Missing Monkey in New Blue Win

 

After winning their South East Division against the South Grenville #2 Rangers in two straight games, the South Dundas Midget B House Lions, were stopped by the Alexandria Glens in their pursuit of the East Division Championship and the right to advance to the UCMHL championship final.

The Lions played four games of hockey in five days.

In the first two days, Thursday, March 5 and Friday, March 6, they put together 3-2 and 3-1 victories over the Rangers  to win their South East Division Championship.

They saw action against the Glens on Sunday, March 8 in Alexandria, (4-2 loss) and on home ice Monday night, March 9 (7-3 loss) for the Eastern  Championship.

The Glens came out solid in the series opener on Sunday. They went up 2-0 in the first period on goals by Nick Hansen and Nathan Currier.

Alexander McMaster made it 3-0, Glens in the second period.

The Lions got one back early in the third from Kody Arsenault, assisted by Noah Picotte and Jonathan Mayhew, but a Jordan Dunny goal again stretched it out for the Glens with 7:16 left in the game.

The Lions counted their final goal with just over two minutes left, from Trevor Nicolaassen assisted by Ewen Baril in the 4-2 Glens win.

The Lions needed a win to stay alive in game two of the four point series Monday night on home ice, and they hung tough through the first two periods.

The Lions were first on the scoreboard with an unassisted Picotte goal, and they held on until the final minute of the frame.

In that final minute, Brandon Lavern and Nick Leroux both counted to give the Glens a 2-1 edge heading into the second period.

The Glens stretched their lead to 4-1 early in the second, but the Lions charged back in the last two minutes with a pair of goals from Trevor Nicolaassen to keep it close at 4-3.

Just over 3:13 into the third period the Glens’ Laverne counted to make it 5-3. He added two more as the Glens skated to the 7-3 victory and the East championship series win.

The Lions claimed their Division (southeast) championship in two straight games against the South Grenville #2 Rangers.

The series kicked off Thursday, March 5 in Cardinal, with a 3-2 Lions win. 

Tyler Nelson had a big night, scoring all three of the Lions goals while Logan Hummel provided an assist on each. Trevor Nicolaassen helped out on goal number one and Cassie Hummel earned an assist on the second.

After a scoreless first period, Nelson put the Lions up 2-0 in the second period

The Rangers charged back in the third to tie it 2-2, with goals from Austin Mott and Zach Illingworth.

That set the stage for the winner from Nelson with 1:39 left in the game.

Game two was played in Morrisburg on Friday night, with the Lions claiming a 3-2 win to wrap up the series.

Again it was a scoreless first period.

Austin Mott got the lone Rangers goal midway into the second period, but his effort was quickly cancelled by a Logan Hummel goal assisted by Nicolaassen and Nelson.

Action settled down and it wasn’t until the final five minutes of the game that the Lions were able to break away from the 1-1 tie.

Austin Robinson, unassisted, made it 2-1 with 4:39 left in the game and Nelson, assisted by Logan Hummel added the insurance with 1:26 left.

The series win put the Lions against Alexandria for the East Division championship.

The Midget B House playoff setup saw the top three teams in each division get a first-round bye while the fourth and fifth place teams played for fourth spot.

After they sat out their first round bye, the Lions defeated NGS2 in a three point series

That win put them against South Grenville 2 for the Southeast Division championship.

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A new team is on the roster for the 2016-17 Morrisburg Junior C Lions with 10 players named from South Dundas. The final roster was announced on September 20th by the team staff. There are […]

 

“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.

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