Novice B Lions crowned tournament champs

Who says 13 is unlucky?  Not the Cedar Glen Ladies Valley League Team which ended a 15-year Cedar Glen drought in Ladies Valley League competition here Sunday afternoon, with a 13 stroke victory over second place Summer Heights.

Cedar Glen last won the Valley League golf competition in 1997, and Sunday’s victory made it just two wins since they joined the League in 1991. 

For the win, Cedar Glen posted a total of 874 strokes. Summer Heights scraped out second place by a slim one stroke over Prescott, 887-888 strokes respectively, while Morrisburg was fourth with 924 strokes and Iroquois fifth with 943.

The second place Summer Heights golfers were the defending champions from the 2012 tournament hosted by Morrisburg.

The Ladies Valley League consists of 13-player teams,  plus one spare, from each of the five clubs. There are three players in each of A-B-C-D flights with the two best scores in each counted towards the team total. Also counting in the team totals are the senior players’ totals.

Shari Boyd led the Cedar Glen champs to their victory with an 87, while senior player, Muriel Whitteker posted a strong 90 to back her up. Lynn Shaw added a 94 in A flight, while B flight’s Sheila Bush had a 92 and Sue McIntosh a 97. 

Elise Muir made a big, contribution with a 91 in C flight, while Jocelyn St. Pierre added a 105. Marie Beckstead counted a 107 in D flight, with Corry Witteveen contributing a 111.

Also playing for the Cedar Glen team, (their scores did not count) were Pat Reaney in A flight, Christena Yelle in B, Sheila Crowder in C and Linda Murphy in D. Loretta Van Dellen was their spare.

The low shooter for the day was Vicki Lalonde of Summer Heights who posted an 81 to claim the Trudy Beavers Trophy for low gross in A flight.

Cedar Glen’s Sheila Bush posted a 92 to win the Phyllis Locke Trophy for low gross in B flight.

The lone playoff of the day was in C flight with Cedar Glen’s Elise Muir and Prescott’s Glenda Deir finishing tied with 91s.

Muir claimed the Mildred and Dick Atchison low gross C flight trophy in a sudden death playoff, while Deir settled for the C flight low net win with a 61.

The top shooter in D flight was Cedar Glen’s Marie Beckstead who won the Bank of Montreal trophy with  a 107.

Net wins went to Sue Sloan of Iroquois (87-69 net) in A flight, Julie Bennet of Iroquois (93-67 net) in B flight, Prescott’s Deir in C flight, and Cedar Glen’s Corry Witteveen (111-71 net) in D flight.

Gail Adams of Summer Heights posted an 86 to win the senior low gross Howard Wallace Trophy, and Diane Throop of Prescott won the Jennie Clifford Memorial Trophy for low senior net with an 87 for a 70 net.

Ann Leduc of Summer Heights was the low spare with a 91, and Loretta Van Dellan, Cedar Glen had low net (97-74 net).

Low gross shooters for each team were: Mia Harrison 83, Prescott; Vicki Boivin 88, Morrisburg; Sue Sloan 87, Iroquois; Vicki Lalonde, Summer Heights 81; Shari Boyd 87, Cedar Glen.

It was the 43rd playing of the annual Ladies Valley League golf competition.

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The South Dundas “Howitzer” Atom B Rep Lions grabbed three points out of a possible four last week with a 3-3 tie against the Char-lan Rebels and a 3-1 win over the Alexandria Glens.

Sunday morning the Lions travelled to Alexandria to take on the first place Glens who were sitting atop the East division standings. With the Lions opening the season last week with a loss, they were looking to get into the win column and Jaeden Phifer-Shaver made sure of that.

With Brody Fairbairn out of the line-up and Ben Lapier at centre with Duncan Hutt and Phifer-Shaver they struck only 18 seconds into the game. With the opening face-off scrambled and the puck inside the Lions blue line Emytt Fetterly passed the puck up the boards to Phifer-Shaver who made a move on a Glens forechecker. He then broke into the Glens end, faked a pass and shot a low wrister that hit the defensman’s stick for the 1-0 lead.

The Lions continued to press, and Phifer-Shaver struck again on his next shift when centreman Jack Connors moved the puck ahead to Duncan Hutt who in turn fed Phifer-Shaver for the Lions 2-0 lead. The Glens responded on a scramble in front of  Lions goaltender Brendan Shaver when a Glen’s forward picked up a loose puck that wasn’t cleared.

In the second period, the Lions continued to pressure as Nolan Henry and Jack Connors would go post to post on a play that had the Glens goaltender deked badly out of position. 

Nathan Verhey and Kieran Geurkink had a strong game on defence as they continued to push would be attackers off the puck.

They also moved the puck quickly up to the Lions forwards to start their breakout. 

Dana Domanko made several strong defensive plays on Glens forward Mathieu Laugne as he had several breaks.

