The Skater’s Edge

With the South Dundas Peewee B House 1s and the Peewee B House Lion 2s heading into the fourth game of the five point Upper Canada Minor Hockey League series last night (Tuesday, March 26) a win by either team was needed to end it…and a tie to extend it to a fifth match.

The two evenly matched Lions teams played to an opening game 1-1 tie, Friday March 22, leaving the Mark Froats family the winner of the night with $1,000 raised through the Pack the Rink night.

Saturday, coach Rob Casselman’s #1 Lions turned it up a notch to claim a 4-2 victory and that was followed by a rebound from David Lapier’s #2 Lions on Sunday afternoon with a 7-3 win.

The community has been out in high numbers to support the two young teams with close to 300 fans, some cheering for both teams, attending each of the three games. And those 300 cheering fans have been entertained with some top notch hockey, offensively and defensively.

Both teams have been receiving solid goaltending and in each of the games, each of the two goaltenders Wes Alexander for the B1s and Sam Waytowich for the B2s have come up with some spectacular and very timely saves.

Friday night neither of the two teams could get an edge.

All even after series opener

After a scoreless first period, Lapier’s B2s went up 1-0 on an unassisted Dean Lapier goal, when he jumped on a turnover just inside the blue line and scored on a wrist shot from the high slot area.

Then midway through the third period, the B1s Kasper Furo set the Bennis brothers up for a two on one, and a beautiful passing play goal from Lucas to the stick of Jonah tied the game 1-1.

And that was it until Saturday afternoon, when the two teams skated onto the ice for game number two.

B1s take series lead

This time out Casselman’s B1s took charge early. Devin Dumoulin got it started with an unassisted first period goal and that held until early in the second when the B1s went up 2-0 on their power play.

This time it started when Jonah Bennis won the face off in the B2s end. He dropped it back to Connor Dumoulin who slid it to an unguarded Lucas Bennis at the corner of the B2s net and just 27 seconds into the second period the B1s were up 2-0.

But Lapier’s B2s came charging right back when Oakley Beavers slammed home a lose puck just over a minute later to tighten the count to 2-1.

The score held until late in the second period when Lucas Bennis counted his second of the game with help from line mate Connor Dumoulin.

Midway into the third period, while the B1s were again on their power play, another winning face off set the stage for a Connor Dumoulin goal when he picked off a rebound from a Brady Smith shot.

Lapier’s B2s got one back, a short-handed goal from the stick of Brody Smail assisted by Austin Robinson.

That left the BS with a 4-2 win and a three points to one lead in the five point series.

B2s Get Back Into It

In game three, Lapier’s B2s hit the ice looking to stay alive in the series, but quickly fell behind 2-0 in the first three minutes of the first  period.

Devin Dumoulin got it rolling for the B1s with a power-play goal, assisted by Jonah Bennis at 2:52 of the frame. Then at 3:04, the B1S went up 2-0, this time with Connor Dumoulin counting, and Jonah Bennis and Noah Keeler providing the setup.

At 7:21 of the first period, Lapier’s B 2s got one back with Trinity Hanes and Austin Robinson providing the setup up for a Julenea Barnhartd counter.

Then early in the second period, Adam Lapier (from Robinson and Smail) evened it 2-2.

The tie lasted less than a minute when, Jonah Bennis made it 3-2 for Casselman’s B2s with help from Kendrew Byers and Brady Smith.

At 7:07 of the second period, Lapier’s B2s again battled back this time with a power-play goal scored by Barnhartd and assisted by Adam Lapier and Brooke Lapier.

From then on it was a back and forth battle as the two Lions teams tried to gain an edge. No headway was made in the second period, and they skated into the third period still tied 3-3.

With 7:34 left in the game, Adam Lapier gave the B2s a 4-3 lead with help from Grant Wells and Colin Minish, and just over four minutes later, Brooke Lapier added the insurance, unassisted.

The Bs got their next goal from Grant Wells assisted by Bryce Bradford and they finished it off for the 7-3 victory with an empty net counter from Minish with 1:04 left in the game. 

Lapier’s B2 win Sunday, evened the series at three points apiece and pushed it to a fourth game played last night, Tuesday, March 26, starting at 6 p.m.

[…]

“Hosting the provincial darts championship at our branch was a very big deal for us,” said Rose Lavallie, president of the Iroquois Legion, Branch #370. “When we submitted our bid to host this major event on behalf of our District G, we were up against some much bigger area auxiliaries: when we learned in June, 2011, that Iroquois had been chosen, well it was great news.”

