Galloping Mustangs
The Manitoulin Mustang boys’ team was on the road this weekend to take part in the 40th annual North Bay NDA high school tournament. The venerable event attracted teams from as far away as the Sault and Burlington. The ‘gold and black’ played some strong defensive hockey over the weekend, edging Chippewa 1-0; dropping a 1-0 game to Scollard Hall and beating West Ferris 2-1 to earn a quarter final berth. The Mustangs kept on rolling, doubling up on Superior Heights 2 -1 and 4-3 over Nelson in the semi finals. In the championship match it took double-overtime before Central Algoma scored to take the trophy, 3-2. Congratulations, guys.
The team picked up a point in league play last week after a 5-5 draw against Confederation. Picking up points were Matt Craig, Thomas Hayden, Colin Hicks, Sheldon Campbell and Tyler King. The team will have put their 3-1 and 2 record to the test this Monday in a road game against St. Charles. The team is now prepping for the Canlan Tournament this coming weekend in North York. Good luck Mustangs.
MMHA Spotlight
In the Manitoulin Minor Hockey Spotlight this week are the M’Chigeeng novice team. The young squad is currently in second place with 10 points. The kids will be getting into their game-shape a little quicker than most teams as each of their only, eight players get a lot of game-time. Have a good season boys and girls! Damion Debassige, Gabe Hare, Cierra Anwhatin, RJ Corbiere, Andrew Roy, Dylan Corbiere, Jermaine Jocko and Tyran Armstrong. The team is staffed by manager Jessie Debassige and coaches Rising Sun Hare, Dawn Debassige and Taneesha Hare.
Panthers on the prowl
Catching up with the Panthers from last weekend’s action, the Peewees also had some great success in the Soo Steel Blades Tournament. The young charges dominated the Minor A peewee division and didn’t lose a game. After tying their opener 3-all, they won by scores of 3 – 2, 5 – 1, 4 – 0 before winning their championship game 4 – 1 over the McDonald’s team.
This weekend, the peewees played in the very competitive Silver Stick tournament in Sudbury, however were not able to dominate as in the Sault. They gave it a great effort but were only able to manage a 1 and 3 record and did not make the playoffs. Catch up with the team this Sunday (December 15) at home in Little Current against Blind River.
The atoms, fresh off a Soo Steel Blades win, had a strong run in their Silver Stick tournament this weekend. The Atoms picked up 6 points in their 5 games and just ran out of steam in the atom A final 3 -1 against the North Bay Trappers. They won their semi on Saturday night with a last minute goal by Liam Bridgeman as well as goals by Noah Hare and Sam Assiniwe. The atoms host their next home game at 3 pm this Sunday against Copper Cliff.
Santa Shufflers
You have to admire runners who are still slogging it out at this time of the year. While a warm spring or fall day turns many of us into runners the truly tough brave the dark months. This past weekend a whole lot of the tough ones participated in the Santa Shuffle fundraiser for the Salvation Army in Sudbury. The Volpini Family of Little Current as well as Allison MacNeil and Joanne Peltier took the trip over to support the great cause.
Young Noah Volpini ran the 1K Elf Run and finished 14th out of 62 runners! Way to go Noah, keep up the good work. Noah’s Dad Mark ran the 5k finishing 33 out of 304 participants while Mom Melissa walked the 5K and finished 244 out of 304 participants all the while pushing a stroller with her niece and nephew. Speaking of family, the Volpinis were joined by seven other members of theirs at the event. Congratulations also go out to Evan, Mateo, Steve, Adria, Christine, Lee and Katherine.
Babstock reaches milestone
Wikwemikong’s Kelly Babstock continues to get recognition as one of the top players in US NCAA women’s hockey. The phenom, now a senior at Connecticut’s Quinnipiac University, was honoured by her school as the top female athlete of the month for November after a torrid scoring record where she potted five goals and assisted on 12 others! At that point Kelly was the top point-getter for the entire nation and helped her Bobcats rise to their highest ever NCAA ranking of 8th place. Then just recently she was named the ECAC’s player of the week thanks to another strong effort that saw her top the 100 assist mark, not to mention her 88 goals for her Bobcat career (Eastern College Athletic Conference that includes all of the Ivy League schools like Harvard, Princeton, Brown, etc.). Looking at the ECAC stats, Kelly currently holds the Top Points’ and Assists’ tally, she is 2nd in +/- with a +20 and is 3rd overall in goals with 12! Keep up the hard work, Kelly.
A good sport is good for sports
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