Sports

 

Two big days of top-notch curling provided the action at the Morrisburg Curling Club on the weekend and when the last rock came to rest late Sunday afternoon, it was teams from Metcalfe and Winchester stealing the shows.

Both bonspiels involved two rinks each from the Russell, Winchester, Metcalfe and Morrisburg Curling Clubs.

In the ladies Broder Cup action on  Saturday, it was the two Winchester entries who claimed the wins.

The ‘A’ win went to the Winchester team skipped by Janet Lapier  The rink included Janet Levere, Janet Thompson and Rhonda Mark.

The Lapier rink kicked off the day by defeating Russell’s  Martha Stolk. In game two they defeated Morrisburg’s Susan McIntosh. 

Curling with McIntosh were Kathy Norg, Leanne McCooeye and Wendy Casselman. The McIntosh entry won their first game against Metcalfe’s Olivia Woods before being eliminated by Winchester.

For the final Winchester, met up with Greta McGann whose team members were Jenna Herrington, Cathy Hardy and Rachelle Eves.

The McGann team opened by knocking off Metcalfe’s Sue Stacey. They upended Russell’s Jill Miller in the semi-final to advance to the championship.

Lapier struck early in the final with a four point first end. Although McGann hung in, she was never able to recover from the deficit.

Winchester’s Tina Asselin skipped her rink to the B championship, by defeating Russell’s Martha Stolk. Team members were Mandy Peddle, Diane Spurr and Joyce Ouelette.   

In the Little Rocks ‘Big 4’ action, Sunday, it came down to the wire between the two Metcalfe teams, with the Ally Broadhurst team claiming the win. Curling for Broadhurst were Emma Lee, Kaitlyn Kennedy and Katie Broadhurst. They defeated their fellow Metcalfe rink of Jocelyn Taylor, Maren Cott, Caroline Taylor and Victoria Estrada

Representing Morrisburg were rinks skipped by Kaeghan Lowson and Calvin Scott. Curling for Lowson were Kendrew Byers, Ewan Wilson and Nolan Belanger. For Scott the curlers were Emily Poirier, Wyatt Jones and Jonathan Charette.

The B championship was won by Russell’s Allyson Harvey, William Manion, Sophie Denko and Martha Lewis. They defeated Winchester’s Kelsey Angel in the final.

[…]

 

It’s been a busy week for curlers from the Morrisburg Curling Club.

Mahlon Locke, Kathy Norg, and Wendy and Jim Casselman competed in the Metcalfe Mushroom Bonspiel recently. There were 24 teams entered, 22 of which were from Ottawa. In their three games, our folks played three Navy teams. They played well, and came home with mushroom prizes.

Our day ladies entered a team in a Navan bonspiel last week, and came home victorious. Alice Thompson, Susan McIntosh, Betty Locke and Sharon Van Allen defeated a foursome from Carleton Heights in the morning, enjoyed a delicious lunch and went onto the ice for a match against the R.A. Centre representatives. As in the morning, the Morrisburg team dominated, and came home with the championship and the prize money.

On Saturday, the Morrisburg women hosted the Broder, a two-team, four club competition, featuring Morrisburg, Metcalfe, Winchester and Russell. Our Morrisburg team of Greta McGann, Jenna Harrington, Kathy Hardy and Rachelle Eves won their first game against a Metcalfe foursome, and their second against a team from Russell. This put them in the ‘A’ final in the evening against the top Winchester team. Our Morrisburg people played well in the eight-end match, but the skilful Winchester quartet were able to eke out a win for the trophy and prizes. 

Our second Morrisburg team of Susan McIntosh, Kathy Norg, Leanne McCooeye and Wendy Casselman won their first match against the other Metcalfe team, but dropped their second in a tight game with the other Winchester squad. Winchester went on to play Russell, and Russell shook hands before the 8th end. It was an enjoyable day, with a fine lunch, and a delicious evening meal catered by Bill Laurin and his committee. The other volunteers, including our ice technician and his committee, kept the day running smoothly and on time.

