Jr. B Lions lose another two

The rain forced the play indoors for the annual Morrisburg Ladies Friendly on Tuesday, June 11.

While the play outdoors had to be cancelled, indoors the 53 participating women played some cards and then enjoyed a wonderful lunch.

“All in all, it turned out to be a nice day,” said Morrisburg ladies captina Monique Patenaude. “We had a chance to talk with ladies we had not seen since last year.”

Twelve golfers were in attendance from Cedar Glen, six from Iroquois, two from Summer Heights, nine from Rideau Glen and 22 from Morrisburg.

Regular Wednesday evening play on June 12 was sponsored by Cook’s Corner Debbie Dennis and saw 53 ladies playing a round.

Prizes were awarded for putting skills with Tabatha Casselman winning with the least at 11. Anne Winters and Barb McWhinnie won for the most putts, their totals not given.

Jennifer Adams dropped her shot closest to the pin on the par three 17th hole, while Shannon Casselman dropped the longest putt on the 18th hole at 25 feet.

There were a few strings attached for the ladies who participated in the weekly ladies night on Wednesday, June 6. In fact there were quite a few strings attached as each golfer was given a length of string to be used to improve their ball position.

The rules of the night allowed that the string would be used anywhere, to remove a ball from a hazard, perhaps a bunker, or out from behind a tree. Why it could even correct an incorrect putt.

Using their strings to their advantage to top the evening were Monique Patenaude with a 38 and Linda Barclay with 39 in A/B flight.

In class B/C, Gisele Hooles won with a 43, and Kitty Moore was just a string away with a 44.

The evening sponsor was the McIntosh Country Inn. 

Gord Dillabough shot a 34 to lead the men’s night field last Thursday, June 13. Donnie Mabo won B flight with a 39 while Allan Patterson was the top shooter in C with a 43. Net wins went to Kevin Duvall in A flight, Sam Harwood in B and Bob Youmelle in C.

Dropping their shots closest to the pins were John Hickman on the 14th and Mick Mabo on the 17th. 

The evening was sponsored by the Morrisburg Leader.

The weather took its toll on June 6 with just 32 golfers actually getting out to play. The night was sponsored by Jim Whelan/Sun Life Financial.

Top shooters were Lee Beaupre in A flight, Dave McClenagan in B and Bob Youmelle in C. Net winners were Steve Boucher in A, Andy Patenaude in B and Bob Desrosiers in C.

Closest to the pin  winners were Andy Patenaude on the par three fifth hole, and Tom Whelan on the par 3 seventh.

Coming up this Thursday, June 20, the men’s night sponsor is Gary’s Automotive.

[…]

As promised, we have an update on results of the first half of the curling year. But before that, our thanks to the curling club executive and especially our ice technician, Wally Baker, whose prompt attention to an ice crisis is much appreciated. 

Our compressor broke down, and while waiting for the part and the replacement of it, games had to be cancelled, as the ice was out. Three days later, curlers were able to get back to curling, though we could see the outline of the brine lines through the ice surface that remained. Great recovery, folks!

Now to the curling: the Thursday morning mixed league wound up with the team of Jack Barkley, Keith Robinson, Bud Perry and Kevin Minish winning the Bank of Montreal trophy for finishing first in league play. Our thanks to the Morrisburg Community Living Association for supporting Kevin, one of their residents, in his desire to curl with us. Jack has been a great encouragement to Kevin at the rink, and for this last draw, Bud Perry arranged for Kevin to get a special small trophy with his winning team’s names on it. Kevin’s laughter and obvious pleasure at these outings has been a delight to us.

Curlers and their guests enjoyed the banquet catered by Subway, and Ruth Kelly, our hard-working coordinator, arranged a Christmas Quiz, complete with prizes for the winning team. The “quiz whizzes” were Sam Locke, Alice Thompson, Doug Jarvis, Linda Murphy and Philip Vinokuroff. The next draw begins on January 2, with several curlers missing, since the “snowbird season” is upon us.

