Garry Banford Memorial ‘reels’ them in

 

The Morrisburg Junior B Lions are hanging tough with the big guys, but they continue to be plagued by a player shortage.

Saturday night, the Lions were on the road to Westport to take on the Rideau Division’s first place Rideaus and, after holding a 4-2 lead late in the second period, they ended up on the wrong side of a 6-4 count.

Although he expected to ice a full team Saturday night, such was not the case for a very discouraged coach Thom Racine.

“Lance Hodgson was hurt Friday night and couldn’t play, and we had a couple more who had exams on Tuesday, so they couldn’t play…which I don’t get.”

“For two periods we were in control of the game. We had a good talk after the second period, and then we started the third period and couldn’t get the puck out of our own end.”

To make matters worse, Racine says the Lions got on the wrong side of the referee when they complained about a missed call.

“One of our kids was cross checked from behind and when he retaliated he drew a penalty. We argued and got a bench minor.”

From then on Racine says, “I guess he decided we were acting like idiots.”

In the third period, the Lions drew  five minor penalties, a four minute spearing penalty, two game misconducts and a game ejection. The Rideaus drew two minors.

In addition, Racine learned the next day that two Lions were suspended (and will miss this Friday night’s game) for infractions during the game warm-up, one for a missing chin strap and the other a neck guard infraction.

Fortunately, the weekend wasn’t all bad news for the Lions.

Friday night on home ice, they posted a must-win 7-2 victory against the Akwesasne Wolves.

The Lions went up 1-0 late in the first period on a Michel Lefebvre goal from Sylvester Bzdyl.

But then in the second period, the Wolves came charging back with a pair and suddenly it was a whole new ball game.

“I called a time out when they went up 2-1.”

Racine says the Lions knew how important the game was for the Wolves, and they knew they were going to come out with every they had.

Following the talk, the Lions got their act together and finally Chris Rutley (from Zach Seguin and Ryan Dunbar) tied it with what Racine described as a “fluky goal.”

The icing on the cake came from Ryan Ward with the Lions short-handed in the last minute of the frame.

“On a two on one, Chris Rutley laid a beauty of a pass on Wardo’s (Ryan Ward) stick and he deflected it into the net.”

That put the Lions up 3-2 with two seconds left in the second period and clearly changed the Wolves’ momentum.

“They just didn’t respond in the third period.”

The Lions held the one goal advantage until the final 10 minutes of the third when they counted another four goals for the 7-2 win.

The goals were scored by Marc Antoine Kamel from Brayden Girard, Alex Steingruber from Sylvester Bzdyl, Clarke Veenstra from Chris Rutley and Michael Paquette and Bzdyl from Steingruber and Michael Keenan.

The Lions sat out six minor penalties and were assessed a 10 minute misconduct. The Wolves drew four minor penalties.

Saturday night in Westport, the game was tied 1-1 after one period with Ryan Ward (from Lefebvre and Sam Hodgson) providing the Lions’ first goal.

The Rideaus went up 2-1, just 40 seconds into the second period but 12 seconds later Bzdyl (from Ward and Lefebvre) answered to keep it even.

Then a pair of power-play goals allowed the Lions to go ahead, 4-2.

Lefebvre started it (from Ward and Bzdyl) and Bzdyl made it 4-2 with the assist going to goaltender Mikael Dion.

The Rideaus cut the Lions advantage to one in the last minute of the second period.

Then just over a minute into the third, Dustin Sinclair scored while the Rideaus were shorthanded to tie the game 4-4

They collected the winning goal  at 4:21, and the insurance market at 15:44. Both goals were scored on the Rideaus power play.

Mikael Dion was in net for both of the Lions weekend games. According to the stats he faced 57 Rideaus shots, while the Lions managed just 26 against opposing goaltender James Davis.

“Mikael played really well. He just didn’t get any support in the end,” said Racine.

The split in their weekend games prevented the Lions from making any headway against the fourth-place CharLan Rebels.

The Rebels also split their games, losing to Casselman, 15-4 and defeating Gananoque, 4-3.

Coming up this Friday night, December 23, the Gananoque Islanders are in town for an 8:30 p.m. game.

The Lions are scheduled to play a make up game in Prescott on Tuesday night, December 27.

Their next home game is not until Friday, January 6 against the Char-Lan Rebels.

On Saturday, January 7 they will open the 2012 Rideau-St. Lawrence Showcase Event with a 9:30 a.m. game against South Grenville. The Winchester Hawks are hosting this year’s showcase. 

