Mullin backstops Atom B Reps to shut out NGS

It was a big weekend for the Morrisburg Junior B Lions.

Friday night on the Glens’ home turf, the Lions handed the St. Lawrence Division’s first place Glens a crushing 5-3 loss and then, back home on Sunday, they gave the Rideau Division’s first place Westport Rideaus all they could handle as the Rideaus collected a hard fought 6-4 victory.

“It was a gift from God, Friday night,” says Lions coach Thom Racine. “Ryan Cooper (Lions goaltender) had a great game. He really hasn’t played a lot. He made one of those impossible saves a minute into the game and from that point on the boys were behind him. We never trailed all night long.”

After a scoreless first period, the Lions went up 2-0 in the first three minutes of the second period.

Michael Poapst started it with an unassisted goal at 2:52 and at 3:25 Alex Steingruber set up Marc Antoine Kamel to push the Lions ahead by two.

Jean-Francois Dubois answered for the Glens at 11:54, but two minutes later Alex Ploof (from Zach Seguin) restored the Lions two-goal advantage.

Once again, the Lions couldn’t hold on to it, allowing the Glens one more from Philippe Paquette.

At 7:03 of the third period, the Glen’s Leo MacLean beat Cooper to tie the game 3-3.

“I thought when they tied it 3-3 with over 10 minutes to go that we were in trouble,” says Racine.

But a pair of Glens’ penalties turned the tables and allowed the Lions to collect one on their power play from Ryan Ward, assisted by Steingruber and Patrick Bzdyl.

“Then we took two horrible penalties, the first one (at 14:06) for too many men. I thought, ‘right, we just handed them a free opportunity to tie the game.” 

The Lions killed off the penalty, but no sooner than they did so, Poapst was nabbed for tripping. Again, the Lions were up for the task, and again they held off the Glens. An empty net counter from Alex Steingruber (assisted by Lance Hodgson) sealed the win.

“Our penalty kills were fantastic,” says Racine. (Marc Antonie) Kamel, (Brayden) Girard  and (Ryan) Ward are premier penalty killers. They know when to chase it and when not to chase it.” 

Racine also credited Alex Steingruber for bringing his A game to the match and Poapst who scored his seventh goal of the season and who “is just starting to find his touch.”

Their efforts were only out-shone by that of Cooper who faced 59 Glens shots and allowed only three to get past him. 

It was the start of a rough weekend for the Glens, who were handed two losses to now trail the first place Winchester Hawks.

For Friday night’s game in Morrisburg, Racine again, went with Cooper in net. “I felt that after the 59 shots, he deserved to play again. And he played really well. ”

The game kicked off with a 1-1 first period tie and by the end of the second the Rideaus held just a slim 4-3 advantage.

They went up 6-3 in the third before the Lions got them stopped with a Michael Poapst (from Brayden Girard and Michael Paquette) counter and that was it. The Rideaus hung on for the 6-4 win.

Michael Poapst scored from Michael Paquette in the first period and Michel Thurler (from Ward and Paquette) and Brayden Girard (from Michael Keenan) counted in the second period.

Racine says he was satisfied with the game, “we made them earn the win” but he wonders if it might have been a different outcome, had if the Lions had the two Veenstras (couldn’t make the game) and Bzdyl (injured) in the lineup.

This weekend the Lions have two must win games says Racine. This Friday night they host the Char-Lan Rebels at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 20 they are on the road against Akwesasne.

The battle continues.

[…]

For the second consecutive year, Ernie Beckstead reeled in the biggest fish to capture one of the top prizes at the annual fishing derby held in memory of Garry Banford.

The fishing derby took place Saturday, May 4 at the Iroquois boathouses.

Beakstead said that he caught this year’s winning pike in the same spot as last year. “The secret is to get there early,” he said. He caught the 11 pound 12 ounce pike using live bait.

The biggest pickerel was caught by Eric Irvine. It weighed in at 9 pounds 10 ounces.

Prizes were handed out to the top three pike and top three pickerel. The second place pickerel weighed in at 9 pounds 6 ounces and was caught by Mike Allard. The third place pickrel weighed 8 pounds 13 ounces and was caught by Kevin VerBruggen.

After the 11 pound 12 ounce pike landed by Beckstead, the next biggest pike was caught by Peter Carruthers, it weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces. Two third prizes were awarded for pike as Travis Baldwin and Troy Suddard both caught 8 pound 6 ounce fish.

