Year: 2012

 

Last week the Morrisburg Curling Club had three ladies’ teams in a Cornwall   bonspiel. 

Our first, composed of Ruth Kelly, Anita Cooper, Cheryl Thompson and Kathy Hardy, played in the early draw. Their opponents were Alexandria in the morning and Brockville in the afternoon. The ice took some getting used to, but they played well, unfortunately coming up short in both matches, against the curlers who finished first and second overall in the bonspiel.

Our other quartet in the early draw included Alice Thompson, Susan McIntosh, Betty Locke and Sharon Van Allen. They dropped their first match to Vankleek Hill, but won handily against Maxville. While they didn’t finish in the top two for the day, Betty and Sharon won prizes.

Greta McGann, Joanne Baker and Paula and Claire Locke were in the late draw. Their morning game was against Brownsburg. It was a good match, but the other team pulled out the win. In the afternoon, their opponents were from Brockville, and they fell to our local curlers.

Richmond hosted a bonspiel two days later. Alice Thompson, Susan McIntosh, Betty Locke and Sharon Van Allen lost their morning match to Pembroke, and they beat a Navy team in the afternoon. By the way, Barb Truscotte of Carleton Place scored a rare eight-ender at the bonspiel (not against our ladies!)

Three teams of senior men invaded the Prescott club last week and took three strong wins against their hosts. Our local heroes were Wally McDonald, Neil Williams, Bud Perry and Bob Youmelle, Martin Schneckenburger, Ron Beaupre, Doug Jarvis and Al Gowanlock, and Jack Barkley, Ted Herriman, Earl Jeacle and Eric Johnson. As always, apologies to any spares not mentioned, as some invariably fill in for busy local seniors. Well done, fellows!

On November 17, Morrisburg will be hosting the Gamble Cup mixed competition, with two teams from each of Russell, Metcalfe and Winchester doing battle with our local champions. 

Two teams are already interested in competing on our behalf, but if others would like to be considered, please sign up on the sheet on the bulletin board at the bottom of the stairs. Mahlon Locke will work out playoff times if needed. He is also looking for volunteers for that day, and the sign-up sheet is located at the bar.

Susan McIntosh will be running her popular two-person bonspiel Sunday. We hope to see full draws for that one. The early draw begins at 9 a.m., and the late draw starts at 10. 

Susan says her husband Dave is making his famous chilli, and we’re sure there will be other food items to complement that delicacy. The entry fee is $15, and there are cash prizes for the winners in each of the three divisions in each draw. Sign up before the spaces are all filled! Good curling!

Curling Notes:

•Denis Thibault was a member of the championship team, the Morrell foursome, in our first bonspiel of the year. Sorry for the error, Denis. Keep up the good work! 

•We have the stick bonspiel at the club this week, and the same day, three daytime men’s teams will be in Cornwall for another friendly bonspiel. 

We’ll report next week. 

•On Nov. 27 and 28, Jack Barkley, Sue McIntosh, Andy Patenaude and Betty Locke will be in Maxville, competing in the Ontario Senior games, and two Scottish men’s teams are coming to our club on Tuesday, January 15.

•The competitive women’s invitational bonspiel in Kemptville last weekend featured top teams, and Rachel Homan from the Ottawa Curling Club won top honours. We can likely expect to see her as Ontario’s representative again in the Tournament of Hearts.

•Some of our ladies expect to announce their entry into the Crystal Heart Bonspiel in several Ottawa rinks, February 7-10. We have had several teams entered in this classic in the past, the largest for women in the province. Sixty-four rinks are allowed in the open division, and 32 in the seniors’ competition. We wish new and repeat entries all the best as they plan for this huge event.    

[…]

 

After an extended break in their schedule, the South Dundas Peewee B1 House Lions were back on the ice Friday night hosting to defeat the North Leeds Stars, 5-2. 

The Lions are currently sitting in third place on the East Division with a 1-1-2 record.

The Lions had opened a 3-0 lead going into the third period and needed a strong period to finish off the Stars, but would the schedule break hurt their legs late in the game. 

The Stars began using the body a lot more later in the game and a great  check in the neutral on Lions defenceman Devon Dumoulin actually led to the Lions next goal. 

