Curlers on the Starting Line

The South Dundas Novice B Lions finished off the 6th place North Dundas Demons in Round #1 action on Tuesday night defeating them 4pts to 0. The Lions opened the series with a 4-1 win in Chesterville and came right back the next night and on home ice won 5-4 in a tight finish.

     With the Lions winning 5-2 and less then a minute left in the game, the Demons had their goaltender on the bench for the extra attacker when Demon Forward Jaymen Heuff broke into the Lions end and got a shot passed Lions goaltender Brendan Shaver to cut the lead to two. On the ensuing face-off the Lions pressed for the empty net goal but got caught up ice and gave up a 4 on 1 where Mason Carr wristed a shot over Shavers glove with 8 second lefts to make the score 5-4. The Lions would win the centre ice face-off as the last second ticked away in the game and in the Demons season.

     The Lion had built a 4-0 lead on two goals in the first and two goals early in the second. After a week of practice the Lions were hitting all their passes on the stick. In the first, Kayne McCadden finished off a breakout play were Nolan Henry picked up the puck on the left wing in his own end and passed across ice to an open right winger Owen Fetterly who made a move and broke into the Demons end and passed the puck to Kayne McCadden standing on the left post where he banged in the opening goal. Later in the period they would hook up again on a passing play, Joshua Broad would work the left wing boards and free the puck up for Kayne McCadden who would pass the puck into the slot where Owen Fetterly would backhand the pass into the wide open net.

     In the second with the Lions on the powerplay after an Adam Barkley tripping penalty, Owen Fetterly would send Kayne McCadden away on the breakaway and he would deke out Demons goaltender Joshu Dagenais and slide the puck into the open cage. Riding the momentum the Lions would score on the next shift when Trent Rae would get the puck deep into the Demons right wing corner and Owen Fetterly would pick it up and make a perfect pass to Kayne McCadden in the slot where he would one time the puck into the net for the 4-0 lead and his 50th goal on the season.

     The Demons would battle back and score one on the powerplay and immediately after on goals by Mason Carr and Adam Barkley. The Lions would push back in the final miute of the second perid when McCadden would get the puck to the front of the net where Owen Fetterly was standing, his shot would be stopped bu as he fell into the ice after the shot he would knock the puck into the net to give the Lions a 5-2 lead heading into the third period. McCadden and Fetterly both finished with five points each on the Lions five goals.

     The Novice B Lions opened Round #1 of the Playoffs playing on the road in Chesterville Monday night against the North Dundas Demons. The Lions who finished in third place in the Eastern Division took Game #1 on the streaking sixth place Demons.  The regular season series was slightly in the Lions favour by a 2-1-1 record. The Lions also nipped the Demons in the "A" Final of the Guilcrest Homes North Dundas Novice B Tournament on December 27th.

     The teams played a tight checking first period as the goalies were tested but held strong as the period ended scoreless. Lion’s goalie Brandan Shaver and Demons goalie Joshua Dagenais were in for a battle. Lion’s defenceman Cassidy Bilmer, Emytt Fetterly, Trent Rae and Spencer Barclay kept the front of the net clear of rebounds and didn't allow any close in shots in the opening frame. Kolby Latulippe and Joshua Broad had the best scoring chances for the Lions but neither could net the puck from the top of the Demons crease.

     In the second period the Lions broke through with the opening goal. Owen Fetterly moved the puck up the right wing boards from his own blue line where Kayne McCadden picked it up in neutral zone and passed it into the centre where Joshua Broad was streaking into the end zone and grabbed the pass and shot the puck on the ice inside the right hand corner netting his first of the playoffs after going scoreless in eleven games. Shortly later the Lions would go up 2-0 when Ben Lapier would break out of his own end on a pass from Emytt Fetterly and Cassidy Bilmer and go the distance beating all defenders as they were slahing at his stick through the neutral zone into the Demons zone. After going wide on the Demons defense he busted to the net and scored his first of the playoffs.

