Minor hockey fees unchanged, some new faces on the executive

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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With the South Dundas Peewee B House 1s and the Peewee B House Lion 2s heading into the fourth game of the five point Upper Canada Minor Hockey League series last night (Tuesday, March 26) a win by either team was needed to end it…and a tie to extend it to a fifth match.

The two evenly matched Lions teams played to an opening game 1-1 tie, Friday March 22, leaving the Mark Froats family the winner of the night with $1,000 raised through the Pack the Rink night.

Saturday, coach Rob Casselman’s #1 Lions turned it up a notch to claim a 4-2 victory and that was followed by a rebound from David Lapier’s #2 Lions on Sunday afternoon with a 7-3 win.

The community has been out in high numbers to support the two young teams with close to 300 fans, some cheering for both teams, attending each of the three games. And those 300 cheering fans have been entertained with some top notch hockey, offensively and defensively.

Both teams have been receiving solid goaltending and in each of the games, each of the two goaltenders Wes Alexander for the B1s and Sam Waytowich for the B2s have come up with some spectacular and very timely saves.

Friday night neither of the two teams could get an edge.

All even after series opener

After a scoreless first period, Lapier’s B2s went up 1-0 on an unassisted Dean Lapier goal, when he jumped on a turnover just inside the blue line and scored on a wrist shot from the high slot area.

Then midway through the third period, the B1s Kasper Furo set the Bennis brothers up for a two on one, and a beautiful passing play goal from Lucas to the stick of Jonah tied the game 1-1.

And that was it until Saturday afternoon, when the two teams skated onto the ice for game number two.

B1s take series lead

This time out Casselman’s B1s took charge early. Devin Dumoulin got it started with an unassisted first period goal and that held until early in the second when the B1s went up 2-0 on their power play.

This time it started when Jonah Bennis won the face off in the B2s end. He dropped it back to Connor Dumoulin who slid it to an unguarded Lucas Bennis at the corner of the B2s net and just 27 seconds into the second period the B1s were up 2-0.

But Lapier’s B2s came charging right back when Oakley Beavers slammed home a lose puck just over a minute later to tighten the count to 2-1.

The score held until late in the second period when Lucas Bennis counted his second of the game with help from line mate Connor Dumoulin.

Midway into the third period, while the B1s were again on their power play, another winning face off set the stage for a Connor Dumoulin goal when he picked off a rebound from a Brady Smith shot.

Lapier’s B2s got one back, a short-handed goal from the stick of Brody Smail assisted by Austin Robinson.

That left the BS with a 4-2 win and a three points to one lead in the five point series.

B2s Get Back Into It

In game three, Lapier’s B2s hit the ice looking to stay alive in the series, but quickly fell behind 2-0 in the first three minutes of the first  period.

Devin Dumoulin got it rolling for the B1s with a power-play goal, assisted by Jonah Bennis at 2:52 of the frame. Then at 3:04, the B1S went up 2-0, this time with Connor Dumoulin counting, and Jonah Bennis and Noah Keeler providing the setup.

At 7:21 of the first period, Lapier’s B 2s got one back with Trinity Hanes and Austin Robinson providing the setup up for a Julenea Barnhartd counter.

Then early in the second period, Adam Lapier (from Robinson and Smail) evened it 2-2.

The tie lasted less than a minute when, Jonah Bennis made it 3-2 for Casselman’s B2s with help from Kendrew Byers and Brady Smith.

At 7:07 of the second period, Lapier’s B2s again battled back this time with a power-play goal scored by Barnhartd and assisted by Adam Lapier and Brooke Lapier.

From then on it was a back and forth battle as the two Lions teams tried to gain an edge. No headway was made in the second period, and they skated into the third period still tied 3-3.

With 7:34 left in the game, Adam Lapier gave the B2s a 4-3 lead with help from Grant Wells and Colin Minish, and just over four minutes later, Brooke Lapier added the insurance, unassisted.

The Bs got their next goal from Grant Wells assisted by Bryce Bradford and they finished it off for the 7-3 victory with an empty net counter from Minish with 1:04 left in the game. 

Lapier’s B2 win Sunday, evened the series at three points apiece and pushed it to a fourth game played last night, Tuesday, March 26, starting at 6 p.m.

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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.

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