Jr. B Lions open season with two losses

All bets were off when the South Dundas Peewee C Lions and the NGS Braves hit the ice in Morrisburg, Sunday, February 22, for game three of their four-point UCMHLplayoff series.

The seesaw battle got started on Morrisburg ice last Thursday, February 19 with a very decisive Lions 6-0 victory. It resumed in Finch on Saturday, February 21 where the Braves turned it around to score a very decisive 6-0 victory of their own and send the series to a third game.

So when the two teams hit the ice on Sunday, in Morrisburg, it was very much either team’s game to win. And it was a hard fought battle with the Lions coming out on top by a 5-3 score to claim the series four points to two.

Nathen Verhey, unassisted, scored the lone goal of the first period for the Lions, and the 1-0 advantage held until early in the second when he collected his second for a 2-0 Lions lead.

The Braves charged back, with goals from Johnny McAdams at 8:11 of the second and Logan Villeneuve at 10>43 of the 15 minute period. That tied it and that’s the way it stayed through the second period.

Then 2:33 into the third period, Devon Swindells, got help from Ben Wiltshire to put the Lions up 3-2.  

That lasted until 10:22 when Verhey scored his third unassisted goal of the game to give the Lions a little space with a 4-2 advantage.

Jordan Evans got one back for the Braves with 44 second left on the clock, but that would be it.

Collin VanHoof, from Scott Brooks, counted the Lions final goal  to make it 5-3 and allow the Lions to claim the series.

It was a big game for Nathen Verhey who registered his 25th goal of the season.

The series opened Thursday night, February 19 in Morrisburg, with a 6-0 Lions victory.

The Lions hit the ice fully charged to go up 4-0 in the first period on goals from Devon Swindells (from Nathen Verhey), Mackenzie McKee-Markell (from Maclean Machon),  Machon (from Callahan Staye) and Verhey (from Scott Brooks and Swindells).

After a scoreless second period, McKee-Markell set up Jeffrey McPail to make it 5-0 Lions early in the third period.

Swindells counted the final Lions goal with just over a minute left in the game to complete the 6-0 victory.

Derrik Jansen was in net for the Lions shutout.

Then in Finch, on Saturday it was a different hockey game as a charged up Mackinnley MacKillican put the Braves up 3-0 with a hat trick performance.  He started it early in the first period and then added his next two counters in the second.

The Braves added another three unanswered third period goals from the sticks of Bryce McCrae, Tristan Leduc and Yannick Vaillancourt for the 6-0 win.

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It’s been 16 years since a Morrisburg Little Rocks team had their names etched on the Big Four Trophy, and it ended here on Saturday, February 28.

There was absolutely no question that the 16-year drought was going to end late Saturday afternoon, when not just one but two Morrisburg Little Rock foursomes worked their way into the championship final with undefeated records.

The Big Four is a four-club bonspiel with each of the four clubs from Metcalfe, Russell, Winchester and Morrisburg, putting two teams on the ice and each hosting the event on a rotating basis from year to year. 

The action for the 2015 final was exciting as the two Morrisburg teams went to work for the championship. In the end, it went to skips rocks and the team of Ewan Wilson, Nolan Belanger, Josh Broad and J.J. Charette won the championship.   

“It was an awesome experience to have both Morrisburg teams in the finals,” says Little Rocks program coordinator Ian Wilson.  “This is the first time in this century Morrisburg has won this event.”  

The runner-ups were Jody Robinson, Kyra Lewis, Rhiannon Beckstead and Alexis Grenkie. 

The championship final started off with the first end being blanked. The Wilson rink then took two in the second.

Robinson got one back in the third and stole the fourth end for one (she had a chance to win it). That sent it to skips rock for the decision.

“We were going to let it stay tied, but the kids said no, they wanted to finish it,” says Ian Wilson explaining that six end games were played in the preliminary games and the final was a four-ender. 

The Wilson rink defeated Metcalfe 8-1 and Winchester 6-1 to get to the final.

The Robinson rink defeated Russell 5-3 and Metcalfe 5-1 to earn their spot in the final.

“It was a pretty exciting day,” says Ian Wilson. “It’s is great for our program to see these kids curling so well.”

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The Ontario Power Generation made most appreciated donations of $500 to the Morrisburg and District Figure Skating Club and the South Dundas Minor Hockey Association on Monday evening. According to Skate Club president Julie Van Hoof, the annual OPG donation is always a big help and this year it will be put towards some new equipment and the construction of new viewing stands for competition judges. Minor hockey president, Jeff Van Moorsel also expressed his association’s gratitude and said the money is used to provide registration assistance to some of its players. The OPG presentation was done by Dale Adams of Morrisburg who is the Maintenance Manager at the Saunders Generating Station. Adams explained that OPG likes to give back to the community and in this case, “it is going to our youth athletes.” Pictured, l-r, are Ellen Biemond and Julie VanHoof representing the figure skating club, Adams, and Jeff Van Moorsel.

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