Curling at the Morrisburg Curling Club

 

Kingston Frontenacs winger Marc Beckstead and the Canadian Tire Store in Morrisburg were the hosts for the day, Saturday, as area youngsters were provided the opportunity to meet Beckstead and three of his Fronts teammates and have a little fun with the Tribeck Inflatables.

Beckstead, 18 of Morrisburg was joined by defenceman Mikko Vainonen, 19, of Finland and centreman Darcy Greenaway, 20, of Wilton, Ontario. The three, who will report to the Fronts training camp at the end of this month, had a great time Saturday, at CT in Morrisburg, visiting with the local youngsters and signing ball caps and posters.

The attendance of the  Ontario Hockey League’s Frontenacs players at the Canadian Tire’s Back to Hockey Event was organized by Marc’s uncle Trevor, owner of Tribeck Inflatables.

“We do a lot of different events in Kingston and the area,” said Greenaway, who is heading into his third season with the Frontenacs. Greenaway says he has spent much of his summer and most weekends doing this type of promotion for the Frontenacs. “It’s fun to talk to people and give away free stuff, and it’s good to come out and do it with the guys.”

Greenaway is five foot, eight inches. He weighs 186 pounds and wears the Frontenacs #22 sweater. He had a 44 point season last year with 24 goals and 20 assists.

 Also on hand was defenceman Mikko Vainonen who has returned to Canada having spent much of his summer back home in Helsinki, Finland. The Finnish defenceman, who will play out his second season with the Frontenacs, recently signed a three year entry level contract with the NHL’s Nashville Predators. He is six foot two inches and weighs 205 pounds.

Locally, the Frontenacs were represented by Marc Beckstead, son of Ernie and Leisa Beckstead of Morrisburg. Beckstead, is looking forward to shedding his rookie status as he heads into his second season with the Frontenacs. Last year, he played in 53 games and posted six goals and eight assists.

He says he has had a great summer and worked hard with his training. “I have been training with Ian Perry, five days per week all summer. I am feeling really good, and I’m excited for camp, really excited. They (the Frontenacs) told me to put on some muscle over the summer, so that is what I have been working to do.”

Beckstead attended his first camp last year with a weight of 173 pounds. He finished the season at 180 pounds, and will be heading to camp at the end of August with a weight of 190 pounds.

In addition to his weight training, Marc has been skating four times per week.

Trevor Beckstead, of Beckstead Inflatables says he was excited to spearhead the Frontenac/Canadian Tire promotion.

 In a recent local event, he noticed a number of kids wearing Fronts caps. “I told them (the Frontenacs) they’d be surprised at the number of Fronts fans in this area. When they said they would bring the truck and the wheel and prizes for the kids, I thought that was awesome. They have never been past Gananoque, so this is great.”

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Although the Morrisburg Junior Lions have long been out of the St. Lawrence Division playoff picture, their much improved play of late is causing a bit of havoc in the standings as four teams continue to jockey for the second through fourth place positions.

This past week, the Lions defeated the third place Winchester Hawks, not once, but twice, and then forced the Alexandria Glens into overtime for their 3-2 win.

After the Casselman Vikings at 67 points, (first place locked up weeks ago position), it becomes pretty much anybody’s game…with the next four contenders all within four points of each other for the next three spots.

The Rebels are holding the edge with 43 points in 34 games, while the Hawks (in 35 games) have 40 points and Akwesasne (34 games played) and Alexandria (37 games played) are tied with 39 points.

To say there will be some interesting games in the next two weekends (regular season ends February 9) is an understatement, and the Lions, with two upcoming games against Akwesasne (closing weekend) and one against Char-Lan (Saturday, February 1 at Char-Lan), could possibly play a major part in the outcome of it all.

The Lions got rolling on their best stretch of hockey this season on home ice last Tuesday night, when they downed the visiting Hawks 8-4.

They held the pace, Friday night, January 24, again to double the Hawks, this time by a 6-3 count right in Winchester.

Sunday on home ice, they held the Glens to a 2-2 tie in regulation time and lost in overtime.

The Lions kicked off their week with the 8-4 victory over the Hawks on home ice last Tuesday night, January 21.

After a scoreless first period, Shawn Simms put the Hawks on the scoreboard 3:42 into the second, and at 8:52 the Lions Justin Lefevbre evened it with help from Eric Evans and Liam Morrow.

Two more Lions goals, from Isaac Brownlee at 14:47 and Morrow at 19:56, put the Lions in command of the game, 3-1 at the end of the second period. 

Just under two minutes into the third period, the Hawks Bryden Van Kessel cut the gap to 3-2, but that was it as the Lions came charging back for four in a row to make it 7-2.

Cole Blanchard started it off on the Lions power play, then Justin Rutley scored while the Lions were short-handed at 5:46.

William White made it 6-2 at 8:32 and Drew Veenstra counted the Lions seventh goal at 11:34, unassisted.

The Hawks came back for two from Brodie Braun and Shawn Simms, but that was it.

Justin Rutley (from White and Michael Paquette) scored his second of the game in the last minute of play for the 8-4 Lions win.

John Gilmer was in the Lions net for the win and Nathan Bowness saw action for the Hawks.

The Lions sat out seven minor penalties and a 10 minute misconduct, while the Hawks were assessed nine minors and a misconduct.

The two were back at it Friday night in Winchester, and finally after 15 minutes of action in the first period, Justin Rutley (from Justin Lefevbre) got it started for the Lions with a goal at 15:34.

Chris Pearson, with help from Rutley, made it 2-0 Lions at 15:34.

