Sports

With the end of the regular season now just a few weeks away, the Morrisburg Junior B Lions continue to entertain one of the longest losing streaks in team history.

This past weekend a pair of losses to the Prescott Flyers, 4-1 and the Gananoque Islanders, 4-2 brought their St. Lawrence Division stats to 27 losses in 30 games.

Friday night on home ice, the Lions managed just one goal against the visiting Prescott Flyers.

Drew Veenstra got that one on the Lions power play, with help from Chris Pearson and Michael Paquette, at 13:18 of the first period.

The 1-0 Lions advantage lasted until well into the second period, when the Flyers Patrick Rock evened it at 14:18 and Andrew DeKroom gave them a 2-1 lead at 15:41.

Early in the third, the Flyers went up 4-1 on goals by Ryan Romans and Trevor Kelecher.

Jarerett Pitt was in the Flyers net for the win, and John Gilmer handled the Lions loss. Pitt handled just 23 shots on net while Gilmer gave up four goals on 36 shots.

The Lions sat out seven minor penalties, while the Flyers were assessed  eight and a 10 minute misconduct for checking to the head.

Sunday night in Gananoque, the Islanders were first on the scoreboard with a Matt Tustin goal. 

In the last minute of the first period Liam Morrow, with help from A.J. Jarvis, counted for the Lions to even it.

The Islanders took charge in the second period with two unanswered counters, and went up 4-1 at 9:28 of the third.

Steven Savage scored on the Lions power play at 17:17 of the third to cut the gap to 4-2, but that was it.

Cole Blanchard and Drew Veenstra got the assists on the Savage goal.

Ryan Kaszuba was in net for the Islanders win, and John Gilmer handled the loss. Shots on net were 35 for the Islanders and 31 for the Lions.

The Lions were assessed eight minor penalties, a five minute fighting major and a game misconduct for checking from behind.

The Islanders sat out 12 minors, two five minute fighting majors, and a 10 minute misconduct.

Coming up this Friday night, January 10 the Lions are on the road to Westport. Sunday, January 12 they host the Char-Lan Rebels. 

[…]

 

The Morrisburg Junior B Lions finished out the year this past weekend with another two losses, the first to the Alexandria Glens, 7-5, and the second to the Akwesasne Wolves, 7-2. Both games were on the road.

Their Saturday night game, scheduled for Morrisburg, was cancelled due to the sudden death of Winchester Hawks coach, Tom Kirkwood, on December 16.

The Hawks cancelled all of their scheduled matches, which included the game in Morrisburg, out of respect and to mourn the loss of their coach. They will return to the ice this coming weekend.

Friday night, December 27, the Lions travelled to the Glengarry Sports Palace in Alexandria where they were handed a 7-5 loss by the Glens.

As in many of their past encounters, the Lions stayed with the Glens and gave them a good run, but couldn’t hold on. After trailing 2-1 at the end of the first period, they collected two consecutive goals in the early minutes of the second period to go up, 3-2.

But they couldn’t hold on. The Glens charged back with four in a row against goaltender John Gilmer, the fourth counter giving them a 6-3 advantage at 3:51 of the third period.

The Lions got one back from Chris Pearson at 10:59, and then at 18:59 a Christian Leger goal cut the gap to 6-5.

An empty net, Glens goal at 19:21 gave the Glens the 7-5 win.

Justin Rutley, Curtis Evans and Liam Morrow scored the Lions first three goals. 

Sunday, the Lions managed just one goal against the Akwesasne Wolves at the Anowarako:wa Arena.

That came at 11:50 of the second period from the stick of Zach Belaire.

Stevie Ray Adams led the Wolves attack with four goals.

Brock Daze, Hiio Herne and Chris Wert beat Lions goaltender John Gilmer for singles.

Coming up this Saturday, January 4, is the annual Rideau-St. Lawrence Showcase. This year’s Showcase between teams of the two divisions is being hosted by the Akwesasne Wolves.

The first game of the day is scheduled for 9:30 between Brockville and Char-Lan. The Lions will be on the ice against Prescott at noon. 

Sunday, January 5, they are on the road to Gananoque for a 7 p.m. game.

[…]

As promised, we have an update on results of the first half of the curling year. But before that, our thanks to the curling club executive and especially our ice technician, Wally Baker, whose prompt attention to an ice crisis is much appreciated. 