Sunday, January 22 saw our Little Rockers hosting their Big Four Bonspiel, with the same format. Morrisburg #1, Keaghan Lowson, Kendrew Byers, Ewan Wilson and Nolan Belanger dropped their first game to a Metcalfe foursome. Next they lost to Russell and were eliminated from further play. 

Our other team, Morrisburg #2, consisted of Calvin Scott, Emily Poirier, Wyatt Jones and Jonathan Charette. They lost their first match to Winchester #2. Next they played Russell #2, who went on to the playoff with Winchester and defeated them in the ‘B’ final. The two Metcalfe teams met in the A final, and they took home the ‘A’ shield.

The third of four Parnell competitions will be held in Prescott, Friday, with two Morrisburg teams attempting to wrest the Parnell Trophy back. Again this time, four local teams vied for the privilege, with the playoff games last Friday. Sid Morrell, Raymond Benoit, Neil Williams and Al Harriman did battle with Peter Zeran, Jack Dikland, Karl Duncan and Earl Jeacle. It was an exciting, seesaw match, with the winner decided on the final rock in the last end. The Morrell team will attend the Prescott competition. In the other game, Martin Schneckenburger, Ron Beaupre, George Rutley and Bud Perry played Jack Barkley, Dave King, Doug Jarvis and Andy Patenaude. Jack Barkley’s foursome was victorious there.

The mixed invitational bonspiel had to be cancelled because of low numbers. Instead, the Hugh Hutchinson funspiel will be on today, with 10 teams of senior men in competition for the Hutchinson Trophy, and the stick bonspiel is tomorrow.    

[…]

 

The South Dundas “Parcoll Products” Novice B Lions got back into the win column Thursday night with a 4-1 victory over the visiting South Grenville Rangers. 

Through the first three months of the season the Rangers were atop the East Division standings, and with this loss to the Lions, the Rangers are now in fourth place, behind the Brockville #2 Braves, Kemptville #2 Panthers and the Lions.

The Lions didn’t show any rust in the first period jumping out to a 2-0 lead, as they were coming off a two week layoff after winning the “A” Championship in the North Dundas Tournament in late December. 

Ben Lapier opened the scoring at 6:35 by grabbing a puck at the offensive blue line. Lapier broke into the zone on the right wing and let a shot go that after hitting the goalie’s stick, went up and over him and into the net.

Three minutes later Lapier struck again. 

The play started when Cassidy Bilmer made a defensive zone pass to Emytt Fetterly who made a breakout pass to Nolan Henry who moved the puck ahead to Lapier so that he could break in alone and bury a shot into the net.

The Rangers struck back on the power play with 35 seconds left in the period. 

They teams played a scoreless second thanks to some big saves by Lions net minder Brendan Shaver. 

The Line of Lapier, Nolan Henry and Kolby Latulippe scored twice more in the third period giving the Lions a 4-1 lead they would not relinquish. 

Emytt Fetterly gave a pass to Lapier who worked a give and go with Henry to free him up into the Rangers zone for Lapier to net his third of the game. 

A few minutes later, Lapier struck again from Spencer Barclay and Trent assisted on his fourth goal of the game. 

Assists on the day went to Nolan Henry (3), Emytt Fetterly (2), and Kolby Latulippe, Spencer Barclay, Trent Rae.

Saturday morning the Lions travelled to Cornwall to take on the Colts B1 team in exhibition play. 

After a well played game left the Lions down by a goal late, the line of Kayne McCadden, Lapier and Owen Fetterly combined to score the tying goal. 

McCadden gained possession of the puck and broke into the offensive zone before passing to Ben Lapier who got a shot away. The Colts goaltender left a rebound for Owen Fetterly to shoot into the open net.

The Lions battled back from a 2-0 deficit thanks to the stick of Kayne McCadden who scored a natural hat-trick in the second period. He scored three straight times on three consecutive shifts, including a shorthanded goal. 

The Colts battled back with two of their own goals for a 4-3 lead before the Lion’s tying goal. 

