Save our arena!
Millions, billions, whatever! I reported that the ‘Save Our Arena’ pancake supper raised $1,150 to help repair the JH Burt arena in Mindemoya. Those tricky little decimals! It was $11,500 that Marie Ford and Karlene Scott’s effort raised, closer to $12,000!
The fundraising group has recently received some good news as Central Manitoulin council just approved $150 000 to go towards the repair. This annoucement coincidentally came after several Mindemoya Thunder, jersey wearing kids made a ‘presentation’ at the municipal office. Thanks again to all those who supported this important cause!
Manitoulin Selects have arrived!
The Manitoulin Selects have obviously filled a niche for Island kids to come together to play. The Selects have just been created this season and pulls kids from different communities to play on a common team to hit up house-league tournaments. It is not often that Manitoulin kids get a chance to be on a common team.
Kids who play on the Panthers have had this valued experience as were those in the sadly defunct Manitoulin spring soccer league when all players were drafted onto mixed teams. Of course, Manitoulin Secondary teams offer this but with few options similar for the elementary school aged. It may come as no surprise that community cliques become more entrenched by the time they become a Mustang.
In Niagara Falls this past weekend, the Manitoulin U15 Select Tournament Team competed in the Pete Ross Top Gun West Niagara Select Tournament and they won silver in the U15 championship round against the Ancaster Avalanche. The team was formed in February, made up of Island U15 house league players from all associations. They had no previous games and three practices. They played against teams that have been together for years; playing games and practicing for months. They had two wins and a loss to send them to the quarter finals in overtime and a shoot-out to advance to the championship round.
Congratulations to players: Taidym Gonawabi, Charles Skippen, Dylan Bebonang, William McKeown, Joshua McComb, Hudson Roque, Lucien Behm, Isaac Souliere, Ronan Bentley, Adam Spry, Collin Campbell, Isaac Lock, Cannon Lockyer, Finn Flanagan, Corie Brown, Nathan Quackenbush and Gian Dube. Benchstaff: Darren Brown, Curtis Flanagan, Janet McComb, Dawn Roque, and Joel Lock (away this weekend).
Next up to finish out their season is this weekend with exhibition games in North Bay at Pete Palangio Arena vs Nickel City Minor Hockey U15 Selects and North Bay Minor Hockey’s U15 Select at 5 pm! Have fun, all!
Panther Points!
This weekend, the Manitoulin Lady Panthers participated in the OWHA Provincial Championships in Toronto with 32 teams from across the province competing in the U18B Division. On Friday morning, the Ladies started their tournament off strong with a 3-1 win over the Mount Forest Rams. Later that evening, they faced the London Devilettes, resulting in a 1-1 tie. Their last Round Robin game was on Saturday morning, and the Lady Panthers clinched first place in their pool with a 2-1 win over the Nepean Wildcats.
The Quarterfinals saw the Panthers meet the Waterloo Ravens. In a nail-biter of a game, the Lady Panthers sealed their spot in the semifinals on Sunday morning with a 2-1 overtime win. The Lindsay Lynx put up a good semifinal fight, but the Panthers fought to make their way to the Championship game against a strong Kitchener Rangers team.
The final game was an intense back and forth battle that went into two overtime periods. In the end, the Panthers were silver medalists in a tight 2-1 game. Manitoulin’s own 2025 OWHA Provincial finalists are Ava Corbiere, Brinley Watson, Brynn Best, Carlynn Simon, Charmaine Webkamigad, Ciera Sokoloski, Emery Watson, Kara Atchitawens, Kayla Lockeyer, Lourdes Taukei, Megan Roszell, Niomi Tomaselli, Peyton Kaboni, Tessa Prior, Zee Toulouse and Zahara Dube. Bench Staff are Ryan Prior, Clayton Best, Jamie Peltier, Hailey Prior, Julie Roszell and Jayme Watson.
Mustang gymnasts medal!
The MSS Mustang gymnastics team had a strong showing for the 2025 NOSSA Gymnastics Championship on April 8th, co-hosted by Manitoulin Secondary and the GymZone Gymnastics Club in Sudbury. 93 athletes participated in the championship from 13 school teams, and included gymnasts from Level 1 (novice), to Level 6 (athletes with a great deal of experience in the sport, usually those training and competing at the provincial level).
In Level 1, the MSS team of Avery Barnes, Alina Lefebvre, and Marley Meawasige followed in their predecessor’s footsteps and brought home the Level 1 Team Champion title for the second year in a row. Individually, Avery won silver on beam and bronze on floor; Alina won gold on beam and 4th on bars; and Marley won silver on vault, silver on bars, 5th on beam, and 10th on floor.
In Level 2, newcomer to the team Hazel Cooper won silver on vault, and took 10th place on floor. Co-captain Grace Pennie (who helped lay the winning foundation on last year’s Level 1 champion team) led the team, competing with aplomb!
Co-captain Aspen Debassige, the team’s only Level 3 competitor this year, qualified for the championship at regional meets in March, but unfortunately was unable to compete on Tuesday. Both Grace and Aspen started training with the team during the pandemic, and led by example throughout the practices and competition.
“We begin training in November, so it’s a long season,” said co-coach Heather Theijsmeijer. “The athletes worked for months to develop new skills and represented MSS extremely well at this season’s meets.”
Coach Theijsmeijer, would like to thank the parents and relatives who helped drive the team members to the qualifiers and the championships this season, adding to the cheering section for the school at meets otherwise dominated by Sudbury teams.