Evan Mullin sees golf from the pro tee at the Great Waterway Classic

 

The Morrisburg Junior B Lions put their first stroke in the win column here Sunday afternoon when they rallied for a three-goal, third period to defeat the visiting Char-Lan Rebels, 4-2.

It was a very close, entertaining game that saw the Lions on the scoreboard first with a first period goal at 8:52 from Jacob Kendrick assisted by Cole Blanchard and Michael Paquette.

The Lions l-0 lead lasted until the last minutes of the second period when the Rebels Jeremy McFarlane counted against goaltender John Gilmer to even it at 1-1 heading into the third period.

Well past the halfway mark of the third period, Jeremy McFarlane, on the power play, put the Rebels ahead for the first time in the game. But they were unable to hang on.

The Lions got an unassisted power play goal at 14:17 from Eric Evans and that got them rolling for a second counter just 42 seconds later from Paquette (assisted by Justin Rutley).

The Lions then went to work to hold on to their 3-2 advantage and, with Gilmer unbeatable in net, they were successful.

The Lions fourth and final goal was scored by Justin Lefebvre (from Dallas Blacksmith) with 55 seconds left on the clock.

“The boys never gave up and it was a really good effort,” said coach Mark Evans of Sunday’s win.

Evans says that keeping the games close in the early going is going to be key for the Lions who have a very young squad this year. “They will learn by experience,” he said.

While the game was extremely tight in the first two periods, Evans says, “Our defence played well, but we’ve seen them play better. John Gilmer had a good game in net. He controlled the rebounds really well and made some key saves.”

While Evans says the win indeed felt good for everyone, he and assistant coach Shawn Blanchard are concentrating on getting everyone on the same system.

“That is what we are trying to stress at this point. They have been told some very different things already from what they have learned in minor hockey.”

“We are just focussing on one period at a time.”

Sunday’s game saw just 16 minor penalties, and they were evenly split between the two.

Kevin Dumouchel was in net for the Rebels loss. He gave up the four goals on 38 Lions shots, while Gilmer gave up the two Rebels goals on 29 shots.

Coming up the Lions have a very busy weekend ahead.

This Friday night they are on the road to Winchester to take on the Hawks. Game time is 8:15. The Lions have met the Hawks once this year and lost 7-4, so they will be looking to even it out.

Then on Saturday night, October 4 and Sunday, October 5 they have a pair of home games. Alexandria is in town for a 7:30 p.m. start Saturday night and Sunday it’s Akwesasne at 2:30 p.m.

[…]

 

It was a big weekend for the Morrisburg Junior B Lions.

Friday night on the Glens’ home turf, the Lions handed the St. Lawrence Division’s first place Glens a crushing 5-3 loss and then, back home on Sunday, they gave the Rideau Division’s first place Westport Rideaus all they could handle as the Rideaus collected a hard fought 6-4 victory.

“It was a gift from God, Friday night,” says Lions coach Thom Racine. “Ryan Cooper (Lions goaltender) had a great game. He really hasn’t played a lot. He made one of those impossible saves a minute into the game and from that point on the boys were behind him. We never trailed all night long.”

After a scoreless first period, the Lions went up 2-0 in the first three minutes of the second period.

Michael Poapst started it with an unassisted goal at 2:52 and at 3:25 Alex Steingruber set up Marc Antoine Kamel to push the Lions ahead by two.

Jean-Francois Dubois answered for the Glens at 11:54, but two minutes later Alex Ploof (from Zach Seguin) restored the Lions two-goal advantage.

Once again, the Lions couldn’t hold on to it, allowing the Glens one more from Philippe Paquette.

At 7:03 of the third period, the Glen’s Leo MacLean beat Cooper to tie the game 3-3.

“I thought when they tied it 3-3 with over 10 minutes to go that we were in trouble,” says Racine.

But a pair of Glens’ penalties turned the tables and allowed the Lions to collect one on their power play from Ryan Ward, assisted by Steingruber and Patrick Bzdyl.

“Then we took two horrible penalties, the first one (at 14:06) for too many men. I thought, ‘right, we just handed them a free opportunity to tie the game.” 

The Lions killed off the penalty, but no sooner than they did so, Poapst was nabbed for tripping. Again, the Lions were up for the task, and again they held off the Glens. An empty net counter from Alex Steingruber (assisted by Lance Hodgson) sealed the win.

“Our penalty kills were fantastic,” says Racine. (Marc Antonie) Kamel, (Brayden) Girard  and (Ryan) Ward are premier penalty killers. They know when to chase it and when not to chase it.” 

Racine also credited Alex Steingruber for bringing his A game to the match and Poapst who scored his seventh goal of the season and who “is just starting to find his touch.”

