CHESTERVILLE – The puck dropped on the 2017-18 hockey season in the SDG county high school league this past week, with North Dundas District High School hosting the first of four tournaments December 13th.
The Seaway Spartans boys team were the first to take to the ice, facing off against host school and county rivals, the North Dundas Devils.
The Devils picked up the first goal when Adam Barkley sent a pass from Nicholas Brugmans top shelf, past Spartans goalie Brendan Shaver. Late in the period, Brad McLean made it 2-0 for the Devils, Brugmans had the assist on that goal as well.
Early in the second period, Curtis Barkley made it 3-0 for the Devils, set up by Joey Hannaford.
Two minutes later, Curran Gilmour put the Spartans on the scoreboard, Colin Minish and Travis McInnis assisted.
Just over two minutes later, Gilmour sent the puck past Devils goalie Mason McLeod again. The Spartans still trailed the Devils 3-2.
North Dundas drew a pair of late period penalties, giving Seaway the advantage for three minutes, including over a minute of five-on-three hockey. Even with the advantage, Seaway was unable to net the equalizer, falling to North Dundas 3-2.
In the second game of the day, the Spartans took on the Char-Lan Crusaders with a similar result.
Gilmour scored his third goal of day, to put the Spartans up 1-0 early in the first period.
Char-Lan answered back, tying the game four minutes later when Seamus MacDonald sent the puck past Shaver. The teams remained tied 1-1 heading into the second half of the game.
Seamus O’Connell scored two goals six minutes apart midway through the second half to put the Crusaders up 3-1 over the Spartans.
Colin Minish picked up his first goal of the high school season with three minutes remaining in the game. The Spartans tried to tie the game but were unsuccessful. Char-Lan won 3-2.
The North Dundas Devils came out of the first tournament day in the lead of the SDG county boys league having won all three of their games. Char-Lan is second, winning both of their games. St. Joe’s sits in third after a win and a tie for the day. Holy Trinity sits in fourth, having a tie and a loss for the day. Seaway is fifth in the league, and La Citadelle is in sixth place, having dropped both of their games. St. Lawrence, Cornwall Collegiate, Tagwi and Glengarry did not enter teams in the league this season.
The next league tournament day is in January in Morrisburg, hosted by Seaway.
Rough start for Spartan girls
CHESTERVILLE – The Seaway Spartans girls hockey team had a rough start to the 2017-18 SDG county high school league December 14th, dropping both of their games in Chesterville.
The team was missing their starting goalie, who was not cleared to play yet due to injury. With no backup goalie, the season was in question until Veronica Alfaro-Peters took up the position.
“If it wasn’t for Veronica stepping up, there wouldn’t have been a season for the team,” said head coach Carrie Gilmour. “I commend her for doing it.”
The Spartans faced off against their Dundas rivals, host North Dundas in the first match of the day.
North Dundas Devils scored early and did not stop, sending five goals past Alfaro-Peters in the first half. The Devils were able to hold the Spartans scoreless in the first half, with blocking eight shots on goal. The Devils led the Spartans 5-0 at half-time.
As Alfaro-Peters got use to the goalie position, she made some key saves in the second half. North Dundas took advantage of the situation however, scoring four more goals in the second half to win 9-0. In high school league games, goal differential is used to to break ties.
The Spartans regrouped to take on the Holy Trinity Falcons later in the day.
The Falcons put four goals past Alfaro-Peters in the first half to take a 4-0 lead. They added a fifth goal early in the second half to make extend their lead to 5-0.
Shayna VanBeilen spoiled the Falcon’s shut out attempt with 1:26 left in the game, set up by Henderson. The Falcons added one more with seconds left in the game. Final score, Falcons 6, Spartans 1.
North Dundas finished the day assuming first place in the league with their win over Char-Lan in the afternoon.
The high goal differential broke the tie with the Falcons for first place.
Holy Trinity sits in second place, St. Joe’s third, La Citadelle fourth, Tagwi fifth, Char-Lan sixth and Seaway seventh. St. Lawrence, Cornwall Collegiate and Glengarry did not enter teams in the league this season.
The next league tournament day is in January in Morrisburg, hosted by Seaway.