Assists in the game went to, Emytt Fetterly (2), Joshua Broad (2), Cassidy Bilmer, Ben Lapier and Kayne McCadden.

The South Dundas “Parcoll Products” Novice B Lions next home game is Thursday, February 2nd at 7 p.m.vs. the Brockville #2 Braves.

[…]

 

It’s not a good position to be in, but for the second straight year the Morrisburg Junior B Lions find themselves inches away from a St. Lawrence Division playoff spot as they head down the home stretch.

With 10 games left on their schedule including a make-up game against Casselman (due to this past Friday night’s cancellation), the Lions will have to put together some exceptionally good hockey to continue to play past the weekend of February 11-12 when the regular season ends.

After Sunday afternoon’s home-ice loss to the division’s first place Winchester Hawks, 7-2, the Lions are looking at a tough road ahead.

Although they will only meet the Hawks once more, they have three encounters coming up against the equally as tough, second place Casselman Vikings.

They have two games left against the Char-Lan Rebels, the team they are currently trying to catch and overcome for the fourth and final St. Lawrence Division playoff spot.

Last year, at about this time, the charged up Lions reached into their hockey bags to come up with some big wins as they set their sights on a playoff spot. Winning their final seven consecutive encounters it was a Cinderella story as they slipped ahead of the Akwesasne Wolves right at the finish line.

Can they do it again this year? Time will tell. 

Sunday, without regular goaltender Mikel Dion who is sitting out a suspension, the Lions stayed with the Hawks through the first period.

Goaltender Ryan Cooper gave up just one first period counter and that to the Hawks Brent Simms.

The Hawks pulled ahead 3-0 in the second period before the Lions got on board with a Sylvester Bzdyl counter from Michel Lefebvre and Joel Marleau.

The Hawks added another two to close out the second in the lead 5-1.

The Lions final goal was scored  early in the third period on their power play, when Lefebvre and Michael Keenan provided the set up for Alex Steingruber.

The Hawks drew 10 minor penalties and a misconduct while the Lions sat out five minors. Shots on net were equal at 33, and Matt Quirion handled the Hawks goaltending.

The Hawks demonstrated the depth of their bench with a pair of goals from Dustin Tinkler, and singles from Brent Simms, Nevin Guy, Brodie Boulanger, Brandon Belding and Brock Burge. 

Last night, Tuesday, January 17, the Lions had a must-win match against the Char-Lan Rebels.  Coming up this Friday night they are at home to the Akwesasne Wolves. Game time is 8:30 p.m.

Sunday, January 22 they are on the road to take on the Rideau Divison’s second place Gananoque. 

[…]

 

Coming up this Saturday, January 21, the Morrisburg ladies will host the Broder, a two-team, four club competition featuring Morrisburg, Metcalfe, Winchester and Russell. Three teams were interested in representing our club, so a two-day playoff was required.  

Greta McGann, Jenna Harrington, Kathy Hardy and Rachelle Eves played Susan McIntosh, Kathy Norg, Leanne McCooeye and Wendy Casselman last Saturday. Susan’s team emerged victorious, and they will be one of our champions for the competition.

Next, Greta’s foursome had to do battle with Amy and Ashly Cooper, Nancy Barkley and Anita Cooper on Sunday to fill the other spot. It was a tight, well-played match, but skip Greta McGann pulled out the win with a fine shot in the last end.

There will be some top-notch curling on Saturday, beginning at nine o’clock. See you there.

    Last week two of our ladies teams were in Ottawa at the Granite Club for their invitational bonspiel. Greta McGann, Kathy Hardy, Yvonne Mabo and Claire Locke won their first game against Carleton Heights. After a very good lunch they met a foursome from R.A Riverside in Ottawa. Unfortunately, Morrisburg dropped that match for a split on the day.