Their efforts were only out-shone by that of Cooper who faced 59 Glens shots and allowed only three to get past him. 

It was the start of a rough weekend for the Glens, who were handed two losses to now trail the first place Winchester Hawks.

For Friday night’s game in Morrisburg, Racine again, went with Cooper in net. “I felt that after the 59 shots, he deserved to play again. And he played really well. ”

The game kicked off with a 1-1 first period tie and by the end of the second the Rideaus held just a slim 4-3 advantage.

They went up 6-3 in the third before the Lions got them stopped with a Michael Poapst (from Brayden Girard and Michael Paquette) counter and that was it. The Rideaus hung on for the 6-4 win.

Michael Poapst scored from Michael Paquette in the first period and Michel Thurler (from Ward and Paquette) and Brayden Girard (from Michael Keenan) counted in the second period.

Racine says he was satisfied with the game, “we made them earn the win” but he wonders if it might have been a different outcome, had if the Lions had the two Veenstras (couldn’t make the game) and Bzdyl (injured) in the lineup.

This weekend the Lions have two must win games says Racine. This Friday night they host the Char-Lan Rebels at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 20 they are on the road against Akwesasne.

The battle continues.

[…]

 

The annual Chubbs Hockey Tournament played at the arena on the weekend, was once again a huge success with 17 area hockey teams vying for the four division awards in some very exciting hockey action on Sunday afternoon.

Claiming the first of the wins was Sheldon Beckstead’s Buzz On with a 3-2 overtime win against Steve Sypes’ Seelers in the Bud Light division.

Beckstead and T.J. McManus provided the regulation time goals for Buzz On and then in the overtime it was Beckstead who netted the winner.

The six-team Bud Light Division was extremely tight with four teams finishing tied for the top spots with four points each.

Buzz On defeated the Bullet Boys 5-0 and Cooeyes 2-1, but lost to C&S Express 3-1.

The Seelers defeated C&S Express 4-1 and Bullet Boys 8-3, but lost to Cooeyes 7-0.

For their four points, C&S Express defeated Buzz On 3-1 and the Pylons 4-0, but lost to the Seelers 4-1. The Pylons posted their four points with wins over Cooeye’s 3-2 and the Bullet Boys 4-1, but lost to C&S Express 4-0.

With such a crowd at the finish line, the Chubbs organizers looked at penalty minutes to determine who would advance to the final game and the nods went to Buzz On and the Seelers who each drew 12 minutes in penalties in their three games. The Pylons had 16 minutes and C&S Express 20 minutes.

The top goaltender Joe Billings Memorial Award went to the Bud Light Division’s Kane Rutgers who played for Beckstead’s Buzz On. Rutgers gave up just four goals in the three preliminary round games.

The Blue Light division was the next to be decided with Clayton Froats’ local team squaring off against Jimmy’s, an Ingleside based entry.

Tyler Lafortune was the big gun for Froats with four goals in the 5-3 championship win.

Jimmy’s came out strong, to go up 2-0 in the first period on goals by Justin Poulet and Cody Taylor, but in the second, Froats’ regrouped for the comeback.

Gareth Cochrane got it started, followed by Lafortune’s four goal performance.

Providing assists were Riley Nicolaassen, Chris Phifer and Kyle Weegar. 

For his strong play throughout the tournament, and especially in the final game, Lafortune was selected the Tournament MVP and presented the Cam MacLellan Sr. Memorial Trophy.

Next up was the Bud Division which came down to the final between Dave Patterson and Lemire Electric.

Pattersons were quick off the starting line to go up 4-2 in the first period, and although Lemire’s came back to make a game of it in the second (and final) period, it was too little too late.

Pattersons held on for a 6-5 win and the Bud championship.

Their top shooter was Jay Keller who counted three of the six goals.

Lemire’s finished first in the Bud division with five points. They defeated Patterson 8-3 and Wintucky 10-3 and were held to a 5-5 tie by the No Names. Pattersons defeated Wintucky 6-5 and the No Names 2-0.

The last final of the day was for the open Blue division that included just three teams. The division was dominated by Justin Elliott’s Falcons, consisting mostly of former Junior B Lions, who defeated the Snappers 8-5 and Maxville 11-1.

In the final, they met the Snappers and claimed their second consecutive open division championship with an 8-4 win.

Cory Gove led the Falcons scoring with three goals and Greg Millard backed him with a pair. Singles came from the sticks of Chad Galipeau, Dave Wallace and Justin Elliott.

Answering for the Snappers were Kyle Lundy, Chris McFarlane, Randy Mullin and Marty Braymonds.

For the second consecutive year, Falcons defenseman, Mike Carbino was presented the Mike Steward Memorial trophy as the tournament’s most valuable defenceman. 

[…]