Spikes program a hit

While Morrisburg Junior B Lions coach Thom Racine says “our power play was dreadful all night, and we need to get that in sinc soon” the opposite held true Friday night for the Winchester Hawks who struck for three power play goals in a 5-2 win.

Sunday’s game was a different story as the Lions and the visiting Alexandria Glens kept the penalties to a minimum, but again the Lions ended up on the wrong side of a 6-2 count to collect their fifth loss of the young season.

Friday night in Winchester, “the Lions played a pretty good 40 minutes, but the second period collapse was all too familiar,” says Racine.

Lance Hodgson gave the Lions a 1-0 lead with an unassisted goal at 2:01 of the first period, and that lasted until early in the second when Brock Burge got the Hawks rolling with an unassisted power-play goal.

Hawks goals flowed consistently after that, coming at 9:43 from Graham Loyst, 10:37 from Josh Stubbings and 19:46 from Brock Burge on the Hawks power play. 

Nevin Guy pushed it to 5-1, again on the Hawks power play, at 12:33 of the third period and that was it.

Lions goaltender Mikael Dion shut the Hawks down for the remainder of the period, but the Lions were good for only one more, that on the Lions power play with 2:05 left in the game from Matt Ouimet (unassisted).

“We did a lot of watching and forgot to pay attention to our own zone,” says Racine. “I thought we adjusted well in the third period, but could not create any offence.”

The Lions were out shot 54-29. They scored only one goal in 10 power-play opportunities, while the Hawks were successful three out of six times.

The St. Lawrence Division’s first place Alexandria Glens brought their game to Morrisburg on Sunday and never faultered as they worked their way to their eighth win of the season.

They led 2-0 after the first period and carried a 4-1 advantage into the third as they headed for  a 6-2 win.

“Last year we fell behind so early in games we never had a chance to recover,” says Racine. “Sunday against Alexandria, it was no different.”

“Down 2-0 before the five minute mark deflated us, and, although we were the best team for the next 15 minutes, there was no reward.”

“I was not that upset with the entire game. At times we showed we can skate with these top teams, but when we make mistakes we get burned seemingly every time.”

“We also did not move the puck and use each other often enough.”

Ryan Ward chipped in for the lone Lions goal of the second period on the Lions power play with Alex Steingruber and Sylvester Bzdyl assisting.

Ty Hodgson, from Lance Hodgson and Marc Antoine, added goal number two at 6:23 of the third period, again on the Lions power play.

Dion had a busy time in the Lions net as the Glens out shot the Lions 41-29.

Zachary Montpetit-Car and Jean-Francois Dubois had two goals apiece for the Glens, and Bradley Massia and Shane Kitchen collected singles.

“We have a real chance to help ourselves over the next two weeks, but the competition is not going to hand us anything,” says Racine. “Akwesasne is struggling out of the gate and due for a win, and Char-Lan got their first win last weekend.”

The Wolves are in town this Friday night, October 14 for an 8:30 p.m. start and Saturday night, the Lions travel to Williamstown to take on the Rebels. Next Wednesday night they are in Brockville.

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The weather has been iffy, but swimmers in the South Dundas Swim Program at the Iroquois Beach are about to wrap up their second session.

Olivia Currier, head life guard this year, says the program attracted 34 swimmers in the first two-week session and 42 youngsters in the current session.

And those numbers, says Currier, are very good.

“This is a big group for us. We have a ton of little kids, and that is really nice to see. That means we have new swimmers coming into our program.”

In addition to the large number of pre-school children, the Iroquois program has three swimmers in Bronze Cross, and one who is working on her AWS1 (assistant instructors) level.

Although the numbers are good, Currier says the weather hasn’t really been cooperating. There has been a lot of rain and if it isn’t raining it is cloudy.

“The water is certainly heating up, but I’m not going to say it is warm,” she added last week, before the recent heat wave arrived this past weekend.

With the wrap up of the current session on the horizon, Currier says there is room for swimmers in the August sessions. Anyone interested can contact Ben MacPherson at the South Dundas Municipal office.

Currier is in her second year at the beach and will be heading into her second year of Engineering study at the University of Guelph this fall.

Joining Currier for his second summer at the Iroquois beach is Mason Steele. A graduate of North Dundas District High School, Steele has been modeling for the last year, and will be heading to New York City for work at the end of the summer.

New to the Iroquois Beach program are Dominique Cook and Kelly Chambers.

Cook is from Brinston, and will be in her first year of Engineering studies at Carleton University come September.

Chambers will finish her final high school year at North Dundas District High School and is planning to attend Algonquin College for a Personal Support Worker Program.

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  Senior jumper, Kaitlyn Stewart, led a very young team of Seaway District High School athletes at the 40th annual Hungerford Invitational Track and Field Classic here on the weekend with a solid second place […]