The senior men finished their draw as well, with the team of Sid Morrell, Karl Duncan, Keith Robinson and Al Gowanlock winning the Bowman Trophy. Curling continues for them and all other leagues on the first week in January also.

The ladies, who partied on their last night, do not announce winners for their draws, and the Thursday night competitive league announces their results at the end of the year. Tuesday night men’s league results and those for Friday night were unavailable, and we’ll get those later. 

Because of cancellation for compressor problems, a tight league finish could delay results for the present. 

There are three rentals over the holidays, and Wally will be doing more work on the ice, including a much-needed flooding, so aside from the New Year’s Eve party and bonspiel, there’s nothing else to report until January. 

Next month we have a Parnell competition for the senior men, in Cornwall, as well as a bonspiel at our club for seniors. 

In addition, teams will be out to several clubs, including Navan, Granite and North Grenville. Another two-person bonspiel is scheduled, and of course our little rockers will be out in January as well.

See you then!

[…]

It’s early, but Morrisburg Junior Lions coach, Mark Evans says, “we have had a respectable showing and have some good potential.”

The Lions were on Finch ice this past weekend for their main camp which included ice time on both Friday and Sunday nights and a pre-season game against the Char-Lan Rebels, Saturday night. Although the Lions led the Rebels 2-0, the Rebels charged back for a 9-3 win. 

Evans says he went with about 95 percent first year players and wasn’t disappointed with what he saw.

“I am very positive with what I have seen so far. We are hovering around eight to nine veterans, and everyone is excited about the season.”

With the mood very “upbeat”, Evans says the Lions will start the season where they left off last year, steadily improving and becoming more competitive in the St. Lawrence Division.

The Lions were to be on the ice two hours last night (Tuesday, September 9) in Finch, and Evans was expecting that Lions General manager Kevin Casselman would be signing some players by the end of this week.

Goaltending he says is looking good.  “We had nine goaltenders in camp, and we have narrowed it down to four.”

Evans says John Gilmour is the familiar face from last year, and he is taking a serious look at the other three, some of whom have come to the Lions camp via A clubs.

In addition to talent in goal, Evans says the defensive line up is looking solid with a good mix of experienced veterans and new players.

“I am really happy with what I have seen so far. We have released some who were young that we felt would best benefit from playing midget for another year. We are pretty thick with defense actually. Cole Blanchard and Steven Savage are both back, and we have some defencemen in camp who played as affiliates last year.”

Evans says the defence lineup shows good mix of size and speed and “they all have good puck moving skills”.

Currently in the forward lineup, the coaching staff is looking at different line combinations, “to see what we can come up with, from the returning players and new players.”

“We haven’t signed any overage players yet,  but Justin Lefevbre and Dallas Blacksmith are both in camp.”

Evans says the Lions are not in a hurry to fill the four overage cards. “The junior As are still going to manoeuvre, so there are still options, and we won’t fill all of our cards right now.”

Overall Evans says he is happy with the players currently in camp. “We are going to come up with a talented lineup,” certainly, “we are going to start higher than we finished last year. We have a good mix of young kids and veterans.”

Evans also points out there is a good crop of local players from the South Dundas and South Stormont Minor Hockey systems in camp.

The Lions have three exhibition games scheduled to be played in Finch this weekend. Friday night, September 12 they will meet the Akwesasne Wolves at 7 p.m., and on Saturday night they will play the Brockville Tikis. Game time is 5 p.m.

Their fifth pre-season game will be played Sunday night starting at 7 p.m. against Char-Lan.

They are scheduled for their first home-ice practise next Tuesday, September 16 beginning at 8 p.m.

The Lions will open the 2014-15 season on the road to Alexandria, Friday night, September 19 at 8:15 p.m. and will host the Winchester Hawks for their first home game on Saturday night, September 20 at 7:30 p.m.

With the exception of just one or two Friday nights, the Lions will be playing their home games on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons this year.

[…]