Bantam C Lions are UCMHL champions

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.

[…]

For only the second time in the history of the Morrisburg Golf Club, a woman will be sitting in the president’s chair.

The membership-owned club held its annual general meeting this past Sunday, October 26, at which Morrisburg resident and long-time club member Carolyn Weegar was elected president. 

Weegar will take over the president’s duties in the next few weeks from outgoing president Jason Broad who moves to past-president.

The only other woman to hold the office of president was the late Nora Markell.

Lori-Ann Davies was re-elected vice-president in charge of the clubhouse, and Mick Mabo was elected vice-president in charge of the clubhouse property. 

Returned as secretary was Candace Jamieson, and Scott Robinson was re-elected greens chair. Linda Henderson remained as the senior representative to the board and Monique Patenaude is returning as ladies club captain.

One of two positions not filled was that of treasurer which was made vacant by the retirement of longtime club treasurer Sean Boulerice.

Boulerice, who has been handling the club’s finances for 13 years, has been instrumental in its success having carefully managed it through lean times and times of plenty.

Sunday, he presented the membership with the 2014, financial report that showed the club in a reasonably good position despite the current down turn in the golf industry.

Tops on the agenda at Sunday’s meeting was the repayment of $6,500 of interest free loans made by members during the 2013 golf season to pay for the rebuild of the third hole green and some reconstruction to the second green.

In 2013, the membership stepped in with loans in increments of $500 totalling $33,000 for the work. The payback plan was based over five years with a pre-determined number of draws for $500 to be carried out each year and one draw to be made for a free membership.

The membership draw was won by Nick Lee who was also one of the members whose name was drawn for a $500 repayment.

As a membership owned club, each fall the members approve the next year’s membership fees based on recommendations of the treasurer and board of directors.

Sunday, the members approved an increase of about five percent per membership category for memberships paid before April 1, 2015. Members who pay their membership fee by December 1 of this year, will pay the 2014 rate which was $563.87 per adult woman or man.

That individual rate for men and women goes to $592.12 until April 1, 2015.

Sunday’s meeting was attended by about 70 club members. It marks the final club event of the 2014 season, and the Morrisburg Golf Course will be closed to play at the end of October.

[…]

The playoff season ended for the South Dundas Novice C2 Lions here Sunday, when they were handed their second consecutive loss by the Brockville C4 Jr. Braves.

The Braves opened the series with a 3-0 win on home ice last Thursday, February 27.

Simon Doncaster scored twice in the win and Finley Brown added a single.

Then in Morrisburg, Sunday, the Braves wrapped up the four point series with a 4-1 victory.

The Braves led 2-0 after the first period, and 3-1 after two.

The lone Lions goal was scored by Matthew Mason with help from Wyatt Barkley late in the second period.

Nick Pirano led the Braves scoring with two goals, while Colin McLeod and Ethan Pert scored singles.

[…]