More than 160 darts players, making up 40 teams, arrived in Iroquois on Friday, June 22, in order to take part in elimination play which started at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 23. 

When all the rounds were over, Uxbridge, Branch #170, took on Highland Creek, Branch #258, for the championship. 

The team from Highland Creek, made up of Yvonne Tracey, Shirley McMurter, Ann Butterfield and Sue Wilson, won the trophy, the medals and, as Iroquois’ sports officer, Sheila Holmes, put it, “bragging rights for the year.”

“The top six teams from each zone go to the district finals,  then the top six teams from each district come to the provincial finals,” Holmes explained.

“There was a lot of preparation and work done by the Women’s Auxiliary to make this weekend a success for our visitors.”

Among other things, the Legion had to provide lists of accommodations and area restaurants for the visitors, as well as see to it that food was plentiful and delicious throughout  the day explained Darleen Riddell.

Among the VIPs attending were Sharron Hanrahan, the provincial sports chair, and Barb McIsaac, the provincial president of the Ladies Auxiliary. Both praised the host legion and the venue.

“This was my first visit to this area,” McIsaac said. “This is a lovely town, and this was a very well run tournament.”

“A beautiful area,” said Hanrahan. “There was excellent work by the Branch #370 ladies in putting this event together. And their hospitality was incredible.”

Unfortunately, only Cornwall made it to the provincial playoffs from district G, eventually coming in 13th. Morrisburg and Iroquois teams did not make the cut, “although we did try hard,” Rose Lavallie laughed. “We just couldn’t swing it.”

Tournament guests were treated to breakfast, hosted by the Oddfellows at their Hall on Saturday morning, before play began. The Iroquois Legion served lunch and dinner to the darts players, then hosted a social evening to wind up the weekend tournament.

[…]

All bets were off when the South Dundas Peewee C Lions and the NGS Braves hit the ice in Morrisburg, Sunday, February 22, for game three of their four-point UCMHLplayoff series.

The seesaw battle got started on Morrisburg ice last Thursday, February 19 with a very decisive Lions 6-0 victory. It resumed in Finch on Saturday, February 21 where the Braves turned it around to score a very decisive 6-0 victory of their own and send the series to a third game.

So when the two teams hit the ice on Sunday, in Morrisburg, it was very much either team’s game to win. And it was a hard fought battle with the Lions coming out on top by a 5-3 score to claim the series four points to two.

Nathen Verhey, unassisted, scored the lone goal of the first period for the Lions, and the 1-0 advantage held until early in the second when he collected his second for a 2-0 Lions lead.

The Braves charged back, with goals from Johnny McAdams at 8:11 of the second and Logan Villeneuve at 10>43 of the 15 minute period. That tied it and that’s the way it stayed through the second period.

Then 2:33 into the third period, Devon Swindells, got help from Ben Wiltshire to put the Lions up 3-2.  

That lasted until 10:22 when Verhey scored his third unassisted goal of the game to give the Lions a little space with a 4-2 advantage.

Jordan Evans got one back for the Braves with 44 second left on the clock, but that would be it.

Collin VanHoof, from Scott Brooks, counted the Lions final goal  to make it 5-3 and allow the Lions to claim the series.

It was a big game for Nathen Verhey who registered his 25th goal of the season.

The series opened Thursday night, February 19 in Morrisburg, with a 6-0 Lions victory.

The Lions hit the ice fully charged to go up 4-0 in the first period on goals from Devon Swindells (from Nathen Verhey), Mackenzie McKee-Markell (from Maclean Machon),  Machon (from Callahan Staye) and Verhey (from Scott Brooks and Swindells).

After a scoreless second period, McKee-Markell set up Jeffrey McPail to make it 5-0 Lions early in the third period.

Swindells counted the final Lions goal with just over a minute left in the game to complete the 6-0 victory.

Derrik Jansen was in net for the Lions shutout.

Then in Finch, on Saturday it was a different hockey game as a charged up Mackinnley MacKillican put the Braves up 3-0 with a hat trick performance.  He started it early in the first period and then added his next two counters in the second.

The Braves added another three unanswered third period goals from the sticks of Bryce McCrae, Tristan Leduc and Yannick Vaillancourt for the 6-0 win.

[…]