 In the second period, the Lions extended their lead to 3-1 as Duncan Hutt dug out a loose puck off the left wing boards and centered to Ben Lapier who tipped the puck to Phifer-Shaver who registered his third goal of the game. 

 With the lead at 3-1, the Lions turned to defence and goaltender Brendan Shaver made several key saves down the stretch to seal the victory and improve the Lions record to 1-1-1 on the season.

 On Thursday night, the Lions hosted the Char-lan Rebels. With both teams looking for their first points of the season, the Lions needed a strong third to try and gain that point. 

With under four minutes left on the clock, Joshua Broad picked up a loose puck in the offensive zone and attempted to centre to Ben Lapier standing in the slot. Broad miscued and the defender shot the puck around the back of the net where he chased it down reversed momentum and backhanded a pass out front to Lapier who buried a backhand shot on the ice, into the net for the game tying goal.

 The Lions and Rebels exchanged chances in the last few minutes but the score remained 3-3.

 The Lions fell behind early in the contest 2-0, but they bounced back on a goal by Nolan Henry. 

The line of Brody Fairbairn, Jaeden Rowe and Duncan Hutt continued their strong offensive push but came away empty handed. 

 In the second, Ben Lapier cut the lead back to one again when he chased down a Rebel defenseman, took the puck away from him and shot for his first goal of the game to make the score 3-2. 

The South Dundas “Howitzer” Atom B Rep Lions will face the Cornwall Colts here, Saturday night, at 7 p.m. immediately following public skating.

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A team of Morrisburg Little Rockers acquitted themselves well at the Zone Playdowns recently at Metcalfe. While they didn’t advance to Regionals, they played well against one of the teams that will be going on, from Navan. Their second game, which was closer, was against a foursome from Winchester. Congratulations to Calvin Scott, Ewen Wilson, Carter Whyte and Nolan Belanger. Keep at it, boys. You were the youngest team there, and next year you’ll be one of the more experienced ones.

Last week our day ladies were in Alexandria. Alice and Cheryl Thompson, Betty Locke and Sharon Van Allen played Vankleek Hill in the morning in a very tight game. They lost by one point in the final end before repairing to the lounge for a delicious lunch.

Afterwards they returned to battle against Valleyfield. Again, they came up short by one in the final end. By the way, Valleyfield reported a membership of over 900 people in their very active club. The ladies came home with prizes, some the product of inventive games the ladies seem to organize at these events for the time away from the ice. Our folks enjoyed the day, and the fast ride home after the curling.

The next day, two teams of ladies were in Winchester for their Grandmothers’ Bonspiel. In the early draw, Alice Thompson, Ann Cook, Eleanor Allison and Nelda Hickman faced the eventual champions from the R.A. in the morning and dropped their afternoon match to an RCMP foursome. Grandmothers are very competitive.

The late draw featured Greta McGann, Cheryl Thompson, Joanne Baker and Claire Locke. They first met an RCMP team and dropped that match. After a very nice lunch they went back to the ice and had better luck against a team from the R.A. A delicious banquet followed, and after the usual games and awarding of prizes, the ladies headed back to Morrisburg to recover, after the events of the day.

Robert Houze entered a team in the City of Ottawa Bonspiel last week. He defeated Roger Lyons of RCMP, then a rink led by David Morton. Following these games, he advanced to the Grand Aggregate competition.  Robert’s team defeated Bill Lobban of Manotick at the Russell club and then they played David Tax, Saturday afternoon on Ottawa Curling Club ice. A loss there eliminated the Houze rink from further competition. 

David Tax lost in the next round, and Ian MacAulay of the Ottawa Club and Steve Cook of the RCMP competed for $6,000 and $3,000 respectively in the final at the Ottawa Hunt Club. While there was prize money for each of the events, this was the big one. We believe this is still the largest bonspiel in the world, with teams entered this year from all over North America. Next year, why not enter a team, or at least attend?

Sid Morrell and Jack Barkley are taking teams to Kingston for a men’s bonspiel next Friday. We wish them well, and we’ll see if we can get information for you next time.

Finally, there are still openings for the closing bonspiel at the club for March 31. Two six-end games are planned, with a pot luck luncheon, and a closing dinner at $15 each. Guests are welcome. There’s a cost of $10 for the bonspiel, and $2 for each of the skills competitions. Prizes will be awarded as well. Dinner is at 5:30 p.m., followed by the annual meeting and some championship curling. 

Proceeds from the day are targeted for an enhanced entrance appearance, replacement of a dehumidifier, rubber mats for the west end of the rink, repairing the deck at the south entrance, installing a new carpet, and repairing a leak in the roof. 

Looks like volunteers will be busy this summer with these and other tasks. Hope to see you for the season wind-up!

Good curling to all!

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