Final round of the season for Iroquois Golf Club members

 

Saturday, October 29, the South Dundas Peewee C House Lions suited up in a brand new set of sweaters thanks to the generosity of Michel Proulx/Canadian Tire Store in Morrisburg. The House Lions and South Dundas Minor Hockey Association were absolutely delighted to receive the donation which includes both home and away sweaters. Keeping the teams looking sharp is a yearly effort for the local minor hockey association which tries to replace at least a couple of sweater sets per year.  They often count on the generosity of the community. Pictured with the team, (kneeling centre row) is Canadian Tire representative, Joanne Minish. Front is goaltender Austin Robinson. Kneeling, l-r, are MacKenzie Nelson, Megan McKay, Anna Cassell, Jackson Weegar, Joanne Minish, Nathan Cameron and Brody Smail. Back, l-r are Matthew Helmer, Sheridan Caines, Brooke Lapier, Grace Brooks, Julenea Barnhartd, Trinity Hanes, Shayna VanBeilen and Emma Barkley. The Peewee C House Lions coaching staff includes, coach Shawn Lapier, Derek VanBeilen, Tim Cassell and Barry Barkley.

[…]

The Morrisburg Junior B Lions are undefeated in their  pre-season six game schedule, and coach Thom Racine says he likes what he has seen.

“We had an undefeated pre-season which is really encouraging,” says Racine. “And it was actually with split squads. We never had a full squad for any of the games which is really encouraging.”
Racine says with the good pre-season under the Lions’ belts, the team will begin working on getting the season off to a good start with their first practice on Morrisburg ice, last night (Tuesday, September 13).

The Lions are getting ready for their season opening game this Friday night at the Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s show case event being played at the two-pad Kemptville Arena this weekend.

“We have 23 players to start the year,” says Racine who does not plan to go the way of last year, with short benches for every other game. He indicates that all of the players are aware that there will be players sitting out when numbers warrant it.

Returning to the Lions net for his second season is Mikael Dion and he is being joined by Ryan Cooper a 17-year-old from Cornwall.

The Lions this year also boast two local brother combinations. Joining his big brother Sam, is Ty Hodgson, a 16-year-old from Morrisburg who last year played for the Rideau St. Lawrence Kings organization.

“Ty is a good young defenceman, and I expect this will be the only season we will see him play in Morrisburg.”

Also with a family connection is Lance Hodgson from Williamsburg.

Returning for their second season are Drew (last year’s Coaches Award Winner) and Clarke Veenstra (last year’s regular season MVP) of the Ingleside area.

“We are happy with our local flavour, and we have a good mix of imports that we feel we need to stay competitive. They are all returning from last year.”

Racine says the objective is to have a competitive team that people want to come and see. “To be competitive in the league now, you pretty much have to go outside your area for players.”

With this year’s roster set, Racine and his coaching staff of Cody Casselman and Jarrett Racine will now work to “get them all on the same page. We have plans for a two hour practice once a month in order to get as many of them out as possible.”

Signed to overage cards for the season are veteran Lions Matt Ouimette, Alex Steingruber (a top goal scorer last year and winner of the most assists trophy) and Joshua Dunn (last year’s top offensive player award winner).

For the time being the Lions fourth overage card will remain open.

“There are 88, 21-year-old cards in the entire Junior League, and there are 134 eligible kids,” says Racine. “So there will be 21 year olds out there who will be looking for a place to play.”

The Lions open their 2011/12 season this Friday night in Kemptville at 6:30 p.m. against the Ottawa West Golden Knights. Their second game of Showcase Weekend is set for Saturday night at 8 p.m. against Stittsville.

Results of the two games count in this year’s regular season. The showcase is the only time during the regular season that North Conference teams will meet teams from the South Conference (Rideau/St.Lawrence).

The Lions home ice opener is set for next weekend (Sunday, September 25) when the Winchester Hawks come to town for a 2:30 p.m. match.

In their pre-season, the Lions got rolling with a 4-2 victory over Char-Lan on Saturday, September 3. Then on Sunday, they defeated Brockville 7-6. After two days off they were back on the ice to pick up a 5-4 win against Akwesasne on Tuesday, September 6 and a 7-5 win against Brockville on Wednesday, September 7.

On Saturday, September 10 they were held to a 6-6 tie by the Akwesasne Wolves and Monday night of this week they won against Char-Lan 4-2.

[…]

 

Dave Dolan reports that our two bantam teams did well in the Big Four bonspiel in Winchester recently. Both advanced to the finals of their draw. Team 1 from Morrisburg, short one player, Sam Decker, and Stephanie and Samantha Venema, narrowly lost their first match against Winchester 6-5, and defeated Metcalfe in the second match to advance to the ‘B’ final. They had to play the other Metcalfe team for the championship, and Metcalfe eked out the win.

Our other team of Emily, Ken and Lina Nishibori, and Emily Byers, defeated Russell 6-1. Some fine shooting by Skip Emily in the second game, removing a rock on the button and under cover, sealed the match against the home team and sent Morrisburg to the ‘A’ championship game. Unfortunately, a tough, experienced squad from Russell managed a win against our people. Well done, all of you. We’re proud to have you in our club.

The Sullivan, another two-team, four-club competition, this time for senior men, was also hosted by Winchester this year. Martin Schneckenburger, Dave King, Andy Patenaude and Jack Barkley met Sid Morrell, Raymond Benoit, Neil Williams and Al Harriman in a playoff. The Morrell foursome won and went to Winchester along with Peter Zeran’s foursome for the bonspiel.

Pete Zeran’s team included Jack Barkley, Karl Duncan and Earl Jeacle. They defeated Winchester in their morning match, but dropped their afternoon game against Metcalfe. 

Sid’s team won their morning match courtesy of the skip’s draw to the button to break a tie against a Metcalfe foursome, after eight ends. That team went on to win the ‘B’ division title after the evening banquet. 

Sid’s afternoon foray was against a Russell quartet, who managed a win, and then won the ‘A’ division title in the evening. The curlers report that it was a good day, with tight competition. Well done, folks!

In league play, the senior men just concluded competition for the Kincaid Trophy. Eric Orgee, Dave King, Karl Duncan and Al Gowanlock finished third, George Rutley, Neil Williams, Robert Martin and Rod McGill finished second, and the winners’ names engraved on the trophy are: Andy Patenaude, Bill Magee, Paul Gunther and the injured Paul Dobry, replaced by Sam Locke. Play has already begun for the Bernie Brunt Trophy, the final draw of the year.

Forty curlers competed Saturday in the Heart and Stroke Bonspiel at Morrisburg, enjoying a great day and raising well over $1,000 for the charity. 

Thanks to Greta McGann for organizing this event again, and for the many others who provided food, prepared the ice, and provided all of the other services that are necessary to make these days a success. Greta also thanked the many businesses who provided prizes to give donors an added incentive to participate.

Congratulations to the Casselman foursome, Jim Casselman, Bill Laurin, Wendy Casselman and Sonia Laurin, who won the first draw. Right behind were Dave King, Laura and Jack Barkley and Becky King. 

In the second draw, Betty Locke, Rick McKenzie, Maurice Kolff and Jim Locke took top honours, with Sam, Parker, Paula and Claire Locke one point behind them. 

It was great to see members of many leagues participating, as well as friends and relatives, and a number of people who came out to cheer on the athletes.

That’s it for this week…good curling  

[…]