After the hit, the puck went into the Star end zone. As the Stars defenders watched the check, Kendrew Byers and Max Garlough skated in alone and Byers wristed a shot home to extend the Lions lead to 4-0.

The Lions continued to press and Jaxon Weegar had two chances, the first on a shot from the slot that went wide and the second when Brady Smith kept the puck alive at the blue line, sent a pass down to Weegar who passed across the crease to a wide open Kurtis Markell whose shot was stopped by Stars goaltender Kaleb McCulloch.

The Lions jumped on the power play on a Stars tripping penalty and opened with some excellent passing which led to a few shots.

However, the Stars were the ones to capitalize when a Stars forward got the puck just right of the slot, and then backhanded a shot just inside the top corner to get the Stars on the board. 

The Stars did not let up and  40 seconds later a defenceman went end to end and buried a shot low in the net to make the score 4-2. 

Off the face off, the puck came into the Lions end and the Stars got another scoring chance before Jonah Bennis picked up the puck in his own end, went coast to coast and deked out the Stars goaltender to bury a backhand shot into the open net for a 5-2 Lions lead that they would close the game on.

The Lions starred the game a little on their heels and on one occasion Lions defenceman Sheridan Caines picked up the puck, passed it to Connor Dumoulin at the Stars blue line. Dumoulin drove the net and beat the goalie to open the scoring only a minute into the game

After a  few other scoring chances for Lions Lucas Bennis and Sam Gould (who was playing in his first game of the season as he just came off the injured list) it was Max Garlough who would be johnny-on-the-spot when Devon Dumoulin went end to end on a rush. Dumoulin had the puck knocked away right and it ended up in Garlough’s possession. One stride and a shot low to the glove side gave the Lions a 2-0 lead.

In the second, the Lions extended the lead to 3-0 when Devon Dumoulin went end to end and shot over the goalie’s trapper. 

Noah Keeler and Aden Casselman teamed up to help defend Lions goaltender Wesley Alexander as he was forced to make several big saves in the second period. 

The South Dundas Peewee B1 House Lions are next in action on home ice Saturday, November 17th at 2:30 p.m. when they host the

NGS Braves.

[…]

 

The South Dundas “Evonik” Atom B Rep Lions continued their unbeaten streak last Tuesday (November 6) with a 3-1 win against the NGS Braves, but it abruptly ended Saturday night (November 10) in a 13-1 loss to the Alexandria Glens.

The Lions were looking to move into a tie for first place (and avenge their opening night 5-1 loss to the Braves) Tuesday night, when they defeated the Braves in Finch 3-1. Holding a 3-0 lead going into the third period, the Lions defended a late push from the Braves, while Lions defenceman Emytt Fetterly was in the penalty box on a tripping penalty. 

With the Braves power play unit on the ice, they got the puck into the Lions end and forced Lions goaltender Brendan Shaver to make a save as he covered it. 

The Braves won the ensuing face-off as Lions centreman Brody Fairbairn battled with Braves forward Makenna Brownlee. The puck found its way to the front of the net and a scramble followed resulting in Seamus Hardy shooting home the puck for a power-play Braves goal. 

The Braves continued to press and the Lions defended with Shaver in the net making some big saves, and Lions defenceman Nathan Verhey making some big plays on the Braves forwards. The Braves finished the game on their power play with Lions Jack Connors serving a roughing penalty. But the Lions defence held, and the game ended in the Lions favour 3-1.

The Lions built their lead on two first period goals, one only a minute twenty into the period when a two on one ended up being converted. 

Jack Connors and Duncan Hutt broke out of their end as Connors carried the puck down the left wing and make a great pass across the slot to Hutt who drove to the net and one timed the puck looking to hit the bottom right corner. However, the puck went wide into the right wing side. 

Hutt and Connors scrambled the play and fed a pass to Jaeden Phifer-Shaver standing at the top of the circle. Phifer-Shaver’s backhand shot made it past Braves goaltender Tyson Zollinger giving the Lions a 1-0 lead.

Late in the first period, the Lions struck again as Ben Lapier picked up a pass in the neutral zone, skated down the right wing and buried a shot past Zollinger for the 2-0 lead. Phifer-Shaver and Nolan Henry picked up the assists. 

