Lawrence Division standings with a pair of losses this past weekend. 

Saturday night, October 11, the Lions travelled to the Char-Lan Rec Centre where they lost 6-3 to the Rebels. Back home on Sunday, they lost a close one, 7-6 to the first place Casselman Vikings.

The Vikings are now sitting atop a seven-win record for 14 points, five up on the Winchester Hawks and the Alexandria Glens who are tied with nine apiece.

The Akwesasne Wolves are fourth with eight points, while the Rebels and the Lions are tied with four points each.

Saturday night in Char-Lan, the Lions fell behind early and were never able to catch up.

John Gilmer, who was in net for the Lions, gave up the six goals on 39 Rebels shots.

Ryan Cooper earned the Rebels win.

The Rebels took a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Brian Landry and Quinlin MacDonell. They went up 3-0 at 10:47 of the second period with Landry’s second counter.

It wasn’t until the final minute of the second that Jacob Kendrick, on the Lions power play, found the Rebels net with help from Justin Rutley and Michael Paquette.

The Lions put up a big effort to collect two more in the early minutes of the third period to cut the gap to 3-2.

Cole Blanchard (from Rutley) and Kendrick (from Isaac Brownlee and Dylan Nixon) did the counting, both scoring on the Lions power play.

But then it was back to the Rebels. Brennan Markell added a pair at 5:23 and 7:18, both on the Rebels power play, and David Poirier upped it to 6-3 at 12:15 of the third period, again on the Rebels power-play.

Both teams had great success with their power-plays. The Lions scored their three goals on the power play, and the Rebels scored four of their six goals on their power play.

The Lions sat out 54 minutes on 15 infractions, and the Rebels were assessed 35 minutes on 16 infractions.

Sunday in Morrisburg, both the Vikings and the Lions counted heavily on penalties. The Vikings were three for three on power play and the Lions connected for three power-play goals in 10 opportunities

The Lions were first on the scoreboard when Ryan Griffin struck unassisted at 8:07 of the first period.

The Vikings turned it up a notch to come back for three in a row to end the first period, 3-1.

The second period  was a seesaw battle, but the closest the Lions were able to get was to within one goal of a tie.

Justin Rutley (from Jacob Guillot and Brodie Barkley), Michael Paquette (short-handed from Barkley and Isaac Brownlee), Dallas Blacksmith (power play from Barkley) and Blacksmith (power play from Lefevbre and Barkley) counted the four second period Lions goals.

Sebastien Plante, Taylor Widenmaier, Maxime Choquette and Nicolas Brazeau counted the four Vikings goals in the second period.

The high scoring second period sent the game into the third period with the Vikings still ahead 7-5

Fifteen seconds into the third, Vikings Yannik Bertrand drew a roughing penalty, and that set the stage for Balcksmith to complete his hat trick  and to close the gap to 7-6.

Junstin Lefebvre provided the set up.

That would be it however. The remainder of the third  period was scoreless, and the Vikings hung on for the 7-6 win.

Coming up, the Lions host the Westport Rideaus, Saturday night, October 18. (7:30 p.m.)

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The ladies took over the Morrisburg Curling Club last Tuesday for the annual Women’s Invitational Bonspiel. The early draw saw the Russell squad, led by Sharon Courneyea, victorious, with Candy Alexander’s Prescott foursome second. In the late draw Alexandria, skipped by Andrea Lauzon, took both of their games, to win out by a single point over a Morrisburg team, who filled in on short notice. Greta McGann, Betty Locke, Sonja and  Rosemary Laurin, played well and won both matches, against Lancaster and Cornwall. 

The winners will have their names inscribed on the champions’ plaque.

Organizer Alice Thompson thanked the many volunteers who helped make the day a success, as well as the ladies who provided a delicious lunch. 

The club and the bonspiel earned appreciative words from the curlers, who hope to be invited to next year’s bonspiel. Special thanks to Wally Baker, who made sure the ice was at its best for the visitors.

Sid Morrell, Raymond Benoit, Jack Barkley and Bill Magee were in Metcalfe for a senior men’s bonspiel. They lost their first match to a very strong team from Rideau, but won their second against a Metcalfe foursome.

A senior mixed team travelled to Carleton Place for a 2-2-2 bonspiel on Thursday. Jack Barkley, Ruth Kelly, Fred “Boomer” Langlotz and Sharon Van Allen had a good day. They defeated Smiths Falls in the morning, but lost a tight match in the afternoon to Arnprior, who finished second overall, just behind the champs from Renfrew. In spite of the long drive, they enjoyed the outing, and finished third overall in the bonspiel.