[…]

 

Morrisburg and District Figure Skating Club skaters achieved some good results at the Prescott Future Stars Competition held on the weekend of January 26-27.

The Future Stars Competition featured three events which included the Canskate Challenge Element, Canskate Team Element and Freeskate.

The Canskate Element Challenge focused on individual skill development and performances and are not ranked.

Each skater received a certificate which indicated their overall performance level which runs gold, silver, bronze and merit.

The award level is based on the assessment of four individual elements performed by each skater.

The elements are pre-determined and are based on a skater’s stage level.

The Canskate Team Elements is set up using the same format, but as the name implies, more than one skater is involved.

Freeskate events were skated by skaters at pre-preliminary and preliminary skating levels.

The Morrisburg Club had four skaters skating in Preliminary Freeskate. 

They were Kendra Buter, Trina Dykstra-MacPherson, Abigail Jordan and Kaitlyn Stewart.

Leading their charge were Dykstra-Macpherson and Jordan both with gold medal wins.

Seven Morrisburg and District skaters skated onto the Prescott ice for the Pre-Preliminary Freeskates.

They included Alice Cameron, Ashley Bouwman, Cameryn Broad, Olivia Hart, Katie Buter, Reagan Belanger and Erika Jordan.

Cameron Broad scored the lone gold medal in Pre-Preliminary, while Olivia Hart and Katie Buter posted solid skates to earn silver medals. 

Reagan Belanger collected a bronze medal, while Alice Cameron and Erika Jordan collected fourth place finishes and Ashley Bouwman a fifth.

Thirteen Morrisburg and District skaters laced up their skates for the Canskate Element Challenge and Team Element skates.  

In the individual Element Challenge Stage 4, Jessica Groves topped the chart skating to a gold level certificate.

Shianne Johnston collected a silver level certificate while bronze certificates were presented to Marin Morrow, Olivia Chafe, Sarah Stewart and Abigail Smail. Lily Napier collected a merit certificate.

At the stage five level Madisyn Hart had a solid performance and landed a gold level certificate. Her teammates, Hannah Biemond and Gracie Fairbairn skated to bronze level certificates.

Xandra Furo earned a silver certificate at the Canskate Element Challenge stage six level, while Mikaela Furo and Abby Smith both picked up bronze level certificates.

Gracie Fairbairn and Madisyn Hart put it together for a first place performance in stage five team elements.

Sarah Stewart and Abigail Smail placed fourth in stage five team elements while Shianne Johnson, Lilly Napier and Jessica Groves were fifth in Stage 5 Team Elements.

In stage four team elements Marin Morrow and Olivia Chafe placed sixth.

Skaters with the Morrisburg and Club are now preparing for the very busy month of February.Coming up is the annual Interclub Competition, this year being held in Smiths Falls. A number of skaters are also preparing for EOSIC from February 15-17.

[…]

 

The Seaway Kickers U13 Mixed team extended their undefeated season record to 7-0 at the Merkley Soccer Fields in Iroquois June 27, with a shutout over Nepean City’s M4 team.

Scoring started early in the first half with a one-timer in the corner by Oakley Beavers making it 1-0 Seaway. 

Less than five minutes later, Aaron Tibben planted a goal past Nepean City’s goalie, 2-0 Seaway.

Still in the first half, Beavers landed his second of the night on the Nepean City net, 3-0 Seaway. 

Devin Dumoulin and David Swerdfeger also scored making it 5-0 at half-time. 

Nepean City’s change in goalies at half-time ended Seaway’s scoring run. However, Nepean could not get a rally started in the second half. 

Final score for the game, Seaway Kickers 5, Nepean City 0. Travis McInnis and Oakley Beavers shared the shutout. They face Nepean City’s M3 team on July 4, in Iroquois. Game start will be at 6:30 p.m.

Seaway Kickers U15 Girls defeat Nepean Hotspurs

NEPEAN – The Seaway Kickers U15 Girls team visited the Nepean Hotspurs June 26 at l’école secondaire publique Omer-Deslauriers in Nepean. 

Final game score was Seaway Kickers 3, Nepean Hotspurs 1. 

Goals were scored by Julia Paulino and Jessica Ferguson (two). Courtney Moreau was goalie for the game. 

The U15 Girls host Nepean City’s G1 team July 3, before playing three games in Ottawa on July 6. 

Pictured right,  Seaway Kickers forward Aaron Tibben shoots the ball past Nepean City`s goalie for the second goal of the game. 

The South Dundas Minor program continues every Saturday morning with the 450 players that started the season on May 25 now well on their way to their World Cup Finale planned for July 26-27.

[…]