Ice Chips to Canoe Quips

Mustang runs at OFSAA!

Congratulations to James Scott who was the lone Manitoulin Secondary competitor who ran in the all-Ontario, cross country championships in Waterloo on Saturday. The Grade 9 speedster was very respectable against the best of the best, finishing 125th out of 250 starters.

Islanders run around the province

Congratulations to Judy Proux who travelled to Temiskaming Shores over the weekend for the annual Haunted Hustle. Judy finished the 10km in fine form.

Meanwhile fellow Little Current runner Steve Fessenden was in Niagara Falls for their International Marathon and turned in a quick 3:15 time for the 42km course.

The week before I missed congratulating Lindsay Setterington, Cassie Esposto and Macie Hughson who all finished the Scotiabank half marathon in Toronto.

Panther Points!

In this week’s Panther spotlight the bantams and peewees make the grade. With some early struggles in the super competitive division in the Nickel District League, the Grade 8-9ers had a very strong tournament last weekend at the West Ferris Early Bird with a win, a tie and one loss. They opened their event with a 3 to 3 tie against the host squad, West Ferris. On Saturday morning the local reps dug themselves a bit of a hole, down three nothing after two but the resilient squad never quit and managed to score two in the third to finish with a 4 – 2 loss to East Nipissing. Finally, the Panthers shut-out the Cobden side 2 – 0. Although the Panther’s record was equal to other teams, a playoff anomaly sent Manitoulin home.

In season play, the young squad is striving for their first win in the one-division league, where they as a “B” level team, toil against teams as high as “AA” caliber teams. This weekend they host Copper Cliff on Sunday at 6:00PM in Little Current. It should be a good game as they are just behind Copper Cliff in the standings. Good luck this weekend and the rest of the season team. The squad features: Jalen Waindubence, Connor Bellmore, Jacob Genereux, Zack Kategiannis, Parker Hall, Dakota Hare, Alex Ingram, Caleb Parks, Trenton Bailey, Kyle Debassige, Ethan Corbiere, Adam Goodfellow, Ashlyn Hare, Hunter Cranston, Jayden Little, Kennedy Sintal and Cole King. Hats off to the coaching staff: Brad Bailey, Peter Kategiannis, Peter Sintal, Jeremiah Corbiere, Mason Graham, Nancy Waddell and Heather Hall.

The Peewees were also in the Earlybird and had an amazing run in the Peewee “A” division. Starting Friday afternoon the locals served the opposition notice by laying waste to the North Bay Peewees 10 – 0. Saturday afternoon had the Panthers taking out the East Nipissing Vipers 3 – 1 but then losing 5 – 1 to the Parry Sound Shamrocks. With their 2 and 1 record and healthy goals for and against average the locals played the Vipers again in the Semis this time taking them 4 – 1. The win sent them back in against the Shamrocks for the championship game. The game was a much tighter game with great back and forth action but the Panthers just missed the mark, losing 3 – 2.

Congratulations on an excellent run team including: Ben Marshall, Carter Abotossaway, Lukas Abotossaway, Samuel Assinewai, Johnny Bushey, Kacey Debassige, Shannon Debassige, Noah Hare, Connor Langlois, Jonas Mejaki, Nyron Panamick, Jack Renwick, Zach Richer, Regan St. Amour and Boston Thibeault as well as team staff: Craig Abotossaway, Rob Marshall, Jason Abotossaway, Tim Renwick, Sundance Hare and Natasha Abotossaway. The team’s next home game is this coming Sunday (November 9th) at 4:30 when the Sudbury Major Atom Wolves will be howling in the NEMI Recreation Center. The Panther currently sit in 4th place in Division II of the NDHL while the Major Atom Wolves sit in 9th.

Great, Great North results

Anthony Pelletier of Birch Island is sitting atop the “AAA” Great North Midget League scoring with 27 points in just 15 games. To top off that already impressive stat, he did it all with just 4 penalty minutes! Anthony plays for the Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves who lead the GNML with 24 points with an 11-2-0-2 record just edging the Sault.

The other Islanders in the top-notch league play for the Nickel City Sons are currently in 5th place in the 7 team league but they have only played 11 games and have as many as 4 games in hand against other teams. Congratulations to MItchal Payette, Alex Smith and Thomas Hayden. Keep up the hard work guys!