Our compressor broke down, and while waiting for the part and the replacement of it, games had to be cancelled, as the ice was out. Three days later, curlers were able to get back to curling, though we could see the outline of the brine lines through the ice surface that remained. Great recovery, folks!

Now to the curling: the Thursday morning mixed league wound up with the team of Jack Barkley, Keith Robinson, Bud Perry and Kevin Minish winning the Bank of Montreal trophy for finishing first in league play. Our thanks to the Morrisburg Community Living Association for supporting Kevin, one of their residents, in his desire to curl with us. Jack has been a great encouragement to Kevin at the rink, and for this last draw, Bud Perry arranged for Kevin to get a special small trophy with his winning team’s names on it. Kevin’s laughter and obvious pleasure at these outings has been a delight to us.

Curlers and their guests enjoyed the banquet catered by Subway, and Ruth Kelly, our hard-working coordinator, arranged a Christmas Quiz, complete with prizes for the winning team. The “quiz whizzes” were Sam Locke, Alice Thompson, Doug Jarvis, Linda Murphy and Philip Vinokuroff. The next draw begins on January 2, with several curlers missing, since the “snowbird season” is upon us.

The senior men finished their draw as well, with the team of Sid Morrell, Karl Duncan, Keith Robinson and Al Gowanlock winning the Bowman Trophy. Curling continues for them and all other leagues on the first week in January also.

The ladies, who partied on their last night, do not announce winners for their draws, and the Thursday night competitive league announces their results at the end of the year. Tuesday night men’s league results and those for Friday night were unavailable, and we’ll get those later. 

Because of cancellation for compressor problems, a tight league finish could delay results for the present. 

There are three rentals over the holidays, and Wally will be doing more work on the ice, including a much-needed flooding, so aside from the New Year’s Eve party and bonspiel, there’s nothing else to report until January. 

Next month we have a Parnell competition for the senior men, in Cornwall, as well as a bonspiel at our club for seniors. 

In addition, teams will be out to several clubs, including Navan, Granite and North Grenville. Another two-person bonspiel is scheduled, and of course our little rockers will be out in January as well.

See you then!

[…]

Due to the weekend ice storm there wasn’t a whole lot of Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey action, but before the bad weather arrived, the Morrisburg Lions were able to make the trip to Casselman, on Thursday night, December 19.

Results weren’t good for the St. Lawrence Division’s last place Lions as they were handed a 9-2 by the division’s leading Vikings. The win puts the Vikings’ record this season to 25 wins with just one loss and two losses in overtime.

The Vikings went up 3-0 over the Lions in the first period and then held a way out of reach, 7-0 advantage, after two.

Thierry Gibeault led the Vikings attack with four goals. Sebastien Planted added two, and Mark Hough, Gabriel Laurin and Devin Desnoyers counted singles.

Lions goaltender Brandon Chilton played just over 53 minutes of the game and was relieved by John Gilmer. Gianmarco De Meis was in net for the Vikings.

Scoring for the Lions was Isaac Brownlee with two goals.

The Vikings out shot the Lions 44 to 26.

Coming up on Friday, December 27th the Lions are on the road to Alexandria. Saturday night, December 28 they host the Winchester Hawks. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

 They will complete a three-game weekend on the road to take on Akwesasne on Sunday, December 29.

 

[…]

The South Dundas Midget B Rep Lions winning streak ended at 13 games here Friday night, December 17 when the South Grenville Rangers put together a last-second goal for a 1-0 win.

Josh Martineau was in net for the Lions in a game that was very evenly played and remained scoreless throughout the first and second periods.

Late in the third period, with the score tied 0-0, just 6.1 seconds left in the game and the Lions on the power play with a face-off in their end, Prescott pulled their goaltender in a last chance effort to earn the win.

The Lions lost the draw, which resulted with a South Grenville defenceman slap shot that beat Martineau with .3 seconds left on the clock and the Rangers claimed a 1-0 win to end the Lions winning streak at 13 games.

On Thursday, December 12, on home ice, the Lions for the first time this season defeated Cornwall, 6-4.

After the Lions went up 3-0, Cornwall got one past Lions goaltender Zach Frawley to end the first period 3-1.

Then early in the second, Cornwall charged back to count two in a row to even it at 3-3.

