Off their Rock, hockey!
Billy Biedermann continues to impress for his Texan, Corpus Christi IceRays, scoring a goal and adding two assists over the weekend to garner an North American Hockey League (NAHL) ‘Honorable Mention’ in the same week as his goaltender, Bryant Marks, earned ‘Star of the Week’ notice.
Billy had a solid weekend scoring his seventh goal of the season in the first period Saturday to give the IceRays a 2-1 lead. He later dished off his 12th assist of the year on (Sudbury teammate) Pierson Sobush’s goal which gave Corpus Christi a 3-1 lead after two periods. Biedermann had also assisted on Anthony Cafarelli’s 12th goal of the season in the first period Friday to get the IceRays on the board 1-0.
Billy has seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points and fourth in team scoring. The IceRays are in the tough in the South division of the 32-team NAHL.
Meanwhile, slightly closer to home, Samuel Assinewai (14 G, 24 A – 38 Pts) has made the most of his opportunities this season and is now third in Sudbury Cubs scoring with 38 points through 23 games played. The forward is only two goals shy of his NOJHL career high of 16.
Samuel was on a three-game point streak that brings up his points per game average to 1.65 as he has only been able to play in 23 of 37 games.
Panther Points
This past weekend saw the Manitoulin Lady Panthers make the trip to Collingwood for the 1st Annual Thundersnow Classic. There were 50 teams present to participate in this fantastic weekend, including all age groups. The venues were great as well as the host organization. Coach Scot Hughson says he has to take his hat off to the Collingwood Girls’ Hockey Association for hosting such a great tournament. He will definitely be keeping this in mind for next year.
Their first game was Friday at 11 am against the Markham Stoufville Stars. The U18 Panthers played very well but lost in a nail biter 3-2. Our game MVP as selected by our amazing fans went out to #21 Zaagaasge “Zee” Toulouse. “As always, Zee was dominant from her point position in their own end as well as jumping in on the rush to provide them with Paul Coffey like offense throughout the game.” How about Cale Makar or Erin Ambrose, Mr. Hughson?! Their first goal scored by #7 Ava Corbiere was assisted by #13 Shaye Ominika and #16 Zahara Dube on the power-play. Their second tally was scored by the MVP, #21 Zaagaasge Toulouse, unassisted.
Their opponents for game two were the South Huron Sabres. The Sabres jumped out to an early 1-0 lead and the score stayed that way until they finally broke through with an empty Panther net and 1.2 seconds left on the clock to tie it at 1. What a finish! This game saw #7 Ava Corbiere earning MVP honours as she continued with her great play at both ends of the rink. Their goal was scored by Zee Toulouse, unassisted.
Their third game saw them playing against the host team, Collingwood Lightning. The Lightning came out really fast and continued to play hard throughout the entire game out shooting us 28-8. A great game by #68 Izzy Hughson between the pipes and earned game MVP. The final score was 2-1 for the Lightning with our lone goal scored by #13 Shaye Ominika assisted by #57 Abbie Heins.
For game four, the semi-final game, their opponents again were the South Huron Sabres. A great game was played by both teams. The referees noted at the end of the game that it was the best game they had been part of over the entire weekend. The final ended at 1-0 for the Sabres. No. 50 Ciera Sokoloski made some timely saves to keep us in the game right until the very end. As voted on by our fans, game MVP went to #44 Kara Peltier for her stellar defensive play, not just in this game but all weekend long.
The girls all played their hearts out leaving everything on the ice. It was a very exciting weekend of hockey and the future is bright for our squad. The grit and determination to never give up until the final buzzer is very admirable. Our entire staff and parents are very proud of this team. Great job girls!
This week sees the ladies with a bit of a lull in the action due to the curling taking place at the NEMI Rec Centre. They will be travelling to Sudbury to watch the Wolves take on the Battalion this Friday. Should prove to be a great team building event before we return to the ice to prepare for the play-downs coming up in February and playoffs in early March.
Fishing for Love!
The upcoming nuptials provide a chance for their friends and family to participate in a unique stag and doe type activity—ice-fishing of course. The “Stapleton Wedding” has Carly and Brian amassing quite a prize collection, now worth over $6,000! The format will be a live, video release for entered fish as well as draw prizes for the land-lubbers. Check out their post on Facebook for more details.
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