Panther Time!
Congratulations to the U13 version of the Manitoulin Panthers who equaled their littermate U15s by also winning the NOHA Tournament of Champions! The Panthers played a hard-fought, back-and-forth game, eventually prevailing 4-3 over the Iroquois Fall Eskimos!
The Panthers roster (and jersey numbers) included: Adrian Bois #19, Brantley Lauber #30, Emmett Bourcier #12, Boston Abotossaway #6, Joshua McComb #16, Ryley Corbiere #17, Cohen Howe #21, Landon Armstrong #87, Lynndra Madahbee-Peltier #4, Caleb Sidock #89, Lachlan Crane #7, Casey Bowerman #61, Laila Mae Taibossigai #88, Anderson Bennett #97, Brayson McGregor #11, Jackson Lalonde #9, Evander Shawana #77. Their Head Coach was Ryan Corbiere, Assistant Coaches Derek Lalonde and Andrew Howe, Trainer Janet McComb and Goalie Coach was Josh Taibossigai.
Very impressive, Team, now go get ready for try-outs!
Smashing Volleyball Results for local ace!
Congratulations to Mya Balfe and her Northern Chill 16UG Blue Vortex who went almost perfect, only losing one match of this past weekend’s Ontario Volleyball Championships. Mya and team battled hard in the finals, just coming up short 25-23 in Division 3 Tier 1! Congrats on the Silver, Mya! Your hard work paid off!
Local Impresses at OHL Combine!
Congratulations to Kohyn Eshkawkogan, who took part in the OHL Combine this past weekend and will help teams make their decisions for the 2024 OHL draft next weekend! Best of luck, Kohyn!
U-18 Panther Update
There has not been a lot going on for the Lady Panthers since their victory to advance to Provincials. Scheduled exhibition games were cancelled due to a shortage of officials and even their practice ice-time has been limited. This week, though, they did manage to have a couple of exhibition games against the Sudbury Lady Wolves U15 BB team as they, too, look to tune up before Provincials coming up this weekend.
Thanks to Head Coach, Scot Hughson, who was able to record these details. Game 1 was Thursday in Sudbury and the Lady Wolves came out flying. They opened the scoring early in the first period and went on to capture a 4-0 victory. Ciera Sokoloski between the pipes played great to keep the score as it was as the long layoff was very evident for the rest of the squad.
Game 2 took place in Espanola on Sunday and our players vowed to find their stride for this game. Izzy Hughson got the start for this game in the goal, seeing her first game action in more than a month due to injury. Our Lady Panthers showed a lot more intensity for this game but got down 2-0. We had a lot of great scoring chances but could not manage to find the back of the net until late in the third when Gracie Gibson buried one past the Sudbury goalie to make it 2-1.
That was the way the game ended but our girls played a great game. Izzy made some great saves to keep the score at 2, giving our girls the chance to catch up, but an extremely well-played game by the Sudbury goalie prevented our comeback.
Scot was impressed. “Overall, I was very happy with the effort our team put in tonight. One practice left this week before we head to Toronto and we have a couple things to work on, but all in all I believe we are prepared to represent Manitoulin very well at Provincials.”
Game 1 for Lady Panthers will go Friday morning at 9:30 against the Ottawa Valley Thunder followed by Game 2 at 4:00 vs. the Kitchener Lady Rangers and Game 3 at 11:45 on Saturday against the Burlington Barracudas. All games will be streamed live on the Jenny Panther Facebook feed.
I just want to take this opportunity to congratulate our U13 and U15 Panther teams on capturing gold at their TOCs. This is amazing and goes to show the strength of our Panther hockey program. Could we add a U18 Provincial Championship to this year, too? That remains to be seen. Best of luck, Panthers!
Future For Local Hockey?
As Coach Hughson was saying, the team missed out on some important game time due to the official shortage. Their experience is not rare, either! So, at this time of year, a plug is needed for the Manitoulin Minor Hockey Association and the great work they do to provide organization and games for hundreds of Island kids. However, they cannot do it without new officials! There has always been a high turnover for officials, but the new supply has almost stopped dry. Please consider becoming an official for next season!
Assiginack Opps!
Assiginack’s good-vibe producer, Jackie White, has sent along a sketch of the activities she is planning on for the spring. She is already on the ball for recruiting teams for the second annual Youth Ball Tournament, slated for August 9-11th. The youth archery is full, but soccer is May 1-22nd and then a year-end tournament in NEMI sounds super fun! There is yoga for adults April 24-May 15. Also, there is pickleball/badminton. Just drop in for free weekly games on Thursdays 6-8 pm, May 2nd to June 27th.
Check out the Assiginack website and social stuff!