Friday saw three Cornwall teams were in town, to pay a return visit to the senior men at our club.

 Our first squad consisted of Neil Williams, Raymond Benoit, Wayne Pulford and Jim Millard/Bud Perry. The second was Don O’Brien, Martin Schneckenburger, Eric Johnson and Ken Wilson.  Third were Sid Morrell, Peter Zeran, Earl Jeacle and Al Gowanlock. 

Halfway though the match the local fellows moved one sheet to the right to take on a fresh challenge from a new Cornwall foursome. Meanwhile, the kitchen and the lounge were humming with activity as a fine luncheon was being prepared. 

When the dust settled, the local fellows were victorious on sheets B and C, while the visitors prevailed on sheet A. Another busy day for the club.

    Saturday, Mahlon Locke and his committee ran our friendly bonspiel, while Greta McGann and her committee prepared a fine lunch. Ten teams took part, playing two games each. While the matches were friendly, the competition was keen. 

Sid Morrell, Betty Locke and Len Bellamy won the day with 18.5 points, while Wally McDonald, Raymond Benoit and Greta McGann finished second with 18 and Susan McIntosh, Carolyn Beckstead and Claire and Paula Locke finished third, a point behind. 

Representatives from most of the leagues competed, and $500 was raised towards a new carpet. Thanks, Mahlon, Greta, and all of the others who made this happen.

It’s the season for parties, with the Thursday morning folks having a catered lunch from Subway again. Still a few openings there. Many of the other leagues are also arranging for various wind-up events before Christmas. Curling really wears on you, doesn’t it? 

Arrangements are being made for a New Year’s Eve bonspiel and party. There’s a sign-up sheet at the club. Should be fun! Good curling to all.

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After an extended break in their schedule, the South Dundas Peewee B1 House Lions were back on the ice Friday night hosting to defeat the North Leeds Stars, 5-2. 

The Lions are currently sitting in third place on the East Division with a 1-1-2 record.

The Lions had opened a 3-0 lead going into the third period and needed a strong period to finish off the Stars, but would the schedule break hurt their legs late in the game. 

The Stars began using the body a lot more later in the game and a great  check in the neutral on Lions defenceman Devon Dumoulin actually led to the Lions next goal. 

After the hit, the puck went into the Star end zone. As the Stars defenders watched the check, Kendrew Byers and Max Garlough skated in alone and Byers wristed a shot home to extend the Lions lead to 4-0.

The Lions continued to press and Jaxon Weegar had two chances, the first on a shot from the slot that went wide and the second when Brady Smith kept the puck alive at the blue line, sent a pass down to Weegar who passed across the crease to a wide open Kurtis Markell whose shot was stopped by Stars goaltender Kaleb McCulloch.

The Lions jumped on the power play on a Stars tripping penalty and opened with some excellent passing which led to a few shots.

However, the Stars were the ones to capitalize when a Stars forward got the puck just right of the slot, and then backhanded a shot just inside the top corner to get the Stars on the board. 

The Stars did not let up and  40 seconds later a defenceman went end to end and buried a shot low in the net to make the score 4-2. 

Off the face off, the puck came into the Lions end and the Stars got another scoring chance before Jonah Bennis picked up the puck in his own end, went coast to coast and deked out the Stars goaltender to bury a backhand shot into the open net for a 5-2 Lions lead that they would close the game on.

The Lions starred the game a little on their heels and on one occasion Lions defenceman Sheridan Caines picked up the puck, passed it to Connor Dumoulin at the Stars blue line. Dumoulin drove the net and beat the goalie to open the scoring only a minute into the game

After a  few other scoring chances for Lions Lucas Bennis and Sam Gould (who was playing in his first game of the season as he just came off the injured list) it was Max Garlough who would be johnny-on-the-spot when Devon Dumoulin went end to end on a rush. Dumoulin had the puck knocked away right and it ended up in Garlough’s possession. One stride and a shot low to the glove side gave the Lions a 2-0 lead.

In the second, the Lions extended the lead to 3-0 when Devon Dumoulin went end to end and shot over the goalie’s trapper. 

Noah Keeler and Aden Casselman teamed up to help defend Lions goaltender Wesley Alexander as he was forced to make several big saves in the second period. 

The South Dundas Peewee B1 House Lions are next in action on home ice Saturday, November 17th at 2:30 p.m. when they host the

NGS Braves.

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