The Lions regrouped and got it going with a Toby Mullin goal from Tanner Hummel at 5:05. Thirty-one seconds later, Nick Lalonde, with help from David Plamondon, made it 5-3.

The visitors got one more to finish the second period behind 5-4.

Aaron Smith (from Trey Suddard) pushed the Lions lead to 6-4, less than one minute into the third period and Frawley was unbeatable in the Lions net for the remainder of the game to hold on to the win.

Coming up the South Dundas Midget Lions will compete in the Ottawa Bell Sensplex tournament, January 3-5. League play resumes Thursday, January 9 in Morrisburg at 8 p.m.

[…]

 

MORRISBURG–The Morrisburg Junior B Lions continued to give their opponents a run for their money in two games on the weekend, but once again, despite early leads, they were unable to cash in. 

Saturday night at the Char-Lan Rec Centre, they were handed a 6-3 loss by the St. Lawrence Division’s second place Rebels after holding a 3-2 lead heading into the third period.

Then on home ice Sunday afternoon, after going up 2-0 in the first two periods against Akwesasne, they gave up three in a row, in a 3-2 Wolves victory.

Saturday night in Williamstown, the Lions kept pace with the Rebels holding the first period to a one goal draw.

Michael Paquette, on the power play, put the Lions on board less than a minute into the game, but at 5:54 Kevin Veilleux beat Lions goaltender Brandon Chilton to even it.

Then at 3:56 of the second period, Zach Belaire counted for the Lions, again on their power play, for a 2-1 lead. They held on until 14:00 when Isaac Lavallee counted for the Rebels to make it a 2-2 game.

Just over one minute later Paquette counted his second to put the Lions ahead 3-2.

That lasted until 2:10 of the third period when Scott Hope counted to tie the game. At 6:01 he struck again for what would turn out to be the winner.

Alexandre Gendron made it 5-3 at 13:15 of the frame and Blain MacKay counted the final Rebels goal into the empty Lions net for the 6-3 win.

The game saw a total of 156 minutes in penalties handed out. This included eight five minute fighting majors and eight corresponding game misconducts.

Lions goaltender Brandon Chilton gave up five goals on 28 shots on net, while Alex  Boileau was beat three times on 15 Lions shots on net.

Sunday afternoon in Morrisburg, the Lions started strong with a Drew Veenstra goal assisted by Christian Leger and Chris Pearson at 6:20 of the first period.

Eric Evans made it 2-0 for the Lions less than one minute into the second period with Michael Paquette and Kieran Devine providing the assists.

But that was it.

The Wolves came charging back with their first goal from the stick of Dom Coyle at 9:51 of the second period. Then at 18:03 the Wolves power play went to work to even the game 2-2 with a Hayden Mancini counter.

The tie held until the last minutes of the third period, when Coyle connected for his second goal against Lions goaltender John Gilmer to give the Wolves a 3-2 win.

Just four minor penalties were assessed in the game, three of them to the Lions.

Cory Garrow was in net for the Wolves who out shot the Lions 32-23.

The Wolves are holding the St. Lawrence Division’s fourth spot, two points up on the Alexandria Glens. The Casselman Vikings are looking solid in first place with 50 points, while the Char-Lan Rebels and Winchester Hawks are battling for second place, the Rebels now holding 33 points to the Hawks 32.

Coming up this week, Thursday, December 19, the Lions are on the road to Casselman for a 7:30 p.m. match. This Saturday night, December 21st, they are at home to the Gananoque Islanders. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

[…]

 

Christmas is nearly here. We have no better indication of this than the weekend completion of our Christmas bonspiel. 

Fortunately for our health when discussing such matters with our iceman, there were no turkeys tossed down the ice, as happened when we used to call this a “turkey” bonspiel. It was fun though.

Wally McDonald and his cousin Kathy Kritchlow respectively won the door prizes on Saturday for the “guess the number of candy canes in the jar” prize and for the lovely basket of goodies. In addition there were a number of fine matches. 

The best score of the day came from prize winners Andy Patenaude, Greta McGann, Maurice Kolff and Denis Thibault. Also winning two games were Susan McIntosh, Betty Locke, Dave McIntosh and Jim Locke, while honourable mentions are owed to Al Herriman’s and Paul St. Pierre’s foursomes. The lunch was great, everyone admired the “new” kitchen, the ice was fast, and the rocks curled beautifully. Thanks to all who organized the event and helped pull things off.