    Our other team, Alice Thompson, Susan McIntosh, Anita Cooper and Sharon Van Allen played a quartet from City View in their first game. The matches started a bit late, but the organizers still rang the bell to suspend play before the ladies could finish their final ends. This presented a problem for our folks, as they were unable to pull out a victory. After lunch they played a team from Navy and had a fine match, losing on the last rock in the final end. Nevertheless, it was a good day for both teams.

     Friday, January 13th saw our club host the senior men’s invitational bonspiel, the Bernie Brunt, with 12 teams present. Hudson, Quebec couldn’t make it because of the storm, and one other team was unable to come also. Don O’Brien, Raymond Benoit, Neil Williams and Jack Barkley filled in for one, and Martin Schneckenburger, Andy Patenaude, Dave King and Doug Jarvis handled the other. A delicious roast pork lunch was prepared by Joan Morrell and her committee, and the curlers in the early draw were enjoying it, watching those in the late game at work. Suddenly the lights went out. After checking with hydro and learning how long it would be until they could fix the problem, it was decided to serve lunch to the second group as well, and with the weather deteriorating, to cancel the bonspiel. 

It was a lot of planning and work for Jack Barkley and his committee and for Joan’s kitchen crew, but everyone raved over the meal, and went home happy, with some curling in, and a good portion of their entry fees returned. 

There were two teams from Winchester, two from Cornwall, three from Prescott, one from Maxville and one from Kingston. The chance to renew acquaintances for the day and visit with the others were positives as well. Tough luck, folks. It’s hard to outmaneuver Mother Nature if she’s determined. 

    On Sunday, Susan McIntosh and her committee were to host the second in the series of two-person ‘spiels, but it had to be cancelled.  

    Sunday, January 22 sees our Little Rockers hosting their Big Four Bonspiel, with double teams from Metcalfe, Russell and Winchester in attendance. 

    At press time, the mixed invitational is on next week, although with low numbers, and the stick bonspiel is going ahead then also.

Good curling to all!

[…]

 

Local water skier, Karen Stevens, finished off a hugely successful chapter in her water skiing accomplishments this past fall, when she represented Canada at the 2011 Pan Am games in Mexico, in October. At the games, Stevens scored three bronze medals for Canada, one each in the slalom and jump events and the third in a separate ‘overall’ three event competition (slalom, tricks and jumps).

Stevens, 22, described as “another in an endless stream of young rising stars in the sport in Canada” in an October 23 WaterSki & Wakeboard Canada story, finished an impressive third in the ‘overall’ at the Pan Am games behind gold medal winner Regina Jacques of the U.S. and Canadian teammate and silver medal winner Whitney McClintock of Cambridge, Ontario.

In the WaterSki & Wakeboard Canada article, Stevens was quoted saying, “The competition was tough. It’s awesome to come home with three medals. I’m very happy with the way it has gone.”

The Leader caught up with Stevens in December, when she was home for a visit.

Of her selection for the four-member Canadian team, the highest team selection of her skiing career to date, she said, “It was an honour to be picked for the Canadian team. It was pretty cool. We are a really young team (21 to 27 years). The coolest thing for me was that my medals contributed to Canada’s medal count.”

Making the trip to Mexico, for the Pan American games was Karen’s dad, Mark, who says, “It was really good. There were more people there than I have ever seen at a water ski competition. It was a very big week.”

“When they picked the Canadian team they were looking for a skier who they felt could get them three bronze medals,” he explained. “So she did what they wanted. It was truly an honour for her to be picked, and we were happy with her performance. She jumped her personal best and her tricks were close to her personal best. Unfortunately, her best event, slalom was down a bit.”

Mark, also an accomplished skier, says he is extremely proud of Karen, but admits, “It’s hard watching. It is definitely worse than skiing yourself.”

Karen concludes that it was an absolute thrill to compete at the Pan Am games and to be in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she says the athletes were treated ‘royally’.

Over 5,000 athletes representing 42 countries in over 30 sports competed at the Pan American Games which are a continental Americas’ version of the Olympic Games. Held every four years, they include the Olympic Program sports and others that are not part of the Olympic Games.

