Elite athlete throws (up and eventually) down!
Congratulations to strength phenom Joseph Maxwell who competed at the Tennessee Challenge held in Clemson, South Carolina this past weekend. Maxwell, who has been having another good season, earned the silver medal with a throw of 18.96 metres (62 feet, 2.5 inches). He missed the gold by a mere four inches. On February 2, he picked up a fourth place finish in the Carolina Challenge. However, in his previous three meets he earned three consecutive gold medals. Great work, Joseph. Hard work obviously pays off.
Off their Rock hockey!
Zaagaasge Toulouse, who has been on the radar for a number of years as the next local athlete to watch, has more than earned this accolade. “Zee,” as she is known to many unaccustomed to her amazing name, is an all-around athlete who has been the name on everyone’s tongue from track and field to soccer and of course hockey.
She went to Toronto just before Christmas to try out for a girls’ spring team. She was offered the position in January and only last week, the coach of the 2006 team contacted her family and offered Zee a position on the Pro Development team.
So, the the 2006 Pro Development team are to fly to Milan, Italy and participate in several international games. This is where they split the girls up from their teams and mix them all up. Zee could end up playing for any of the other international teams. This is for two days then the team is off to Chamonix, France where they will play in the WSI tournament. For your information, all of the players came from all over Ontario. There were a couple from Sudbury, and others as far as Akwesasne, Quebec.
The WSI-World Select Teams include: two Russian teams, Sweden, Italian, Finnish, Canadian, East Coast and West Coast teams, as well as a Toronto All-Star squad destined to be Zaagaasge’s team.
Delaney Bridgeman and her AA Bantam Sudbury Lady Wolves teammates were looking to extend their season in Brampton on Saturday against the hometown Canadettes. The Canadettes entered Saturday with a 3 – 1 points lead in the first-to-four points series format after a 3 – 0 win and a 2 – 2 tie last weekend. Saturday, the Sudbury Lady Wolves team needed a victory to push it to a series-deciding overtime session. Four minutes into the first period, the Canadettes scored on a beautiful bang-bang ‘give and go’ play in tight. Near the end of the first Delaney and linemates Arijana Tuttle and Breanna Coyne crashed the net, banging at an uncovered puck and seemed to have notched the tying goal. Unfortunately, the referee was in a poor position and deemed the play dead. So despite the puck, to all witnesses, being some six inches over the goal line, Brampton’s 1 – 0 lead held up. Into the second and for most of the third the Sudbury side continued their efforts and dominated the play, producing chance after chance around the net with no result.
With the Lady Wolves needing a win, the Sudbury Lady Wolves’ defence was forced to emphasize offence, and those risky pinches repeatedly surrendered 2 on 1 and 3 on 1 breaks for Brampton. Luckily Sudbury’s goaltender Kianna Trottier seized these opportunities to let her spectacular play shine through as she repeatedly frustrated the Canadettes attempts to salt away the win. With under three minutes remaining in the game though Brampton inevitably capitalized on one such opportunity, making it 2 – 0 on yet another 2 on 1 break. The Canadettes added an empty netter with 16 seconds left for a 3 – 0 final, ending the Lady Wolves’ LLFHL season. Next up for the girls are the provincials in April. Work hard preparing, and good luck girls.
Panther Points!
The Manitoulin Panther Atom team had two games this past weekend. Although they lost both games there was some definite positive from their home and home series. First of all, because they were playing against the AA Sudbury Wolves, the Panthers had the massive Sudbury pool against them, but our home team was right in, in both games. In their first game, although a 6 to 1 loss, the team rallied together to bring the Wolves to the brink, although still brought down to a 3 – 2 Wolves’ edging. Good luck to the Atom Panthers as they are en route to Sault Ste. Marie this coming weekend for an always great-time tournament in the Soo.
A good sport is good for sports.
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