Last Friday our senior men hosted three Cornwall teams in a friendly bonspiel. Andy Patenaude, Ted Herriman, Ron Beaupre and Peter Byvelds lost to the visitors, while Don O’Brien, Arnold Barkley, Wayne Pulfer and Lynn Loucks trounced their opponents. Raymond Benoit, Bud Perry, Sam Locke and Bob Bechard did their best, but let victory slip from their grasp to appear “friendly” to their big city opposition. 

The usual fine meal after the bonspiel was served and enjoyed by all, as was the humour. By the way, I called the matching counters “granite”, and they look like it, but I’ve been assured that our executive wouldn’t overspend. They do look great, though.

Four of our little rockers were in Manotick recently for their bonspiel and had a very good day. James Szuky, J.J. Charette, Tommy Derickz and Ewan Wilson beat Winchester 6-1 in their first game, and tied Vankleek Hill 2-2 in their second. Their final match, for first place, was a heartbreaker, a 4-2 loss to Navan. 

The win was soured for some when the Navan coach was caught giving signals to his team during the match. This is forbidden, since a time-out must be called for discussions with players during a match. The convenor spoke to the Navan coach, who promised never to do it again.

Sometimes people forget how they are supposed to behave when coaching young people. Hope the message is remembered. 

Anyway, our little rockers are off now until January 18, when they travel to Metcalfe. Well done folks! Good luck in Metcalfe.

There are still a few openings for the annual New Year’s Eve bonspiel, dance, and party. Sign up at the club if interested.

With wind-up matches and league parties coming up, some are thinking ahead to curling in the new year. We’ll have any details about the current draw, etc., next week, and that write-up will likely be the last until January.

Not that we’re boasting, but with the completion of the kitchen, entry ramp, and main floor handicapped washroom, the clubhouse is ready to entertain all renters for bonspiels, staff parties and other events as desired.

 

[…]

They were first on the score board here Sunday night. In fact, thanks to a two-goal effort from Michael Paquette, the Morrisburg Junior B Lions carried a 2-0 advantage against the hosting Athens Aeros into the second period. But that was it.

The Aeros dominated the next two periods, pulling ahead 5-2 by the end of the second period and counting another pair in the third as they skated to a 7-2 victory.

Ty Hannaford and Drew Powell led the Aeros scoring with two goals apiece while singles were scored by Mark Craig, Anthony Meehan and JP Augustine.

Taylor Eamon and Neil Woolfrey assisted Paquette on the two Lions counters.

John Gilmer was in net for the Lions. Gilmer gave up on seven goals on 46 shots on net, while Josh Power got the win for the Aeros. He gave up the two goals on 33 Lions shots.

A total of seven minor penalties were assessed, the Lions accounting for three.

In other action on the weekend, the Prospects Games featuring the Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s top 16 and 17 year olds was played at the JR Brisson Complex in Casselman.

The local St. Lawrence Division Prospects defeated the Metro Division 5-4, while the Rideau Division came out the winners over the Valley Division 6-4.

Lions defencemen Keiran Devine and Andrew Jarvis, both 17, and forward Isaac Brownlee, 16, played for the St. Lawrence Division Prospects.

The Casselman Vikings have begun to pull away from the rest of the teams in the St. Lawrence Division with 46 points. The Winchester Hawks are in second place with 32, while the Char-Lan Rebels are right on their heels with 30.

The Akwesasne Wolves and the Alexandria Glens are battling for fourth spot, the two tied with 23 points.

The Morrisburg Lions have five points.

Coming up on Saturday, December 14, the Lions are on the road for an 8 p.m. game against the Char-Lan Rebels. Sunday, December 15, they host Akwesasne. Game time is 2:30 p.m.

[…]

Six games of basketball ushered in the boys basketball season at Seaway last Wednesday, and when the final basket dropped it was the Spartans coming out on top of their four matches.

At the senior level, the Spartans posted victories over Tagwi Warriors, 46-42 and Rothwell-Osnabruck (RO) Lancers, 29-25. 

The Junior Spartans ran away with both of their games, 34-17 over Tagwi and 43-15 over Rothwell-Osnabruck.

