Mustang Gymnastics!
The MSS gymnastics team competed at the SDSSAA qualifiers last week, over two days in Sudbury (March 25 and March 27) against 12 other school teams.
In level 1, Alina Lefebvre placed 4th on vault, 7th on bars, 5th on beam, 7th on floor and third all-around. Avery Barnes placed 7th on vault, 9th on beam, 2nd on floor and 5th all-around. Marley Meawasige placed 8th on vault, 4th on beam, 3rd on floor and 6th all-around. All three level 1 (novice) gymnasts qualified for the NOSSA championship on all four apparatus. This team will attempt to defend the level 1 team title won last year by MSS gymnasts!
Level 2 was the largest level represented at the meet, with over 40 athletes competing. Co-captain Grace Pennie placed 5th on vault, 5th on bars and 3rd all-around. In addition to vault and bars, Grace also qualified for NOSSA on floor. Hazel Cooper rounded out the MSS level 2 team, and qualified for NOSSA on vault, beam, and floor.
Level 3 was the toughest competition for our athletes, and co-captain Aspen Debassige led the team by example and represented MSS well, placing 8th on bars, 9th on vault, and 8th all-around. Aspen will compete bars at the NOSSA championship coming up on April 8, back in Sudbury.
Coaches Jill Ferguson and Heather Theijsmeijer are super proud of the team, especially since this was the first competition ever, for four of them. Way to go Mustangs!
Panther Points!
This weekend the U15 Manitoulin Panthers had a tough loss on the ice in the NOHA “A” TOC championship game, but their silver medal marked the end of a great run for these Panthers.
Some of this group have been together for eight seasons, other players have joined throughout the years, and all have contributed to an unforgettable final season as they age out of the Manitoulin Panthers Association. These players spent the back end of their season on a 33-game winning streak. They didn’t lose or tie a game from December 8 to March 30.
Their record was 47-5-3 with 313 goals for and 79 goals against. The two Panther goalies, Liam Stephens and Sierra Elliott combined for 21 shutouts and a combined Goals Against Average of 1.4. The U15 Panthers started out their season strong with a championship banner in October from the Porcupine Icebreaker Tournament, followed by another championship banner in February from the Sault Peeewee Extravaganza Tournament. All the while the team remained undefeated in their regular season, capping that record off with gold hardware and the championship trophy in their Nickel District league playoffs.
Their Tournament of Champions ended their streak this weekend with a hard loss in the gold medal game. The 2024/25 U15 Manitoulin Panthers are Brayden Armstrong, Adrian Bois, Alex Bourcier, Casey Bowerman, Ryan Carter, Spencer Cortes, Roen Deschenes, Sierra Elliott, Collin Goodfellow, Kobe Mayers, Max McLeod, Ozhaawashko Migwans, Alexei Peltier, Cohen Rajotte, Bryden Romaniuk, Sean Simon and Liam Stephens.
Local caps season in Copper Cliff
Congratulations to Mindemoya’s Jack Bridgeman and his Copper Cliff U16 AA Reds teammates on a very successful season. The boys went 23-1-1 in the regular season, won the regional Silverstick in Sudbury, took home the championship at the Buffalo River Classic, interestingly, post Trump’s annexation threat, a time when a Canadian team on US soil drew extra scrutiny! Finally, they went to OT in the championship game at the Tournament of Champions in the Soo.
The TOCs were decided by a beautiful, overtime solo, cross-the-goal-mouth move scoring play. Unfortunately for Jack and the Reds it was a Soo guy who made that outstanding play. It wasn’t for lack of effort by the Reds though, who outshot the Soo 47 – 11, hit 3 posts (Jack had 2) and had what seemed to be the winning the goal called back as the net was deemed off the pegs!
Ultimately the Reds fell 4-3. Congrats to Jack though, who in an injury plagued season, managed to adjust his game and find success despite the injuries, ending up second in NOHA, ‘AA’ league goal scoring and making himself an integral part of the team’s success. There were a lot of special moments this season, but the boys huddling up after winning the championship in Buffalo and singing a spontaneous, full volume “Oh Canada” as celebration was definitely up there!
Youth Ball Tourney info!
Preparations are underway for the 6th Annual Mindemoya Youth Co-ed Softball Tournament that will be held on June 20, 21 and 22. The tournament is expected to reach its maximum of 36 teams. Last year, some 485 youth, age 5 to 19, participated! Lots of local businesses certainly benefitted!
Invitations have been sent out to last year’s teams and they have just two weeks to get their registration package sent in before the registrations are open to everyone! However, as of press time, half the spots have been filled, so to last year’s teams, don’t delay, get your registrations in or you might lose out! By-the-way, the tournament is under the guidance of chairperson, and new papa, Devin Lockeyer!