     Spencer Barclay made the defensive play of the period as a Demon forward broke into the Lions end and made a great shot that Lions goaltender Brenadan Shaver got his pad on and just as a Demon closed in on the rebound Barclay pivotted and grabbed the puck and shot it into the corner denying the Demons the scoring chance.

     After a couple of penalities in the third to Ben Lapier of the Lions and Max Messervey of the Demons where the power play's were held scoreless, Demons Adam Barkley finally got the Demons on the board. With under three minutes to play the Demons pressed and the Lions flexed after an extended scrammble in front of the net, Barkley used his size and positioned himself off the right post and took three shots before beating the Lion goalie on the ice inside the right post. Now with the score 2-1 Lions and only 2:42 left, the Lions needed to push back.

     On the face-off at centre ice following the goal, Lions centreman Kayne McCadden pushed the puck through the opposing centre's feet, and grabbed the puck and went to the right beating the Demons left defenseman and went down the boards cutting into the middle and beating Demons goalie Joshua Dagenais to restore the two goal lead.

     The Demons would push back and press to cut the lead again but the Lions held strong and with the Demon goalie on the bench for an extra attacker Spencer Barclay and Owen Fetterly were able to clear the puck from thier end zone where McCadden picked it up and found the empty net for his second of the game and the 4-1 victory.

The Lions will open Round #2 of the playoffs on Saturday Feb 25th at 3pm in Kemptville.

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It was a packed house Friday night, March 29 for the Morrisburg and District Skating Club’s annual year end skate show.

This year’s show was skated to the theme of Country Stars on Ice  and included a number of solo and duo performances from senior and intermediate skaters and some outstanding skating displays by the various Canskate groups.

Coaches with the local club include Louise Dimmick dance coach Dana Grant, Allison Scott and Danielle Smail-Napier.

Senior skaters Jessica Bass, Logan Patterson and Gillian Beatson, who expect to leave the club due to next year’s school commitments, all skated solos.

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He’s made his list and he’s checked it twice…team manager Les McAllister has finalized the Morrisburg based seniors hockey team that will represent District 8 at the Ontario Senior Winter Games coming up in Huntsville, February 26-28, 2013.

Now in their second year in the 65 plus games category, McAllister says the team that doesn’t play together on a regular basis, will probably play a couple of exhibition games in January and February.

He says everyone is looking forward to the games.

“The competition at these games keeps getting better and better,” says McAllister who is the team’s goaltender. “It’s a really good time, and as the word gets out about it, more and more people try out.”

McAllister also credits the games with keeping seniors active. Guys at our age aren’t playing hockey for anything really meaningful except for this. I probably wouldn’t be playing hockey today if it weren’t for these games.”

The local team has nine returning players for the 2013 games. In addition to McAllister they include Ron Alguire of Lunenberg, Steve Casselman of Morrisburg, Doug Casselman of Williamsburg, Fern Gauvreau of Kingston, Jack Haines of Cornwall, Bryan Helmer of Winchester, Lester Holmes of Mountain and John Adams of Morrisburg.

The new kids on the bench are Alan Styrnadka and Harry McIntyre both of Ottawa, and Sonny McLean of Kingston.

The games feature hockey in two age categories, 65 plus for the players listed above, and a 55 plus category.

Representing District 8 in the 55 plus category are the Cornwall Seaway Blades who defeated Long Sault 8-3 and Alexandria 6-1 for the right to advance.

Coached by Pete Clement, the Blades include Paul Seguin, Earl McBean, Dave Alguire (goaltender), Alex Herrington, Brian Reasbeck, Terry Grant, Claude Regnier, Vic Leroux, Gary Lalonde, Claude Bourck, Dave MacDonald, Ben Guindon, Randy Conners and Rick Cameron.

The Ontario Senior Games are a multi-sport championship for athletes 55 years and older. The 2013 games at Huntsville will be attended by some 1,000 athletes, coaches and officials involved in 10 sports including alpine and nordic skiing, badminton, bowling, curling, duplicate bridge, hockey, prediction skating, table tennis and volleyball. 

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