In the second, the Lions got the so important three goal lead when Dana Domanko made a defensive zone pass up the right wing boards to Ben Lapier who would beat the Braves defender, while Jack Connors drove up the centre off the ice. 

Lapier beat the last Braves defender and made a beautiful stick to stick pass to Connors who wristed a shot over Zollinger’s glove into the top corner to score a highlight reel goal.

The Lions hosted the Alexandria Glens on Saturday for a battle for first as they both came into the game tied at top spot in the East Division with nine points. 

It turned out to be a game the Lions will need to quickly put behind them as the only highlight on the night in a 13-1 drubbing was when Jaeden Phifer-Shaver buried a backhand home for the Lions only goal of the game.

 The South Dundas “Evonik” Atom B Rep Lions are next in action on Sunday, November 18th in Smiths Falls to take on their West Division rivals the Smiths Falls Bears.

[…]

 

The Morrisburg Junior B Lions righted a couple of wrongs here Sunday afternoon when they downed the visiting St. Lawrence Division’s first place Casselman Vikings, 3-1.

Those wrongs were a 10-2 loss to the Vikings in their barn on Thursday, November 1 and 5-3 loss on Morrisburg ice on Sunday, November 4.

While they didn’t play well in Casselman, the Lions felt they played better than the 10-2 score indicated and back home in Morrisburg, despite the 5-3 loss, they felt they had played well enough to win it.

So this time out there was no question that the Lions do have the stuff needed to win against the Vikings and any other team in their division.

“On Sunday, it was our best team defensive game of the season,” said Lions team manager Kevin Casselman early this week. “It was the result of what Dan (coach Frawley) and Andrew (assistant coach Scott) have been preaching for some time.”

“Mikael (Dion) was solid in net and our five defencemen  played very well collectively. The forward units were coming back to help and picked up their defensive responsibilities.”

“It was a great game, because we felt we had played well enough to have won against Casselman the previous Sunday.”

“With the parity in the league, each week brings hope and optimism that a four point weekend can lift a team back into the battle for a playoff position. It is really that close.”

And close indeed. With the stats in after this past weekend, the Casselman Vikings are in the St. Lawrence division’s top spot with a slim two point lead over the Char-Lan Rebels. The Akwesasne Wolves have climbed into third place with 17 points, Alexandria is fourth with 15, the Hawks fifth with 14 and the Lions still at the back of the pack with 10, but climbing. 

 While a four-point weekend is a must do for the Lions to catch up to the pack, it didn’t happen this past weekend as they got it rolling Friday night in Alexandria with a 4-1 loss.

Again it was a slow start for the Lions who found themselves down 3-0 in the first period.

Michel Lefebvre counted the lone Lions goal, a power play marker, at 6:52 of the second period  assisted by Chris Rutley.

Dion was in the Lions net for the loss. The Lions were out shot 37-24 by the Glens in the game that saw eight minors and one misconduct assessed to the Lions and six minors to the Glens along with one double minor and a misconduct.

Sunday, the Lions were waiting in their home den for the Vikings to come to town for a game that remained even through two periods.

The Vikings got their only goal against Dion just 3:40 into the first period while on their power play.

Just over four minutes later, Chris Rutley answered on the Lions power play with help from Grant Cooper and the 1-1 tie lasted until 1:10 of the third period.

It was at 1:10 that Lefebvre and Rutley went to work to assist Sylvester Bzdyl on what would be the winning Lions goal.

With Dion unbeatable and the defense buckling down, the Lions protected their one goal lead until 15:37 of the third when Grant Cooper, with help from Brandon Chaffe and Matt Marcil, beat Vikings goaltender Phillippe Quesnel for the Lions third and final goal.

Dion was outstanding in the Lions net facing 43 Vikings’ shots, while the Lions managed just 26 shots against Quesnel.

The Lions sat out nine minor penalties, one double minor and a 10 minute misconduct while the Vikings handled five minors, a five minute fighting major and a game misconduct.

This weekend, the Lions are scheduled to host the Char-Lan Rebels, Friday night, November 16 at 8 p.m. Sunday, they are on the road to take on the Akwesasne Wolves in a 3 p.m. match.

[…]