Atom B Evonik Rep Lions split games

Although the Morrisburg Junior Lions have long been out of the St. Lawrence Division playoff picture, their much improved play of late is causing a bit of havoc in the standings as four teams continue to jockey for the second through fourth place positions.

This past week, the Lions defeated the third place Winchester Hawks, not once, but twice, and then forced the Alexandria Glens into overtime for their 3-2 win.

After the Casselman Vikings at 67 points, (first place locked up weeks ago position), it becomes pretty much anybody’s game…with the next four contenders all within four points of each other for the next three spots.

The Rebels are holding the edge with 43 points in 34 games, while the Hawks (in 35 games) have 40 points and Akwesasne (34 games played) and Alexandria (37 games played) are tied with 39 points.

To say there will be some interesting games in the next two weekends (regular season ends February 9) is an understatement, and the Lions, with two upcoming games against Akwesasne (closing weekend) and one against Char-Lan (Saturday, February 1 at Char-Lan), could possibly play a major part in the outcome of it all.

The Lions got rolling on their best stretch of hockey this season on home ice last Tuesday night, when they downed the visiting Hawks 8-4.

They held the pace, Friday night, January 24, again to double the Hawks, this time by a 6-3 count right in Winchester.

Sunday on home ice, they held the Glens to a 2-2 tie in regulation time and lost in overtime.

The Lions kicked off their week with the 8-4 victory over the Hawks on home ice last Tuesday night, January 21.

After a scoreless first period, Shawn Simms put the Hawks on the scoreboard 3:42 into the second, and at 8:52 the Lions Justin Lefevbre evened it with help from Eric Evans and Liam Morrow.

Two more Lions goals, from Isaac Brownlee at 14:47 and Morrow at 19:56, put the Lions in command of the game, 3-1 at the end of the second period. 

Just under two minutes into the third period, the Hawks Bryden Van Kessel cut the gap to 3-2, but that was it as the Lions came charging back for four in a row to make it 7-2.

Cole Blanchard started it off on the Lions power play, then Justin Rutley scored while the Lions were short-handed at 5:46.

William White made it 6-2 at 8:32 and Drew Veenstra counted the Lions seventh goal at 11:34, unassisted.

The Hawks came back for two from Brodie Braun and Shawn Simms, but that was it.

Justin Rutley (from White and Michael Paquette) scored his second of the game in the last minute of play for the 8-4 Lions win.

John Gilmer was in the Lions net for the win and Nathan Bowness saw action for the Hawks.

The Lions sat out seven minor penalties and a 10 minute misconduct, while the Hawks were assessed nine minors and a misconduct.

The two were back at it Friday night in Winchester, and finally after 15 minutes of action in the first period, Justin Rutley (from Justin Lefevbre) got it started for the Lions with a goal at 15:34.

Chris Pearson, with help from Rutley, made it 2-0 Lions at 15:34.

The 2-0 Lions lead held until 13:06 of the second period when Drew Veenstra (from Steven Savage) upped it to 3-0.

The second period came to an end with a flourish of goals, three scored in just over one minute. 

Austin Roth and Bryden Van Kesssel both put the puck past Lions goaltender Brandon Chilton, while Drew Veenstra counted once  against Hawks goaltender Jeremy Wright, to give the Lions a 4-2 advantage heading into the third period.

Steve Savage put the Lions up 5-2 at 6:23, and at 8:24 Kyle Richardson cup the gap to 5-3.

That would be all for the Hawks and the Lions would count one more from the stick of Chris Pearson (assisted by Justin Rutley) for the 6-3 win.

The Lions were assessed seven minor penalties, while the Hawks drew 12 minors, a double minor, a five minute cross checking major, two 10 minute misconducts and two game misconducts. 

Saturday night, on home ice, the Lions lost a heart-breakers to the visiting Alexandria Glens, 3-2 in overtime.

Chris Pearson, on the Lions power play, put them one up at 15:35 of the first period with help from Steven Savage.

That lasted until 5:55 into the second period when Brandon Barillao beat Lions goaltender John Gilmer to even it a 1-1.

Again the Lions came charging back, this time with a Liam Morrow goal assisted by Kieran Devine at 7:09.

