Ice Chips and Canoe Quips

Manitoulin 3 on 3 Tournament!

An amazing event was once again, able to operate, since the Covid Pandemic threat has been decreased. It is the time of year when teams get together in smaller groups, often based on their regular league teams and sometimes competitive sides who can draft friends to play with friends from other communities.

This lauded tournament, has been resurrected in a major way, and has attracted teams from all over the north. With teams as young as U9 (players aged under nine) to the elder states-people of the U18’s. The Mindemoya Minor Hockey volunteers came out strong and facilitated this experience for the kids and the local businesses. 

Reports from said organizers revealed that it was difficult to host everyone even with the M’Chigeeng sports complex. Teams had difficulty securing retail, rooms and restaurants for the weekend. Hopefully these future, major events will more efficiently, benefit local businesses.

As far as the results, hats off to: the U9 Excel Seagulls who defeated the Thunderbirds with a roster featuring: Andre Martel, Emmett Bouwmeester, Nolan Massicotte, Parker Donnelly, Cody Stack, Ryder Fulton, Hudson Leclair, Cruz Bourcier and Conner Bergeron!

In the U11 it was the DSI Shrinkwrap defeating AOK Chiefs. The Wraps included: Cordell Bouwmeester,Sophie Gagne, Jackson Lalonde, Zoey Paradis,  Kaiden Bergeron, Drake Desjardins, Caleb Sidock and Parker Polden-Woodley. 

In the U13, it was the Hellcats rising over the Brunswick House First Nation squad. Hail the players: Ryley Corbiere, Corrie Brown, Collin Goodfellow, Casey Bowerman, Nixon Azer, Landon Armstrong, Ozhaawshko Migwans and Nathan Quackenbush.

In the U15 class, Fountain Tire defeated the Espanola Express. The team roster featured: Mika Giroux, Deric Boisvert, Preston Wylie, Ethan Marshall, Noah Burns, Deagan Kingsley, Alex Lavigne, Hunter Levesque, Caleb Leclair and Charles Caissie.

In the vet category it was the U18 AES Lightning defeating the Cotton Candy Crusaders. The Lightnings’ included: Evan Roy, Liam Gray, Carter Thibodeau, Gavin Thibodeau, Gavin Gibson, Jake Patreau, Koen Palmquist, Alex Hopkinson, Owen Leblanc and Regan Houle.

Organizers are hoping for an even larger event next year. Can Manitoulin coordinate and cooperate to make this massive opportunity grow?

Provincial Level hockey!

OWHA U18 A Central East Division champion Sudbury Lady Wolves and captain, Mindemoya’s Delaney Bridgeman, were down in Toronto for the 3rd round of the playoffs on the weekend. The third round playoff format saw the champions of the 6 divisions divided into two groups, and face each other twice each. The Lady Wolves drew the Central champion Mississauga Hurricanes and East division champions Toronto Leaside Wildcats. Therefore, the team with the most points from each pool advances to the single game championship the next week. Opening last Saturday at Canlan in Scarborough, the girls took the first game 2 – 0 from Mississauga. Then it was off to Iceland in Mississauga for the Saturday night game that saw the girls win that one, 2 – 0 as well. 

On Sunday morning at York the girls were all over the Leaside team yet only managed 1 goal, but a shutout performance by Farrah Farstad made the one goal stand up, and the girls were 3 for 3.  That, Sunday afternoon at Leaside Gardens the girls’ long weekend of travel and hockey showed, and they came out flat. Down 1 – 0 early, the girls tied it, only to go down 2 – 1 almost immediately. They battled back hard, and in the third, Claudia Castellanos ripped a ‘wrister’ top shelf to tie it with just 5 minutes remaining. The Leaside team knew a tie meant they were done, so it was a timeout, goalie out with 1:55 remaining for the Wildcats. The offensive zone faceoff set piece worked like a charm, and Leaside went up 3 – 2 straight off the hop. Sudbury’s comeback ran out of time, and it was a 3 – 2 Wildcat win. 

This means the Lady Wolves have to wait and see the results of the Leaside versus Mississauga two game set Monday and Tuesday to see if their impressive, three for four weekend was enough to book a trip to Championship Weekend next week.

Hockey off the Rock!

Full disclosure, the following is about my nephew who plays house-league hockey down in the center of Toronto. Jacob Leblanc/Symington, a hockey aficionado, and player has toiled in downtown T.O. rinks for many years with limited (expensive) ice-time but has stuck with it, for the love of the game. Currently, he is an eighth grade student who has helped his team to the brink of their league championship. 

Jacob is another great touchstone of sports, in that he still plays despite difficulties. In their semi-final game, Jacob got the first goal of the game, after several days in bed with a migraine. Even within this little house league  he is on a very supportive team with coaches who have really focused on team play and having fun. You would think they had won the Stanley Cup when they all hug at the end of a game! Good luck, Jacob!

Unsung, sport enablers!

It is great to recognize Deb McLeod-Topash, who has not only been a high level, hockey official for many years, she still has been coaching in North Bay and/or Almaguin for about 13 years now. She is currently prepping her U11 team for Provincials in April. Thanks, Deb!

A good sport is good for sports
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