Canada is scheduled to host the next edition of the Games in 2015, in Toronto.

For the last four years, Karen has skied for the University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) ski team. This team is the most successful water ski team in the history of collegiate water skiing having won 20 plus national championships since 1979.

She has now completed the four-year Kinesiology Program at ULM. This winter she is completing the required internship for her ULM degree at the National Training Institute in Florida. She is now skiing competitively, focusing on the slalom pro tour events.

Karen has been water skiing pretty much since she could walk. She got her early training from her dad and grew up skiing with her younger siblings, brother Daniel and sister Janice, in the home bay east of Iroquois.

Karen was a strong skier for the ULM team and her rankings over the four years by the National Collegiate Water Skiing Association, an affiliate of the USA Water Ski Association, are quite impressive.

She completed her final ski season at the college level in 2010, finishing first in Slalom and fourth overall at the Division 1, U.S. Collegiate Nationals.

Final 2011 International Water Ski Association elite women’s slalom rankings have Karen ranked ninth in the world.

[…]

 

For what coach Thom Racine referred to as a must-win game, the Morrisburg Junior B Lions got off on the right foot here Friday night with a 5-2 win over the Char-Lan Rebels. But it was all down hill all the way, after that.

Unable to rub the sleep from their eyes Saturday morning, they gave up a 6-3 loss to the Rideau Division’s fourth place South Grenville Rangers at the Rideau-St. Lawrence showcase event in Winchester.

Then Sunday night on Cornwall Island, they followed it up with a 7-5 loss to the St. Lawrence Division’s last place Akwesasne Wolves. 

Racine admitted everyone was pumped for the must-win against the Rebels and didn’t save anything for the challenges against the Rangers and the Wolves.

As for Saturday’s game, both the Rangers and the Lions had games Friday night and it was tough for both to play first thing Saturday morning. He said simply, “they showed up and we didn’t. I could live with the South Grenville loss. They responded better than us.”

But he says the Akwesasne loss was tough and could eventually come back to haunt the Lions as they make their bid to catch the Char-Lan Rebels for the fourth and final St. Lawrence Division playoff spot.

“Akwesasne is playing for their pride right now. I told the guys if you don’t get ready to play them, they will beat you.”

“We have two games left against Char-Lan and one against Akwesasne, so there could be our season. The boys knew it. It was the quietest in our dress room that it’s been all year. ”

Although the Lions enjoyed the rare treat of a full squad for most of the weekend, Racine said it hurt when the two Veenstras, Clarke and Drew, were unable to play against Akwesasne as they had to return to Ottawa in preparation for their return to school on Monday morning. 

On a brighter note, the Lions plugged a hole on their defence with the signing of Joel Marleau, who has been with the Cornwall Colts.

The Akwesasne win pulled the Wolves to within eight points of the Lions who trail the fourth place Rebels by one point. With the chance that the Wolves could lay claim to a chunk of fourth place, Racine says, that any hopes the Lions might have had to deal with the Wolves for players by this past Tuesday’s January 10 deadline pretty much went out the door.

He said Monday, that it was unlikely the Lions would be make any other pre-deadline changes.

Friday night in Morrisburg, the Lions and the Rebels played to a 1-1 first period draw. At the end of the second period they were still even, at 2-2.

It was three unanswered Lions goals in the third that did the talking and cemented the 5-2 win.

Michel Lefebvre kicked it off on the Lions power play at 9:34, with help from Sylvester Bzdyl and Drew Veenstra.

Marc Antoine Kamel (from Brayden Girard) made it 4-2 at 11:29, and Lance Hodgson pushed it to 5-2 at 14:38 with Ryan Dunbar and Zach Sequin providing the assists.

Alex Steingruber (from Lefebvre and Michael Keenan) scored for the Lions in the first period, and Chris Rutley got goal number two in the second period, with Clarke and Drew Veenstra assisting.

Lions goaltender, Mikael Dion, gave up the Rebels’ goals to Grant MacDougal in the first period and Lawson MacDonald in the second.

