Manitoulin 3 on 3!
The Mindemoya Thunder organization held another great tournament, attracting teams from the Island and from away. This huge undertaking is the major fundraiser for the Central Manitoulin group and takes over the NEMI recreation centre in Little Current.
Unfortunately, rosters are not available but congratulations to the division winners. Max Wynn won for the U-18 division team, Espanola Dirty Laundry won the U-15s, the Weekend Warriors for the U-13s, the Mnising Tribe took the U-11s, while the Northshore Beavers U-9 got to hoist the cup!
Congratulations to all the participants and the Thunder thanks all of the teams and volunteers who allowed them to pull it off!
Off his Rock, hockey!
Congratulations to Kohyn Eshkawkogan and his North York Rangers who had an impressive run at this year’s OHL Cup. North York has been bouncing around the top-five of the best, U16 “AAA” team in Canada all season. They came to put their training and skills to the test in the 2024 OHL Cup that featured the top 20 U16 AAA teams from Ontario and the United States. The showcase ran this past weekend with all games being played at the Scotiabank Pond in Toronto.
Kohyn, who is a strong, shut-down D-man also has a knack for scoring and setting up his teammates too. In their round-robin match against Thunder Bay, Kohyn put all his skills on show, helping the Rangers remain undefeated to that point dominating T-Bay 7 – 2. Kohyn was awarded the player of the game with his one goal and three assist effort.
Kohyn’s skills on-ice are well established but he can handle a post-game interview with the best of them. When a reporter asked him about the Ranger’s offensive explosion the youngster answered like a seasoned veteran. Kohyn praised his team’s ability to create offence saying, “With our offence, we have such a strong fore-check with our great forward group, we just really like to get off the boards and get to the middle of the ice which helps our group generate so much offensively.”
The North York Rangers fought their way to the semi-finals where they met the Oakville Rangers (BTW, can team organizations, not find original names?) and were narrowly edged out by Oakville who went on to win the cup. Known as the “Ko-Show” to his team, Kohyn still had plenty of opportunity to show all the scouts that he deserves to be selected early in the upcoming OHL draft this spring. Great job, Kohyn!
Join Central Manitoulin youth baseball!
The Central Manitoulin Children’s Baseball Club is now taking registrations for the league until April 16th. There are three age groups that will play on Wednesday and Thursday evenings at the amazing ball field facilities in Mindemoya. The T-ball group (2017 – 2019 birth years) takes to the field first on Wednesdays. The ‘Senior’ set (2009 – 2012 birth dates) will take over the fields after the young ones. Thursdays are reserved for the Juniors (2013 – 2016).
The organizers have created an online registration form to be filled out before the deadline in two weeks. The league fee is only $30 and will include a jersey. The form also includes a section for those interested in lending assistance as a coach or manager. If you are interested, please join the CMCBC Facebook group.
Elliot Lake = Hockeyville!
Congratulations to the city of Elliot Lake and the organization committee that spearheaded the Kraft Hockeyville entry. The win includes an NHL exhibition game as well as a much needed $250,000 to help the beleaguered Centennial Arena. Hopefully, the arena will be deemed safe for play by next fall for the NHL game but if not they may still have to make use of another area arena. Thanks to all the Manitoulin voters who must have helped tip the balance in the Centennial’s favour!
