Bob Mann, club champ at Morrisburg

Seaway District High School received solid representation from a 16-member team at the annual SD&G Badminton Championships played over the past couple of weeks at various high schools in Cornwall. Larissa Beaupre led the Seaway team earning a bronze medal in girls singles action.  The doubles teams of Stephanie Venema and Daniel Tibben, and Larissa Ettlin and Sarah MacDonald both worked their way to quarterfinal action before being eliminated. Pictured right is the senior team. Front, l-r is coach Garth Elliott, Joel Johnston, Graydon Baylis, Taylor Houghton and Blaire Cunningham. Back, l-r are Lesley Ann Tupper, Larissa Ettlin, Sarah MacDonald, Larissa Beaupre, Stephanie Venema and Jessica Earl. Pictured right, below with coach Elliott are junior players Victoria Peters (left) and Samantha Venema. Seniors Daniel Tibben, Matt Kuepferling, Denzil Barkley and Stephen Tibben were not available for the photo.

[…]

The Morrisburg Junior B Lions slipped to the bottom of the St. Lawrence Division standings with a pair of losses this past weekend. 

Saturday night, October 11, the Lions travelled to the Char-Lan Rec Centre where they lost 6-3 to the Rebels. Back home on Sunday, they lost a close one, 7-6 to the first place Casselman Vikings.

The Vikings are now sitting atop a seven-win record for 14 points, five up on the Winchester Hawks and the Alexandria Glens who are tied with nine apiece.

The Akwesasne Wolves are fourth with eight points, while the Rebels and the Lions are tied with four points each.

Saturday night in Char-Lan, the Lions fell behind early and were never able to catch up.

John Gilmer, who was in net for the Lions, gave up the six goals on 39 Rebels shots.

Ryan Cooper earned the Rebels win.

The Rebels took a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Brian Landry and Quinlin MacDonell. They went up 3-0 at 10:47 of the second period with Landry’s second counter.

It wasn’t until the final minute of the second that Jacob Kendrick, on the Lions power play, found the Rebels net with help from Justin Rutley and Michael Paquette.

The Lions put up a big effort to collect two more in the early minutes of the third period to cut the gap to 3-2.

Cole Blanchard (from Rutley) and Kendrick (from Isaac Brownlee and Dylan Nixon) did the counting, both scoring on the Lions power play.

But then it was back to the Rebels. Brennan Markell added a pair at 5:23 and 7:18, both on the Rebels power play, and David Poirier upped it to 6-3 at 12:15 of the third period, again on the Rebels power-play.

Both teams had great success with their power-plays. The Lions scored their three goals on the power play, and the Rebels scored four of their six goals on their power play.

The Lions sat out 54 minutes on 15 infractions, and the Rebels were assessed 35 minutes on 16 infractions.

Sunday in Morrisburg, both the Vikings and the Lions counted heavily on penalties. The Vikings were three for three on power play and the Lions connected for three power-play goals in 10 opportunities

The Lions were first on the scoreboard when Ryan Griffin struck unassisted at 8:07 of the first period.

The Vikings turned it up a notch to come back for three in a row to end the first period, 3-1.

The second period  was a seesaw battle, but the closest the Lions were able to get was to within one goal of a tie.

Justin Rutley (from Jacob Guillot and Brodie Barkley), Michael Paquette (short-handed from Barkley and Isaac Brownlee), Dallas Blacksmith (power play from Barkley) and Blacksmith (power play from Lefevbre and Barkley) counted the four second period Lions goals.

Sebastien Plante, Taylor Widenmaier, Maxime Choquette and Nicolas Brazeau counted the four Vikings goals in the second period.

The high scoring second period sent the game into the third period with the Vikings still ahead 7-5

Fifteen seconds into the third, Vikings Yannik Bertrand drew a roughing penalty, and that set the stage for Balcksmith to complete his hat trick  and to close the gap to 7-6.

Junstin Lefebvre provided the set up.

That would be it however. The remainder of the third  period was scoreless, and the Vikings hung on for the 7-6 win.

Coming up, the Lions host the Westport Rideaus, Saturday night, October 18. (7:30 p.m.)

[…]

The end to the summer equestrian season was bittersweet for Rayanna Marcellus and her “large” pony Piccolini. 

The two have been riding competitively for five years, and now with Rayanna about to turn 18, she must graduate to ride horses.

“It’s really amazing how far he has come over the years,” says Rayanna. “He has turned out to be a really great pony.”

Knowing it was her last season with Pico, Rayanna decided she would return him to the Quebec AERSO Circuit where they first showed in the 2010 season. It was his trial year, and he surprised everyone when he finished fourth overall for the season and won a bronze medal in the Quebec B Circuit Championship.

A rescue pony purchased two years earlier in the U.S., he was selected by the championship judges back in 2010 as “the pony they would most like to take home.”

“I wanted to take him back to Quebec where he started,” says Rayanna of her decision to return to the Quebec AERSO cirucit this summer. Her mission was a gold medal for Picco and together they accomplished their mission and then some.

Picco finished the regular season first overall in the Large Pony Division and first overall in Pony Medal.

That put him in the Quebec championship at Bromont which ran from September 19-21 and where he showed against (up to) 28 horses and riders representing the seven regions in Quebec.

“I had hopes for him, but I had been away at school and hadn’t been riding him, so he was kind of excited,” says Rayanna. “It was also a cold, windy, rainy day. He was excited and kind of funny, but he did really well.”

Together Rayanna and Picco finished their season, and their five years together, by winning gold medals in both Large Pony and Pony Medal.

Rayanna says it is definitely hard knowing she and Picco won’t be riding competitively anymore. “It’s been a long time with him.”

The Quebec Championship proved to be a big event for Rayanna, her pony Picco (two gold medals), her horse Keepsake (two gold medals), along with the local Sarabeau stables.

According to her coach, Cheryl Levere…to my knowledge it is unheard of for one rider to get so many gold medals.

[…]