Goaltender Ryan Cooper handled Saturday’s action as the Lions and Rangers played to a 2-2 draw in the first period.

The Rangers went up 3-2 at 6:50 of the second period, but the Lions kept it even with a Ryan Ward power play goal (from Rutley and Keenan)at 8:21.

It was a short-handed goal, two in fact, that made the difference as the Rangers charged ahead with three unanswered counters, all scored in the second period, for the 6-3 win.

Michael Poapst (from Brayden Girard and Keenan) and Keenan (from Steingruber and Michaels Paquette) scored the Lions first period goals.

Sunday night against the Wolves, the Lions led after 20 minutes of play on a Michael Poapst power play goal assisted by Paquette and Ward.

Lefebvre (from Steingruber and Bzdyl) put them up 2-0 early in the second period.

Although Amo Connor cut their advantage to 2-1, a mere 35 seconds later, the Lions hung in with a Lance Hodgson goal assisted by Kamel and Girard.

A Wolves power-play goal at 15:12 again sliced into the Lions lead, and 23 seconds later they tied it 3-3.

The Hodgson then stepped in to again put the Lions up, Ty Hodgson popping the puck into the net with a Lance Hodgson assist.

Then it was back in the Wolves court as they used the final three minutes of the frame to push the Wolves ahead 5-4.

It was also at the end of the period, that the Lions lost the services of goaltender Mikael Dion. 

“Mikael drew a match penalty. They (the Wolves) got under his skin and unfortunately, he lost his cool and reacted poorly. So we went into the third period, behind 5-4, with four minutes of penalties to kill and Ryan Cooper in net. But we tied the game with a short handed goal thanks to Ryan Ward working extra hard.”

The goal came less than two minutes in when Ward set up Sylvester Bzdyl.

But that was it. Matthew Morin, on a break away, beat Cooper at 11:10 of the third for a 6-5 lead and Keith Sloan made it 7-5 with 3:51 left on the clock.

Coming up this weekend, the Lions are at home for two games.

Friday night they host the St. Lawrence Division’s second place Casselman Vikings at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, the first place Winchester Hawks  will be in town for a 2:30 p.m. start.

“It will be a tough weekend. We will be playing without Mikael, as he will probably get three games from the suspension,” says Racine. “But I have total confidence in Ryan. He came in, in relief Sunday night and played well.”

With the Vikings trailing the Hawks by just two points in the division standings, both will be playing hard for wins.

 

[…]

 

The South Dundas Atom B 1 Lions had plenty of reason to celebrate this past holiday season when they won bronze medals at the annual Ottawa Bell Capital Cup held from December 28 to January 1st. 

The Lions opened their play with a 2-2 tie against the Kanata Spitfires. 

In game two, they came back to crush the West End Eagles with a smashing shutout score of 7-0.

In game three, it was another shutout performance from goaltender Sam Waytowich, as the Lions collected a 4-0 victory against Almonte-Pakenham Thunder. 

Waytowich made several stunning saves to preserve his shut out.

With their undefeated record, the Lions then advanced to quarter final action where they met the South End Phantoms.

Both teams played tough and after three periods the game was tied 4-4. 

Three grueling overtime periods followed, and the Lions finally claimed the 5-4 win while playing a meager one on one. 

For the semifinal, the Lions met the eventual tournament winners, the Pembroke Panthers, who handed them a 4-1 loss. After defeating the Lions, the Panthers skated to a gold medal 4-2 victory over Kemptville.

The semi-final loss left the Lions with the Bell Capital Cup bronze title for Atom B House.

A tournament highlight for the Lions was the offensive performance of Jackson Thom who placed fifth out of more than 600 players for goal scoring during the round robin. 

Collectively, the Lions gave a great team performance for their bronze medals.

This year marked the 13th running of the Bell Capital Cup, a tournament that attracts atom and peewee teams from across Canada, the United States and around the world in 19 divisions. Hundreds of youngsters were involved in the playing of some 850 hockey games during the five day event.

