Skaters land good results

The excitement and anticipation was high for Luke Whitteker and the Whitteker Motorsports team last weekend (July 21-22) as they traveled to Kenly, North Carolina for Luke’s pavement racing debut at Southern National Motorsports Park. 

Luke arrived in North Carolina on Wednesday, and spent the night settling in, and preparing for a busy weekend.  

On Thursday, he went to the Race 101 shop, to scale the car, and load it in the hauler, getting ready for a day of practice on Friday, leading up to Saturday night’s race.  

Luke had three sessions on the track on Friday, and was gaining more speed and getting more comfortable in the car each time.

“We made a few practice runs here so far, and the car feels good so far,” says Whitteker.  “Hopefully the rain will stay away, and we can have a good day here tomorrow for our debut in the Race 101 car”.

On Saturday, Whitteker was back at Southern National Motorsports Park for some more practice, and then the race later in the day.  

Like the previous day, the more laps he ran, the more comfortable he was inside the Race 101 car.  While he was focused on the task at hand, Whitteker also kept an eye on the weather that was threatening to play a factor in his debut.

“We were really starting to get some speed, and get comfortable in the car after the second practice session,” said Whitteker.  “We just need to make a few tweaks to the setup to get the car a little better.  Unfortunately, it looks like rain soon, so we will see what happens here in the next little bit”.

As forecasted, the skies opened up just before final practice, and the race had to be postponed.  

Whitteker will return to Southern National Motorsports Park on August 11th for another attempt.  He will also race on September 29th.

[…]

The North Dundas Rockets will be the new kids on the ice when the hockey season resumes this fall.

Coached by Dale Murdoch of Morewood, the new Junior C franchise will be a member of the eight team National Capital Junior Hockey League.

Junior C hockey is not a stranger to the Chesterville area, says Murdoch. “In the early 80s there was a team in Chesterville,” he explained.

“It’s a couple of those players who are involved in the current startup.”

Murdoch says that he and the owners have recognized a need for Junior C hockey in this area.

“We have several Junior B teams surrounding us, but more and more they are using non-local players because of the competitiveness of the Junior B league. There is a need here for local minor hockey players to be able to progress into competitive hockey beyond minor hockey.”

“Many kids end up not playing hockey at all after minor hockey. There isn’t even any juvenile hockey anymore.”

In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Murdoch is the Rockets’ General Manager.

His first steps have been to line up his coaching staff and joining him behind the bench is Brian Downey of Morewood and Nick Pass of Winchester. Both played Junior A hockey after starting out locally at the Junior B level. Downey also experienced university hockey in the United States and played at the pro level in the former Colonial Hockey League.

The Rockets will play their home games on Sundays in Chesterville. They will play a 32 game schedule against teams from Vankleek Hill, St. Isidore, Cumberland, Embrun, Papineauville, Gatineau and Rockland.

“Our intention is to bus to games on the Quebec side of the league,” says Murdoch of the fairly hefty road trips.

The first home game for the Rockets is scheduled for October 2. As ice will not be ready in Chesterville for a number of weeks, the Rockets training camp will open at the Winchester Arena at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 10. A second session has been set for Sunday, September 11 at 8 p.m.

Murdoch explains that the National Capital Junior Hockey League teams are able to protect only those players in their own minor hockey system.

“So we can protect North Dundas Minor Hockey. Embrun protects Embrun Minor Hockey players. Anyone who plays minor hockey in say, South Dundas or Kemptville, are basically free agents.”

Murdoch also explains, that while each team does have one 16 year old card, teams in the league do not use 16 year olds. “We are looking for 17 years olds and above. We are really looking for kids who have graduated from minor hockey. We really aren’t interested in taking players (17 year old midgets) from the local minor hockey systems.”

While walk-ons are welcome to the upcoming Rockets camp in Winchester, Murdoch says, as a time saving measure, he would like everyone to pre-register.

For more information or to register, he can be reached at 613-913-8266 or e-mail dalemurdoch@yahoo.ca.

[…]

They were awesome says Morrisburg Curling Club Little Rocks coach Ian Wilson of his young players who competed recently in the annual Big Four curling competition in Russell and the Ran Wiley Memorial Bonspiel in Winchester. 

The Morrisburg Little Rocks program was represented by two teams in Russell, with one team going all the way to the A final. The second team lost in an extra end in their second game, which had they won, would have put them in the A final as well. 

With just one 11 year old and one 12 year old on the two teams, Wilson, who with his wife Kathyrun the Morrisburg program, says his players did very well in Russell. 

“If these guys stick with it for another couple of years, you can’t help but think how much better they are going to be. In two years, they are going to be fantastic.” 

Wearing the Morrisburg colours and going all the way to the A final where they lost to an older Metcalfe team were Aiden White, Abby Trizisky, Tommy Derikx and Kyra Lewis.

The second Morrisburg team consisted of Ewan Wilson, Martina Lewis, Nolan Belanger and James Szuky.

At the very popular 12-team Ran Wiley Memorial in Winchester, the Morrisburg teams collected third and eighth place finishes.

Teamed for this bonspiel and the third place finish were Wilson, Emily MacPherson, Johnathon Charette and James Szuky.

Playing to eighth were Aiden White, Martina Lewis, Christian Keeler and Kyra Lewis.

The Morrisburg Little Rocks program has one team competing at the upcoming Zone 1 Playdowns. That team includes White, Wilson, Belanger and Lewis.

The Little Rocks Curling at the Morrisburg club will wrap up on Monday, March 18th.

[…]