Tommy McMillan won the hidden weight prize with a six pound 3 ounce pickerel.

A total of 51 pickerel and 32 pike were weighed in during the day’s event. 

While those fishing had a great day the event was also very successful in raising funds to support local causes.

“We were able to hand out $1,700 in prize money, donate $1,000 to Ann (Banford) for the bursary at Seaway District High School in memory of Garry Banford,” said Bruce Mullin, event organizer. “After that, we still had $1,000 left over so we will be donating that to the Iroquois Lawn Bowling Club,” said Mullin. “We chose them this year. Every year, we want to give to local recreation, and to give somewhere where the funds are needed.”

Mullin was happy with the event’s success, but credited much of that to all the volunteers who helped in every way from selling tickets to weighing, cleaning and cooking fish. 

“Without all of them, this couldn’t have happened.”

[…]

Our local women (representing the Winchester Curling Club) were in some high level competitions recently. At the Senior Regional playdowns at the Quinte Curling Club, Wendy Casselman, Janet Thompson, Janet Levere and Janet LaPierre won their first match against Navy, but dropped their second and third games to Granite and the Ottawa Curling Club. The LaPierre rink was therefore eliminated. Congratulations on a fine run in the playdowns! 

The Rideau and Ottawa C.C. teams have advanced to the Provincials at Simcoe Feb. 22-26.

The Crystal Heart Bonspiel was played in Ottawa last week. Our people entered the tougher “open” competition. Wendy Casselman had Janet Thompson, Janet Levere and Janet LaPierre of Winchester with her again. They vanquished Carleton Heights, the RA and Rideau, but ran into a tough Lachine team for their first loss. As a result, they were relegated to the consolation final, where they defeated Rideau, then met Renfrew on Sunday a.m. in the semi-final and won there. Next it was on to the final against Lachine. Once again the Quebec club was victorious and took the consolation final.

Greta McGann, Susan McIntosh, Paula Locke and Claire Locke from our local club also competed at the Crystal Heart Classic. They defeated Buckingham and then RCMP before falling to that same Lachine foursome. Next they lost a tight match to Rideau, which eliminated them from further play. Well done everyone!

In other news, three of our senior men’s teams were in Winchester last week for a friendly bonspiel. 

Jack Barkley, Ted Herriman, Maurice Kolff and Jim Millard won their match, while Sam Locke, Arnold Barkley, Doug Jarvis and Bud Perry dropped theirs. Our third team of George Rutley, Neil Williams, Robert Martin and Rod McGill were victorious, ensuring boasting rights for the local boys. As usual, a good lunch and socializing followed, with some of our fellows even hurrying home to curl at Morrisburg in the afternoon. Apologies to any spares who replaced team members of record and were not mentioned.

On the same day, Sid Morrell, Raymond Benoit, Neil Williams and Al Harriman were in Russell for a bonspiel there. They won a tight first match against an R.A. Centre foursome, and after lunch handily defeated a Carleton Heights team to finish second by half a point in the 16-team bonspiel and take home prize money. 

Our second team, George Rutley, Karl Duncan, Jack Dikland and Earl Jeacle, had a tougher time of it, dropping their morning match to a Winchester quartet, and their afternoon game to a strong Cumberland team. Still, everyone enjoyed the luxurious four-sheet facility and beautiful new lounge, as well as the delicious roast pork dinner.

Playoffs are the norm for our senior men for the next while, as they prepare for the postponed Parnell finale on Friday, and the upcoming Sullivan bonspiel in Winchester.

Locally, there are still a few spots open for our Heart and Stroke bonspiel on Saturday, Feb. 18. Also, March 3 is the date for the Easter Seals, and then there’s the closing bonspiel on March 31. Don’t forget to sign up for these bonspiels, and to put your names down as volunteers to help keep things running.

Glen Cougler is at it again. This time it’s an in-house bonspiel for our senior curlers. It’s on from 8:30-12:30 on Friday. We have two stick teams already and are looking for 16 more curlers, with or without sticks. There will be two four-end games, with lunch to follow. The cost is $5, and the regularly-scheduled games (1 p.m.) will follow. Prizes and surprises are promised. Thanks again, Glen!

Good curling to all!

[…]