Mustang gymnasts shine at NOSSA!
The Manitoulin Secondary School Mustang gymnastics team finished their season in fine form at the NOSSA Championships in Sudbury yesterday, posting these results: Maren Kasunich is now the NOSSA champion of Level 1 Vault and Manitoulin Secondary placed second as an overall Level 1 Team!
Other top 10 results include: Level 1 Vault: Aspen Debassige – 4th; Level 1 Bars: Aspen Debassige – 4th; Level 1 Beam: Aspen Debassige – 4th, Maren Kasunich – 7th, Hailey Ferguson – 9th; Level 1 Floor: Aspen Debassige – 4th.
These Mustang results are significant when you consider that there were 13 schools represented at the NOSSA Championship, with over 80 athletes competing! The team’s coaches, Jill Ferguson and Heather Theijsmeijer, are extremely proud of these athletes, and look forward to building the team next year with level 1 and level 2 gymnasts.
Panthers Pounce!
The Manitoulin Panther U13s had a great weekend at their NOHA Tournament of Champions played out in Sturgeon Falls! The Panthers played in the “A” division against teams from all over the North. Teams in the “A” division hailed from far and near including Hearst, Cochrane, Sudbury, Kapuskasing, North Bay and the Sault! The Panthers finished the round robin portion with an even 1-1-2 record but with a positive goal differential to put them in the finals.
Bright and early on Sunday morning the Island kids were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in their semi-final game against the home-town favourites West Nipissing Sting. The Sting scored first in the first but the Panthers responded with three in the second period and three in the third to take the game easily 6-3. Later that afternoon, in the Championship final the Panther were pitted against the Temiskaming Shores Puckhounds. After a close checking and scoreless first period the Hounds scored two in the second including one power-play marker. The Panthers tried to mount a comeback in the third and managed just one and took the silver medal! Congratulations Panthers!
Sudbury Lady Wolves come close!
Mindemoya’s Delaney ‘Boog’ Bridgeman, captain of the U18A Sudbury Lady Wolves (SLW) had a strong weekend but just didn’t quite get the outcome they hoped for. Unfortunately, the Leaside Wildcats team that split with the Lady Wolves last Sunday won their set Tuesday and Wednesday against Mississauga to tie the SLW with 6 points, with Leaside moving forward on goal differential, a difficult way to go down! The Wildcats then also won the championship!
The girls came very close, and it would have been nice to see how they would have done had they not had to play four full length playoff games in 30 hours. In the end, Delaney and her team came up 1:48 seconds short in the 4th game. The Sudbury side are off to the provincials this weekend, where the playing field is a little more level and the girls are hopeful of a better outcome. Go Boog, go!
Missing from March 22!
As mentioned in this column last week, the MMHA’s playoffs were exciting, whether teams were skating for the “B” trophy in the U9s or battling for Island supremacy in U18. Having just provided tem results and some names, I know there are some who would be interested in the offensive details of some of the series. The following, is a quick synopsis of the games detailing details gleaned from the scoresheets. Over the years I have written that I often have difficulty, only just mentioning offensive stats because hockey is a team game and the scoresheet doesn’t paint the whole picture. However, here are the deets with apologies for any game-sheet misspellings!
In the U18 championship deciding game three, Xavi Mara put Mindemoya up by one and TJ Green added a marker to make it 2 – 0 Thunder. Davin Deschenes brought LC to within 1 at the end of the 1st. Jared Toope evened it at 2 – 2 in the 2nd, and the season came down to a final period to decide the champion. In the third, Brodie Pennie scored the game and championship winner with 6 minutes to go, Cash Duchene-Milne added the insurance marker 3 minutes later and the Mindemoya Thunder were the 2022-2023 Island U18 Champs!
In the U15 division, there were six teams. This meant that the top four teams went straight to the single game elimination round 1 format, while the 5th and 6th place teams played in a best-of-three ‘B’ Division playoff. In the ‘B’ Division, the M’Chigeeng Thunderbirds took the series 2 games to 0 from the Little Current Flyers with a decisive 5 – 0 opener, goals from Riel Beam (2), O Migwans, Ayden Louks and Lordes Taukei. In the second game it was 2 – 1 for the Thunderbirds with goals from O Migwans and Landon Armstrong, while Kian Corbierre notched Little Current’s lone marker of the series.
In the ‘A’ division finals on Friday March 3rd the Thunder outdid themselves, scoring 12 in the first before romping to a 15 – 1 first game win. Goal scorers for the Thunder were Jack Bridgeman (9), Corie Brown (2), Ethan Ense, Lucas Brown, Tristan Cyr and Kohan Campbell. Wasmowin Beaudry scored for the Hawks. In game 2 on Monday March 6th, the Thunder won the series, finishing the season undefeated with a record of 26 – 0 – 1, with an 11 – 3 win. Scoring for the Thunder were Jack Bridgeman (6), Tristan Cyr (2), Lucas Brown (2) and Kohan Campbell. Countering for the Hawks were Paquis Trudeau, Wasmowin Beaudry, and Avery McDonald. Congratulations to all participants on an excellent season, and to you Mindemoya, on an undefeated championship year!
