Lightning strikes New Blue

The Morrisburg Junior B Lions have hit the ice for their 2011/12 tryouts, and coach Thom Racine, back for his second season at the helm, says he like what he sees, although he has lost a couple of key players that will be tough to replace.

“We have a lot of kids at camp, and we have a real good nucleus of players returning,” says Racine.

“Unfortunately, Mitch Lefebvre, our go to guy, is skating with a Triple A Junior team in Quebec and defenceman Patrick Cyr is in the Cumberland camp (Central Junior).”

“We have 12 others who are back, and we are optimistic about some of the young local talent we are seeing.”

The Lions had their first ice time at the Benson Centre in Cornwall on the weekend of August 27-28. Racine said he ran scrimmages during each of the two, two-hour sessions.

This past weekend the Lions embarked on a schedule that will see them play six games in eight days, as Raccine and his coaching staff, which currently includes Cody Casselman and Jarett Racine, ready the team for their opening game on Friday night, September 16 in Kemptville.

All but two of the pre-season exhibition games will be played in Maxville.

Racine does not expect to skate on home ice until Tuesday, September 13 which will be a practise as the Lions prepare for their opening game to be played at the Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Showcase event in Kemptville.

“We’ll be playing the Ottawa West Golden Knights,” says Racine with a chuckle adding, “thanks for coming out” as his description of what he expects will be a tough opener against the Knights who are perennial leaders in the Metro Division of the league.

Local skaters (still midget age) at the  Lions opening camp included centreman Marc Beckstead and defenceman Ty Hodgson and Racine is impressed with both.

The two were drafted in May in the Central Hockey League Bantam and Midget-aged Draft (Tier II Junior A).

Beckstead, who played in the Upper Canada Cyclones organization last season, was drafted second overall by the Cumberland Grads and is currently skating at their camp.

Hodgson who played for the St. Lawrence Kings last season was selected in the ninth round of the draft by the Brockville Braves.

While Racine says he is looking at some really talented young players, he is pleased to have goaltender Mikael Dion back. “He’s the kid who carried us into the playoffs last year.”

Racine expects to have his numbers down by the Lions first practise on home ice on the 13th, in order to have a team ready for the opener in Kemptville.

By that time he expects it will be clearer about what is happening with the players who are still skating at Junior A camps.

The Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Fall Classic will run three days, September 16-18, at Kemptville. Local hockey fans can purchase passes for $25 to take in all of the games which will run on both sheets of ice at the Kemptville complex. Tickets are set at $10 per day.

The Lions kick off their season against the Golden nights at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, night September 16 in Rink B. Another three games will be played Friday night and action resumes Saturday morning at 10 a.m. with the Akwesasne Wolves playing the Almonte Thunder. The Lions will play their second game of the weekend Saturday night at 8 p.m. against Stittsville.

This is the only time during the regular season that teams in the North and South Divisions of the Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League will meet. The overall EOJHL championship is played between the north and south.

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Last Thursday, January 5, the South Dundas Novice C Lions dominated the ice in a South Stormont Tournament to skate away with the ‘A’ championship with a 9-4 win over the  South Stormont Selects C#1s. In their first game, the Lions defeated the St. Isidore Aigles, 4-3. They followed that up with a solid 9-1 victory over the Char-Lan Rebels to earn entry into the championship final. Winning individual MVP awards were goaltender Brett Froats, Duncan Hutt and Callahan Staye. Pictured above, the champs are front, l-r, Owen Paterson, Maclean Machan, Nate Paulino, T.J. Barnhartd, Stefan Kronstal and goalie Brett Froats. Centre row are Dryden Buter, Sean Nicolaassen, Scott Brooks, Callahan Staye, Duncan Hutt and Isaac Orendi. Back, l-r, are the coaching staff of George Menges, Mark Froats, Kelly Buter, Michelle Paulino and Chris Paulino.

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Our senior men are still curling up a storm, and have begun their fifth and final draw of the season. 

In the last one, Sid Morrell, Glenn Cougler, Keith Robinson and Earl Jeacle finished in first place, with Pete Zeran’s team right behind, and a number of other teams within a point or two. Actually Sid’s and Pete’s teams had the same number of wins, and the tie had to be broken by a check of game scores in the draw.

Still with our seniors, Cornwall’s annual McLennan Cup was run last Friday. This is always held in Cornwall, and is a two-team bonspiel. 

Our entries were Sid Morrell, Neil Williams, George Rutley and Rick MacKenzie, and Pete Zeran, Sam Locke, Earl Jeacle and Keith Robinson. It was a very tight competition among the four clubs involved, with our fellows each winning their first games and losing their afternoon matches. 

The total scores for each club are tallied to determine a winner, and our boys finished second by one point to Cornwall and tied with Prescott. Lancaster was the fourth club involved.

In senior friendly matches, our fellows are hosting their last group of curlers, from Winchester, this week. Pete Zeran’s, George Rutley’s and Don O’Brien’s foursomes are defending our honour in this one. We’ll have the results next time.

Four of our senior curlers competed in one of the last 222 bonspiels of the season. This one was in Navan, and Keith Robinson, Alice Thompson, Fred “Boomer” Langlotz and Sandra Beckstead represented us well. They defeated their morning competitors, a Navan foursome. Their high score tied them for first place at that time, and pitted them against a top team from North Grenville. When the dust settled, North Grenville won the afternoon match, and their curlers were the overall champions in the bonspiel. Well done anyway, folks.

There’s one more 222 bonspiel our curlers have entered, in Kemptville, and we’ll have three teams in the single draw competition. Results to follow.

It’s a bit early for league winners, but the score sheets on the wall show the Locke and McIntosh teams in the Thursday morning league are running one-two. The end is near, folks. Carry on.

     It’s been a rough time for many of our senior curlers, some with fairly serious medical problems. A few have had to retire from the game, and we wish them well. Hopefully they’ll drop in from time to time to share a coffee with us after the games. 

Special thoughts are with Raymond Benoit, who is due home this week, and is recovering nicely from his surgery. In another month we’ll all have the summer to recuperate, and hopefully we’ll see everyone back in the fall.

We note that Sue McIntosh’s last two-person bonspiel of the year is filled. For anyone who missed getting a team entered, it might be a good idea to put your name down as spares. Often someone has to drop out, and having a team to call on in an emergency allows for a balanced number of entries. It should be a good bonspiel on St. Patrick’s Day.

The men’s City of Ottawa Bonspiel, the largest in the world, begins this Thursday, and the schedule is available on the internet. Robert Houze from our club is competing, and we wish him well. Those interested in curling have enjoyed the national men’s and women’s Canadian championships, await their progress in world competition.

Good Curling to all.

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