Panther Points
Congratulations to the Manitoulin Atom Panthers who won the Sudbury Nickel City Rocks Tournament this past weekend! The team had a very successful round robin, finishing Saturday night with 3 wins and 1 tie, a record put them in first place overall. The Atoms then had a 9am semifinal on Sunday against the Nickel City Crushers, which was an exciting, back-and-forth game ending in a 5-5 tie. The game went into overtime and a quick shot from Liam Bridgeman in front, ended the 4 on 4 overtime play.
The team went on to win the final against their rival Nickel City Vipers, who they battle it out with in regular season play, with a solid 6-2 win. Congratulations, Atoms Billy Biedermann, Delaney Bridgeman, Liam Bridgeman, Jesse Burella, Jared Cortes, Damion Debassige, Kal Debassige, Aysia Francis-Debassige, Gabe Hare, Hudson Hare, Riley Lockeyer, Jared Toope, Victoria Trudeau and goalies Macie Setterington and Todd Gordon. Also to coach Dean Hare, Assistants Sundance Hare, Jay Toope, Mason Graham, trainer Fawn Bridgeman and as always the under-recognized people behind the scenes: manager Stacey Lewis, treasurer/parent rep Melanie Cortes and fundraising coordinator Rachel Hare, who also do so much for the team.
Manitoulin Minor Spotlight
In the MMHA Spotlight this week is on the Little Current Bantam squad. The team, in the tightly contested bantam division, currently sits in fourth place but with only a single point dividing 2nd to 4th positions. The team has a couple of makeup games in hand and they hope to move up before playoffs begin and are gunning for wins.
One of their recent successes came at their annual trip to the Walden Minor Hockey Friendship Tournament a couple of weeks ago. The event, a highly competitive challenge, saw the Little Current side finish the round robin with two ties and a win putting them in the semi finals. Just making it to the semis was a huge team success and although they missed moving on they realized they lost to a strong team and eventual, silver medalists from Onaping Falls.
Keep up the hard work team, including players: Faith Taylor, Josh Robinson, Jacob Clark, Dylan Moggy, AJ Van Kesteren, Adam Williamson, Matt Roy, Ashton Kozeyah, Apryl Eadie, Savannah Corbiere, Ayden Farquhar, Ben Armstrong, Joey Van Kesteren and staff: coach Bryan Corbiere and Paul Van Kesteren and manager Nicole Taylor.
Espanola/Manitoulin Minor Midgets check-in
The Espanola minor midgets have been having a banner year. With just two games left in their 30 game schedule they are presently, just 3 points behind the Onaping Falls Huskies who have no games remaining. They play this Wednesday and Saturday for a chance to finish in first place provided of course they can pick the wins! The season record thus far is an impressive: 22 wins – 3 loses, and 3 ties.
Local members on the team include: Coach, Ray Moreau, Noah Moreau, Patrick Snowdon, Nathan Debassige, Kristen McGregor, Mskwoka McGregor, Theron McGregor, Byron Shawanda and Mike Megwanabe. Good luck to the team as they head to a tournament in Bradford on February 6-8 and then start their playoffs in Div1 of the round robin with the top 6 teams out of 12.
Wikwemikong stopper wins gold
Wikwemikong netminder Dana Lewis and her Sudbury Lady Wolves PeeWee B Squad competed at the 21st Annual Roadrunner Girls’ Tournament in Cambridge last weekend. The Wolves put on an amazing show as they went undefeated throughout the Tournament boasting a goal differential of GF-13 and GA-4.
The games were all very competitive and Dana’s net-minding skills were called on in every game. In their third match Dana was kicked out all shot to earn a well-fought 2 – 0 shut-out. Finally, in the gold medal game they held on to win a nail-biter: 2-1.
Dana and the Lady Wolves’, play-offs will be starting soon with only three more regular season games left on the schedule. Their play-downs also coming up in February against the North-Bay Ice Boltz, to see who goes to the Provincials in April. Finally, they wrap up with the Walter Gretzky All Girls Tournament. Good luck, Dana.
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