The two Seaway teams are coached by Mark Lewis who was pleased with the day’s results considering the Spartans had gone 1-3 in an exhibition tournament a week earlier.

“We do have a lot of work to do, but the guys seem very committed to improving so that is promising,” says Lewis.

In other action, Tagwi picked up wins at the Senior level over RO, 51-46 and at the Junior level over RO, 30-24.

Under this year’s format, the SD&G boys basketball schedules are set up as tri-meets with three schools, at both the senior and junior levels, competing in the one day, six-game events. Each school will compete in three tri-meets, giving each team six game seasons.

Wednesday, the Junior Spartans got it rolling with a 34-17 win over the Tagwi Warriors.

Dillan Sullivan had a big game as he dropped 17 of the Spartans points.  Backing him was Clay Dumoulin with 11 points. Travis Barkley added two baskets and Randy Keller dropped a single.

H. Legue was the top Tagwi shooter with six points.

In their second game, the Spartans turned it up a notch to nab the Lancers for a 43-15 victory.

Again, Dillan Sullivan led the Spartan attack, this time accounting for 18 of their points, before retiring to the bench for the third quarter.

Travis Barkley was good for eight points and Randy Keller added seven. Casey Dean, Cal Bilmer and Griffin Patterson all added to the point total.

C. Bazinet was the top Lancers shooter.

“We are starting three grade 9 students in Griffin Patterson, Randy Keller and Travis Barkley,” says Lewis. “Clay Dumoulin and Dillan Sullivan round out the starting five. We are raw and have lots to learn, but we have been practicing three mornings a week at 6 a.m. and they all seem to make it, so I know their desire to improve is there.”

The Senior Spartans got rolling with a 46-42 win over Tagwi.

AJ Jarvis and Zack Frawley led the Spartans with nine points apiece and Tanner Hummel contributed eight. Answering for Tagwi were Andrew Brambilla and Brett Ouderkirk each with none points.

In game two against Rothwell-Osnabruck, Tanner Hummel put together a 10 point effort in the 29-25 win. AJ Jarvis and Luke Strader added six points each and Devon Miller pocketed four.

Casey Winters answered with eight for the Lancers, Kale Wall had six, and Logan Kennedy five.

“The senior boys are doing extraordinarily well considering only two of them played last year. AJ Jarvis and Zack Frawley played last year in the very shortened season we had and none of the others have played for two years.”

“Again they are working hard and being very keen to improve. It will certainly be a process, but one that hopefully will end up with them developing into solid players and citizens in our community.”

Lewis says the two teams have been working on improving their defensive skills and he was pleased with what he saw Wednesday. “They were able to hold the other teams down and in spite of our offensive struggles, they kept the other teams from scoring too much. The offense will come, but will take a bit longer to gel. We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball as we had far too many turnovers. Better teams will take advantage of this and will hurt us down the road.”

[…]

The high school hockey season kicked off Monday, with Seaway hosting a six team tournament.

Playing in the first of this year’s four tournament setup were teams representing La Citadelle, North Dundas, St. Joe’s, Tagwi, Holy Trinity and Seaway.

Seaway opened against La Citadelle with a 3-1 loss and then fell victim to Holy Trinity, 2-1.

They got on the right track in their third game of the day with a 1-0 victory over North Dundas.

St. Joseph’s and Holy Trinity were undefeated for the day, St. Joe’s picking up wins over North Dundas 3-0 and Tagwi 71.

Holy Trinity defeated Tagwi 4-3 and Seaway 2-l.

The games are played in two, 20 minute periods.

In their opener, Brynn Gilmour put the Spartans on the scoreboard early in the first period.

La Citadelle charged back with two goals late in the first period and added their third less than one minute into the second period for the 3-1 win.

Seaway’s lone goal in their second game was scored late in the first period by Shannon VanMoorsel assisted by Gilmour and Kristin Veinotte.

Again the Spartans couldn’t hold on and Holy Trinity charged back for two goals against goaltender Taylor Van Allen in the second period for the 2-1 win.

For their final game of the tournament, the Spartans met North Dundas and handed their rivals from the north a 1-0 loss.

Brynn Gilmour, assisted by Teisha Mullin counted the winning goal and Bailey Hass was in net for the win.

Next tournament for Seaway is January 13.

[…]