[…]

 

Last Thursday, January 5, the South Dundas Novice C Lions dominated the ice in a South Stormont Tournament to skate away with the ‘A’ championship with a 9-4 win over the  South Stormont Selects C#1s. In their first game, the Lions defeated the St. Isidore Aigles, 4-3. They followed that up with a solid 9-1 victory over the Char-Lan Rebels to earn entry into the championship final. Winning individual MVP awards were goaltender Brett Froats, Duncan Hutt and Callahan Staye. Pictured above, the champs are front, l-r, Owen Paterson, Maclean Machan, Nate Paulino, T.J. Barnhartd, Stefan Kronstal and goalie Brett Froats. Centre row are Dryden Buter, Sean Nicolaassen, Scott Brooks, Callahan Staye, Duncan Hutt and Isaac Orendi. Back, l-r, are the coaching staff of George Menges, Mark Froats, Kelly Buter, Michelle Paulino and Chris Paulino.

[…]

 

The club held its first New Year’s Eve bonspiel and party for some years, and our president, Mahlon Locke, tells us it went well and that they hope to have another one next year. There was a full slate of curlers, with the top athletes on the evening being Sam Locke and Rachelle Eaves, with Rick Mackenzie and Janie Connolly right behind them. 

The participants played two-person games first, and in their second games combined high and low scorers for a four-end match, with each one skipping for an end. Finally, the third game involved draws to the button, with final scores reflecting total points earned. With television coverage of the New Year’s Eve entertainment in certain large venues to augment their own, the revelers eventually headed home after a great evening. 

The event was open to non-curlers, as well as former members and friends. It was a great mix of people, and we’ll look forward to the renewal of festivities next year.  

     The senior men’s playoff last Wednesday saw Martin Schneckenburger, Wally McDonald, George Rutley and Ron Brown drawn against Pete Zeran, Jack Dikland, Karl Duncan and Earl Jeacle. It was well-curled game, with Martin’s team triumphing on the last rock of the ten-end match. They would join our other champions in Cornwall for the Parnell competition on Friday. Jack Barkley, Doug Jarvis, Maurice Kolff and Andy Patenaude curled Sid Morrell, Neil Williams, Raymond Benoit and Al Harriman. Each team won four ends, but the Morrell foursome emerged as the winners. Good competition as always in these elimination matches.

     On Thursday a senior mixed team ventured to Alexandria for their one game bonspiel. Steve and Alice Thompson, Keith Robinson and Sharon Van Allen took to the ice against two Mount Royal fellows and two late replacements from the local area. The Morrisburgers could only win three ends against this fine group, who won the overall championship among the eighteen teams in the competition. 

In spite of it all, it was a wonderful day, and our representatives met many fine people, including twelve the teams from the province of Quebec. We’ll be back next year!     

     In the Parnell in Cornwall, our champions acquitted themselves well, splitting their matches. Sid Morrell, Neil Williams, Raymond Benoit and Al Harriman dropped their first game to the Prescott foursome that won the trophy, but defeated Lancaster in their second. Martin Schneckenburger, Wally McDonald, George Rutley and Ron Brown were squeezed out in their first game against Lancaster, but managed a huge win against the top Cornwall team. The highlight of the match was a shot by skip Martin, slipping his shot between two tight guards to knock out the enemy shot stone to lie and win the match. Don and Sally O’Brien were there to support our teams. Good to see them there, even behind the glass. 

     Glen Cougler’s stick bonspiel had 10 teams confirmed at time of writing, two from our club. It should be interesting to watch this fine invitational bonspiel.

     Susan McIntosh’s next two-person bonspiel is also on this month. There’s a sign-up sheet in the lounge.

    With 10 teams signed up for Thursday morning we’ve had to go to 9 and 11:15 a.m.

starting times to get everyone playing each week. Unless there’s a new schedule out, the plan is to have teams formerly on a bye play in the 11:15 a.m. draw each time. It’s good to see the daytime mixed numbers so high. 

Good curling!

[…]