The Lions advantage lasted until 12:24 when Adam Cooke beat Gilmer to even it 2-2 and that’s the way it ended. 

Eric Verville counted the overtime winner for the Glens.

The Lions sat out six minor penalties, a five minute fighting major and a game misconduct. The Glens were assessed five minors and corresponding fighting and misconduct penalties. The Lions were outshot 49-33.

Coming up this week the Lions travel to Casselman for a 7:30 p.m game Thursday night, January 30. Saturday, February 1, they are on the road to take on the Char-Lan Rebels.

Their final home game is Sunday, February 9, when the Akwesasne Wolves are in town for a 2:30 p.m. match.

For the February 9 game, the Lions are inviting all kids from South Dundas and South Stormont to come to the game. All youngsters wearing their team hockey jersey will be admitted free to the game. The Lions encourage you to bring a non perishable food item to be donated to the local Food Bank.

The Morrisburg Lions understand the dedication and commitment of the minor hockey players involved with playing Canada’s pastime and would like to reward those that play this wonderful game with a free afternoon of Junior hockey. 

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MORRISBURG – The Morrisburg Junior B Lions gave up 11 goals and scored five as they were handed a pair of losses in Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey action on the weekend.

The Lions travelled to Alexandria, Friday night, where the St. Lawrence Division’s fourth place Glens handed them a 5-1 loss, and then on Saturday night, they were visited by the second place Winchester Hawks who collected their 13th win of the season, 6-4.

The Lions travelled to Alexandria, Friday night with just 15 skaters. John Gilmer, who was in net for the Lions loss, faced 56 Glens shots on net, while the Lions managed just 39 against Glens goaltender Maxime Beauregard.

The Glens were first on the scoreboard at 1:28 of the first period with a Tristan Sabourin goal, but the Lions Eric Evans evened it a 7:23 with help from Liam Morrow.

The tie held until 7:22 of the second period when Bradley Gabbour made it 2-1 for the Glens. At 10:35, Alex Battistelli made it 3-1.

The Lions held their own and played tough again the Glens until the last couple of minutes of the third period.

At 18:40 of the period Simon Besner pushed the Glens lead to 4-1, and Tristan Sabourin finished it off in the last minute of play with his second of the game for the 5-1 Glens win.

The Lions sat out 12 minor penalties, a five minute fighting major, two 10 minute misconducts and  two game misconducts. The Glens drew nine minor penalties, one five minute fighting major, one misconduct and one game misconduct. 

Saturday night, the St. Lawrence division’s second place Hawks were in town where they picked up a 6-4 win.

Prior to the game a service of Remembrance was held which included representatives of the Morrisburg Legion Branch 48 and the Morrisburg Legion Auxiliary. The program included the playing of the Last Post, a Moment of Silence, Rouse and the National Athen.

The Hawks went up 2-0 on goals by Alex St. Marsaille and Pat Morin in the first two minutes of play against Lions goaltender Brandon Chilton. But that was it for the Hawks scoring until early in the second period.

With just under a minutes left in the first period, the Lions got one back on their power play from Liam Morrow assisted by Christian Evans.

In the second period, the Hawks again came out of the gate flying, this time with an Austin Rothe goal just 10 seconds in.

The Hawks held on to their 3-1 advantage for another eight minutes, until the Lions, sparked by an Eric Evans short-handed goal assisted by Peter Ketcheson at 8:05, came to life.

At 9:58 Justin Lefevbre and Christian Evans provided the set up for a Zach Belaire goal to tie the game 3-3.

Then at 14:16 Ketcheson from Eric Evans and Pearson on the power play, put the Lions up 4-3.

The Lions lead, unfortunately, lasted less than a minute when the Hawks Austin Rothe counted his second goal of the game for a 4-4 tie.

Third period action was intense, and the Hawks collected their go-ahead goal from Wyatt Coghill at 11:29.

The 5-4 Hawks advantage held, and although the Lions pulled goaltender Brandon Chilton in favour of the extra attacker, they were unable to come up with the tying marker.

The sixth and final Hawks goal was scored in the empty Lions net by Rothe.

The Hawks produced 40 shots on net, while the Lions answered with 32.

