Rob’s Lions the best in the east

 

After a tough, four-game opening round playoff series against the North Leeds Rideaus, the South Dundas Bantam C2 House Lions are finding themselves in a tough semi-final series against the regular season first place Athens Aeros.

That series is tied at a game apiece with the Lions winning the opener 6-2 and losing game two in Morrisburg on Sunday, March 1, 2-1.

Game three is on the road tonight, Wednesday, March 4 and if a fourth game is necessary, it will be back in Morrisburg on Thursday.

The regular season saw the Athens Aeros and Kemptville 2s finish even with 35 points. Third place went to South Grenville, while the North Leeds Rideaus were fourth with 20. The Lions were next with 16 points on eight wins and Smith Falls finished last in the six team West Division with eight points.

For the playoff setup, Athens and Kemptville sat out a round-one bye, while North Leeds and the Lions squared off and South Grenville and Smith Falls met, both in four point series.

The quarter-final series wins put South Dundas against Athens and South Grenville against the Kemptville 2s.

The winners of each series will advance to the West Division Championship.

The Lions and the Rideaus opened their quarter-final series on Morrisburg ice on Tuesday, February 17, and played to a 3-3 draw. The Rideaus led 2-1 after the second period, and the Lions charged back in the third for two goals to the Rideaus one to keep it even.

Thomas Rae had two goals for the Lions with Kendrew Byers assisting on the first and Will Dejong adding his help on the second. It was Dejong’s unassisted goal at 9:05 of the third period that tied the game 3-3.

The Lions were on the road to Westport, for game two on Saturday, February 21. The Rideaus won this one, 5-3.

They led 2-1 after the first period, and then mounted a three goal second period on their way to the two-point, 5-3 win.

The Lions got a pair of goals from Brody Smail, the first assisted by Trinity Hanes at 12:14 of the first period and the second, unassisted, just 36 seconds into the second period.

Aden Casselman collected the Lions third goal early in the third period with  Kendrew Byers assisting.

Game three was back on Morrisburg ice, Monday February 23, and the Lions stayed alive with a very convincing 9-1 win. They scored three goals in each period.

Lions goaltender Brett Froats gave up the lone goal of the game in the last second of the first period to the Rideaus Kohle McCulloch.

Brody Smail scored  four times for the Lions and added two assists, while Max Garlough counted twice and helped out on three others. Singles goals were scored by Trinity Hanes, Thomas Rae and Hunters Wells. Hanes, added three assists to her game performance.

Noah Keeler had a big game with four assists, while Maddi Hummel helped out on two goals.

The Lions hit the ice flying in game four in Westport on Wednesday, February 25. They went up 3-0 in the first period on goals from Brody Smail (from Max Garlough), Kendrew Byers (unassisted) and Trinity Hanes (from Max Garlough).

The Rideaus managed just one against Brett Froats early in the second period from Bryce Wilson.

The Lions counted two more in the third period from Brody Smail, unassisted and Hanes, from Julenea Barnhartd and Maddi Hummel for the 5-1 win.

The win gave the Lions the series, five points to three, and earned them a spot in the West Division semi-final against first place Athens.

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MORRISBURG–The visiting Athens Aeros collected a goal from J.P. Augustine at 9:56 of the third period that broke a 3-3 tie and turned out to be the decider as the Lions lost to the Aeros, 5-3, on home ice Saturday night.

The Aeros managed their fifth and final goal of the game in the last minute of play in the empty Lions net, as Lions head coach Mark Evans, elected to go with the extra attacker in a effort to tie the match and force overtime.

The Lions were first on the scoreboard in Saturday night’s game, as they went up 1-0 at 6:15 of the first period on a Christian Leger goal assisted by Andrew Jarvis and Eric Evans.

It would be the first of four power-play goals, two by each team, to be scored in the game that saw 49 minutes in penalties assessed in 15 offenses. 

The visiting Aeros were assessed just four minor penalties, while the Lions sat out eight minors, a five minute head contact major and two game misconducts.

The Aeros came charging back in the second period. 

At 3:38, Liam Widdowfield beat Lions goaltender John Gilmer to tie the game and at 12:53 Drew Powell (power play) gave them a 3-2 lead.

Before the period ended however, Leger again would be heard from, on the Lions power play, this time assisted by Dallas Blacksmith and Taylor Eamon.

A flurry of goals got started in the third period, three counted in just over two minutes.