The 2-0 Lions lead held until 13:06 of the second period when Drew Veenstra (from Steven Savage) upped it to 3-0.

The second period came to an end with a flourish of goals, three scored in just over one minute. 

Austin Roth and Bryden Van Kesssel both put the puck past Lions goaltender Brandon Chilton, while Drew Veenstra counted once  against Hawks goaltender Jeremy Wright, to give the Lions a 4-2 advantage heading into the third period.

Steve Savage put the Lions up 5-2 at 6:23, and at 8:24 Kyle Richardson cup the gap to 5-3.

That would be all for the Hawks and the Lions would count one more from the stick of Chris Pearson (assisted by Justin Rutley) for the 6-3 win.

The Lions were assessed seven minor penalties, while the Hawks drew 12 minors, a double minor, a five minute cross checking major, two 10 minute misconducts and two game misconducts. 

Saturday night, on home ice, the Lions lost a heart-breakers to the visiting Alexandria Glens, 3-2 in overtime.

Chris Pearson, on the Lions power play, put them one up at 15:35 of the first period with help from Steven Savage.

That lasted until 5:55 into the second period when Brandon Barillao beat Lions goaltender John Gilmer to even it a 1-1.

Again the Lions came charging back, this time with a Liam Morrow goal assisted by Kieran Devine at 7:09.

The Lions advantage lasted until 12:24 when Adam Cooke beat Gilmer to even it 2-2 and that’s the way it ended. 

Eric Verville counted the overtime winner for the Glens.

The Lions sat out six minor penalties, a five minute fighting major and a game misconduct. The Glens were assessed five minors and corresponding fighting and misconduct penalties. The Lions were outshot 49-33.

Coming up this week the Lions travel to Casselman for a 7:30 p.m game Thursday night, January 30. Saturday, February 1, they are on the road to take on the Char-Lan Rebels.

Their final home game is Sunday, February 9, when the Akwesasne Wolves are in town for a 2:30 p.m. match.

For the February 9 game, the Lions are inviting all kids from South Dundas and South Stormont to come to the game. All youngsters wearing their team hockey jersey will be admitted free to the game. The Lions encourage you to bring a non perishable food item to be donated to the local Food Bank.

The Morrisburg Lions understand the dedication and commitment of the minor hockey players involved with playing Canada’s pastime and would like to reward those that play this wonderful game with a free afternoon of Junior hockey. 

[…]

The day curling men at the Morrisburg Curling Club have begun their second round robin league series, this one for the Bowman Trophy. 

Last week the winners of the Adams Trophy, named for Gerald Adams, one of our finest senior curlers, were announced. The champions were Pete Zeran, Karl Duncan, Gerry Thompson and Robert Martin. 

Close on their heels were Jack Barkley’s rink, made up of Ted Herriman, Earl Jeacle and Eric Johnson, and right behind them were Don O’Brien, Rick McKenzie, Keith Robinson and John Walsh.

Some of our senior men attended an over-seventies bonspiel in Navan, the Masters, last week. Raymond Benoit was hoping that some of his old friends from Buckingham, with whom he went to the senior national championships a few years back, would be there. Sure enough, when he arrived with Sid Morrell, Neil Williams and Pete Zeran, not only was Buckingham there, they were scheduled to play Morrisburg. 

It was a morning of dreams, as our local boys trounced the old friends before enjoying a fine lunch. Perhaps they enjoyed too many beverages with the meal, for in the afternoon our chaps were slated against Cumberland, who had lost all but one end in their morning game. For whatever reason, the Morrisburg contingent could not match their morning success, and were overpowered by Cumberland. Too bad, fellows!

    In another bonspiel, Peter Zeran, Doug Jarvis, Fred Langlotz and Eric Johnson played in Winchester against Pete’s old friend from Cornwall, Gary Stover. Gary was unusually generous with Pete, allowing him to win all but one end in their match. 

After another good lunch, Pete’s afternoon opponent was a Russell foursome. Jack Barkley also had a team there: Karl Duncan, Peter Byvelds and Bob Youmelle. (If the skips had their regular teams with them.) Jack’s team split their matches.

Perhaps Pete and Gary will meet again in the Parnell championship being played this Friday in Morrisburg. As hosts, we are only allowed one team this time. Pete, Karl Duncan, Earl Jeacle and Ralph Graves defeated Don O’Brien, Wally Baker, Jack Barkley and Andy Patenaude in competition for this one spot. Pete has to play Sid Morrell’s team for the right to challenge Cornwall, Lancaster and Prescott on Friday.

Two ladies’ quartets competed last week in bonspiels. Gretta McGann, Susan McIntosh and Paula and Claire Locke defeated Smiths Falls and after lunch in Brockville’s dining room, tied their match with a Kemptville foursome to finish in third place, behind Kingston and Brockville. Well done, folks.

Our other curlers, Alice Thompson, Sharon Van Allen, Pat Foley and Sandra Beckstead, dropped tight games against Cornwall and Alexandria at the Lancaster club, and enjoyed a delicious catered luncheon and pleasant social interaction with some very fine teams and likeable curlers.

Next Tuesday, Morrisburg hosts their annual ladies’ bonspiel, with twelve teams from Eastern Ontario vying to get their names on the trophy and collect prizes.

Also, Andy Patenaude reports that he’s taking a mixed team to compete in the Ontario Senior games. The venue is Maxville, and the other teams in the round robin competition are from Winchester and Cornwall. We’ll have the results of those two events next time.

Finally, the Morrisburg club is hosting a Christmas bonspiel for next Saturday. 

The sign-up sheet and details are to be found in the lounge.

    Good curling to all!    

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