The Lions sat out seven minor penalties, two five minute fighting majors, one misconduct and two game misconducts. The Hawks were assessed  five minor penalties, a five minute kneeing major, two five minute fighting majors and four game misconducts.

Coming up Saturday, November 16 the Lions will visit the Akwesasne Wolves. Game time is 7 p.m. Sunday, November 17, they are at home to the Char-Lan Rebels. Game time is 2:30 p.m.

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It may not seem like it due to the cold winter weather, but spring is just around the corner and soccer with the South Dundas Soccer Association is not far behind.

Coming up on Saturday, March 7, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Iroquois Civic Centre, is the first of two registrations for this year’s soccer program in Iroquois.

Good news for all participants is that the fees for the 2015 season remain unchanged at $40 per child. For the $40 per player participants receive his/her shirt and lunch during the final tournament. 

In addition the $40 covers 10 weeks of fun, playing soccer and making new friends and it will all start this year on Saturday, May 23. 

The year end tournament will run July 24-25, and association president Phillip Blancher says some special events to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the South Dundas Soccer Association and the 15th anniversary of the World Cup Soccer finale weekend are in the works.

South Dundas soccer runs on Saturday mornings in Iroquois from 8 am. until 11 a.m. and this year’s program is available to youth born from 1997 to 2010 (the youngest). Soccer is offered in  five age divisions U-6 (5-6 years), U-8 (7-8 years), U-10 (9-10 years) U-13 (11-13 years) and U-18 (14-18 years).

The number of players in each age category determines the number of teams, and the Saturday morning schedule is a fixed schedule with the U-8 and U-10 playing at 8 a.m., the U-6 and U-13 at 9 a.m. and the U-18 at 10 a.m.

It is because player numbers determine team numbers, that it is so important that players are registered at one or the other of the two upcoming March registrations. (The second is Friday, March 27 from 6-9 p.m. at the Civic Centre in Iroquois). There is also a late fee of $20 per child.

“Last year we had just over 400 kids on 34 teams across the five divisions. We played a total of 253 games of soccer including the tournament games,” says Blancher of the very popular program.

Players participate in one hour sessions on Saturday mornings with the first half used to work on skills and the second half to play a game. Standings are kept, mainly to provide a seeding for the team in the final tournament. “It helps us to schedule for the year-end tournament. We try to balance it at the final tournament so that everyone can have some success and fun.”

Volunteers are a key to the success of the South Dundas Soccer Program. 

“We will have the canteen open if we can get enough volunteers to run it. We need volunteer parents and students for the canteen, to help with the fields and cutting the grass. While the school board and the municipality mow, it isn’t always optimum to when we need to use the field. We need people to line the fields, to set up and take down the nets, to set out the road cones to shut down the street and to coach.”

“We certainly have lots of volunteer hours for high school students who need to get their hours in. And of course, any help from anyone is greatly appreciated.”

Blancher says the program is run with the belief that everyone has the right to play. “It doesn’t matter if there is a disability, we will work with a player’s disability and make it their strength.”

The association also doesn’t allow cost to stand in the way of a child participating. Because the cost per player of $40 is bare bones, family discounts are not available. However, the South Dundas Soccer works with the Canadian Tire Jumpstart Program and the Upper Canada District School Board’s Champions for Kids, both programs available to provide financial assistance to families who need help.

“We also have some other funding sources to help out so that anyone who wants to play soccer can. Cost is not a factor. We have a cleat exchange to help out, and we hope to have it available at the registrations.”

Soccer cleats and shinguards are mandatory for all players this year.

Blancher is pleased that a number of sponsors have returned to the soccer field this year and it is thanks to these local businesses that registration fees remain low. Sponsors come on board to sponsor colours and so if their colour is red then they sponsor the red shirts in each age category that has a red team.

For the sponsorship, the sponsors get their logo on the back of the shirts, they are featured on the Associations’ website, in programs and in any form of press release.

“These sponsorships really help us out by offsetting some of our costs (like insurance),” says Blancher. “Because of the great sponsorships we had last year, we didn’t have to increase our fees this year. That is really great, and we are very appreciative of the community support we receive.”

To save time, registration and volunteer forms can be printed and filled out in advance from the Association’s website: www.southdundassoccer.org.  Cash or cheques are acceptable.

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