At 7:34 of the third  period, the Aeros gained the advantage with a Damian Levesque goal, but again the Lions charged back, this time with Liam Morrow counting at 8:48 with help from Peter Ketcheson and Blacksmith.

Then at 9:56, Augustine connected for what would turn out to be the winner.

Liam Widdowfield put the puck in the empty Lions net at 19:39 to ice the cake.

In other league action, it was a strange one for the St. Lawrence Division’s first place Casselman Vikings who hold the spot with 38 points, eight up on the Winchester Hawks.

The Vikings got it rolling on home ice on Thursday, Nov. 21 with a big 9-1 win over the Hawks, but then lost their first game of the season on Friday night, Nov. 22 to Gananoque.  Then on Sunday they were nabbed for a 7-6 overtime win by the Akwesasne Wolves.

The Char-Lan Rebels are in the division’s third spot with 27 points, while Akwesasne holds fourth place with 21 and the Alexandrian Glens are right on their heels with 19.

The Lions have just five points.

Coming up this week, the Lions are on the road to play Prescott on Saturday night, November 30. Then on Sunday, December 1, they host Alexandria. Game time is 2:30 p.m.

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If you are a junior golfer or maybe just a junior looking to be a golfer, then you should get in touch with Chris Veltkamp to set you up with a game.

Veltkamp, a former CPGA Professional and a teacher at St. Mary-St. Cecilia School in Morrisburg, is working with the Iroquois Golf Club and setting up a week-long Junior Golf Camp that will run from Monday, July 14 through Friday, July 18. In addition, he has organized a Play Junior Golf Tour with stops at five area golf courses.

Veltkamp explains that the idea of the Golf Camp at the Iroquois Golf Club came about as a result of a noticeable decline of junior golfers.

“I have been speaking with management at Iroquois, and they have seen a decline in their junior golfers. So they would like to grow it, and we are hoping a week-long golf camp will get some interest going.”

For the past six years,Veltkamp has been running junior golf camps at the 18-hole executive par 3 Sunnidell course in Brockville, where he says he has had a lot of success.

He designs his camps to be fun and exciting and has developed them from the CN Future Links (Canada’s Leading Junior Golf Development Program) and information from the Titleist Performance Institute TPI (the world’s leading educational organization and research facility that studies the human body in relation to the golf swing.)

Veltkamp explains that TPI stresses the building of a complete athlete, and he incorporates into his camps, activities that will help develop a youngster’s coordination, agility, balance, flexibility and core strength, just to name a few.

Things like skipping, throwing a ball, kicking a ball, Frisbee throwing, playing on monkey bars, racing others…are some of the recommended TPI activities.

“Each day of the camp, we focus on a specific component for about 45 minutes. We ask golfers to finish the swing on their front foot, when some people can’t even balance on one foot. So we play fun little games to achieve this that I have incorporated. It’s not rocket science. You build an athlete first, and they will pick up the finer points of golf as they go along. You can watch any golf tournament today, and you will see that the men and women are in phenomenal shape.”

Veltkamp says he aims at keeping the camps fun and he moves the participants along from one activity to another. These activities might include other sports such as ball or maybe a little soccer. A lot of athletic movements are developed in these sports.”

Each day of the clinic includes work at the range and each afternoon includes time on the course for a game.

Veltkamp advises parents that golf is an absolutely wonderful game to involve their kids in. It is a game that will last a lifetime and teaches great values.

“One of the neat things about golf is it’s a game you will never beat,” he says. “Every day is a new challenge. You can be having a bad round and then on the second last hole of the day, get a hole in one. All you have to do is hit a couple of really good shots and you will be back because there is always a chance you are going to be one shot better the next time.”

“Kids can play just for fun, they can play to be with their friends, they can play to be outdoors, they can play for exercise, they can play to be competitive, and they can play for school scholarships. There are a lot of opportunities in golf.”

“Look at Brooke Henderson from Smiths Falls. She is 16 years old, comes from a small town and look where she is today.”

The five day Iroquois Junior Golf Camp will run from Monday, July 14-Friday July 18, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily. It is limited to 30 golfers, ages 7-13 from throughout the area. The cost is $200 and each participant will receive over 30 hours of instruction daily play each afternoon, a camp gift, a complimentary 18 hole green fee and the opportunity to purchase a mini-membership with the Iroquois Golf Club for July/August.

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