In U13 game 1 of the ‘B’ final series, Clytie Mishibinijima put the Lightning on the board first, while Breeze Oasawamick and Terran Eshkawkogan countered for the Thunder to take a 2 – 1 lead into the 2nd. Brayden Armstrong tied it up at 2 – 2 for the Lightning in the second, before Brayden Wabano notched the game winner for the Thunder on the power play in the 3rd for a 3 – 2 Thunder Hawks win. In game 2 the Lightning came out flying, with Brayden Armstrong netting a pair and Clytie getting one to set a 3 – 0 1st period lead. In the second, Lily Kanasawe, Aidan Kanasawe and Clytie added three more to carry a 6 – 0 lead into the third. Breeze Osawamick got the Thunder on the board in the 3rd to make it 6 – 1, then Clytie answered back, with Brayden Wabano getting the Thunder’s second and the 7 – 2 final set up a decisive game 3. Game 3 was one for the ages, with Michael Myers opening it for the Thunder, who was then countered by Brayden Armstrong of the Lightning, and the pattern was set. In the second, Clayton Pedoniquotte put the Thunder up 2 – 1, and Aidan Kanasawe of the Thunder tied it. In the 3rd Michael put the Thunder up 3-2, and Aidan tied it yet again. Then the pattern was broken as the 1st OT period ended with no goal. In the 2nd OT period, Marissa Ominika put the series away and the Thunder had a 4 – 3 OT series win!
In the ‘A’ finals, Casey Bowerman got LC off to a 1 – 0 start before Alexei Pelletier evened it at ones just 13 seconds later. In the 2nd Liam Metus put the Wolves up 2 – 1, then in the 3rd he potted 2 more to make it a natural hatty before Josh McComb got the No. 5 goal. Mia Tomaselli got a power play marker for the Flyers in the 3rd, but that was all, and the Wolves had game 1 by a 5 – 2 count. In game 2, after a scoreless 1st, Manitowaning notched 3 in the 2nd, with 2 from Hudson Roque and one from Alexei Pelletier, then four more in the 3rd, from Josh, Track Cyr, Liam, and Alexei. Down 7 – 0 in the 3rd LC nobly attempted a comeback, with Collin Goodfellow marking 2 and Elena Anaya one, but the lead proved too much for the Flyers to overcome and the Manitowaning Wolves 7 – 3 win capped an undefeated 26 – 0 -1 season with the island championship!
In U11 there were ‘A’ and ‘B’ division series. In the ‘B’ final, the Manitowaning Wolves faced the Wiikwemkoong Hawks and were up one game in the best of three, the Manitowaning side came out strong in game 2, with Cohen Metus, Adriella and Trapper putting the Wolves up 3 – 0 after 1. Wiky fought back hard in the 2nd, with Jacen Simon netting one and Carter Shigwadja potting 2 to tie it at 3 – 3 going into the 3rd. When Miah Hughson put the Wolves up 4 – 3, Patience knotted it back up at 4 – 4 before Steven Gulyas scored the game and series winner and the insurance goal and the Manitowaning Wolves were the U11 ‘B’ champs with a 6 – 4 win.
In the finals, LC Flyers Orange vs Gore Bay Bruins, Boston Abotossoway opened the scoring for LC with the game’s lone 1st period marker. Scoring his second in the 2nd before Brody King got GB on the board, Boston netted his hat trick and the Orange Flyers ended the 2nd period up 3 – 1. GB’s Riley Hubbard opened the scoring in the 3rd, followed by Brody’s second and it was knotted at 3s before Boston scored his 5th and 6th of the game and delivered the Flyers game 1 of the series, 5 – 3. Game 2 saw the Bruins come out determined to get back into the series. Brody and Riley scoring again before Boston answered, leaving it 2 – 1 after the 1st. Jaxon Gravelle made it 3 – 1 GB at the start of the 2nd, before the Flyers fought back, with markers from Thomas Anderson, Boston again, and Kailyn Inglis, for a 4 – 3 LC lead entering the 3rd. In the final period, Riley scored for GB to tie it again, before Boston answered with 2, the second with just 57 seconds to go, to put LC up 6 – 4. But GB wasn’t done yet, and when Riley scored with 32 seconds to go, the packed house was on its feet for a nail biter of a finish, which the Flyers held on to win the game 6 – 5 and with that the championship, 2 games to 0. Congrats to both teams on an exciting final!
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