March 5 area: Niagara JUEL hoops; Port’s top athletes; Golden Puck tourney; Junior B playoffs; Welland Tigers hockey
The Niagara JUEL basketball team recorded three wins this past weekend. Photos by Neil Campbell.
NIAGARA JUEL MOVES INTO THIRD PLACE
The Niagara JUEL basketball team moved into third place in league play following three wins this past weekend.
Niagara beat Hamilton Transway 81-76 in overtime, Tricounty 62-55 and Welland Niagara Girls Basketball Academy to improve to 7-2 on the season.
Leading the way for Niagara versus Transway were: Elle Cooney, 22 points 7 rebounds, two assists and five steals; Ally Sentance (Churchill), 14 points seven rebounds, three assists and four steals ; Kaley DeMont (Churchill), 12 points, six rebounds and three steals; and, Madison O’Brien (Blessed Trinity), 10 points, two rebounds and two assists
Niagara trailed Transway Team by 16 points in third quarter to take lead in fourth and then win in overtime.
Top performers for Niagara versus Tricounty were:
DeMont, 12 points, two rebounds and two steals; Sentance, 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals; and, Destiny Paquin (Centennial), nine points and three rebounds.
Topping the stat sheet for Niagara versus Welland were: Tori DiDomenico (A.N. Myer), 15 points, two rebounds and two assists; Demont, 15 points, four rebounds and two assists; Molly Taylor (A.N. Myer), eight points and five rebounds; O’Brien, eight points and six rebounds; and, Sydney Grummett (E.L. Crossley), five points, 10 rebounds and two steals.
Niagara held welland to 19 per cent shooting from the floor. Viktoria Cubelic (St. Francis) led Welland with 18 points and 17 rebounds.
PORT’S TOP ATHLETES
Tatym Wagner and Mason Weaver have been named Port Colborne High School’s Athletes of the month for February.
Tatym is a Grade 9 nine student who came to PCHS from Steele Street School. She is a member of the SOSSA bound swim team along with the junior girls basketball and volleyball teams. She always goes full out, never wants to come off the floor for a rest and is a fierce competitor who always gives her best.
Mason, a Grade 10 student who is a graduate of McKay Elementary School, helped the boys hockey team make the finals with his tenacious play. He is often matched up against the other team’s top line and relishes the role of a shutdown centre. When presented with an offensive opportunity, Mason has no trouble finding the back of the net and scored the game-winning goal versus Jean Vanier on a penalty shot in the playoff semifinal.
GOLDEN PUCK TOURNEY
A total of 47 house league hockey teams from across Ontario recently participated in three different age divisions in Port Colborne as the Golden Puck Hockey Committee held it’s 55th Annual Martin Van Gool Memorial Hockey Tournament at the Vale Centre..
“We had the Vale Centre booked non-stop all weekend, as well as calling in favours from both Fort Erie and Ridgeway to help fill our needed ice-times,” tournament convenor John Van Gool said. “And while there may have been a few hiccups that caused a headache or two and required quick thinking on behalf of the tournament volunteers, I’m confident that the tournament could be seen as a resounding success.”
A total of 77 games were needed to crown the winners in the novice, atom and peewee divisions, including: Pelham edging Mount Brydges 3 to 2 in the peewee final; Osprey blanking Hagersville 7-0 in the novice final; and, Lindsay edging Kawartha 5-4 in the atom final after three overtime periods and a shootout. Nolan Hilderbrandt scored the shoot out winner.
Van Gool, whose father was an original member of the Golden Puck Hockey Committee and for whom the tournament was renamed in his honour, had praise for the participating teams.
“It’s a fun tournament to run because it’s geared towards a level of hockey that may not see the teams travel very often,” he said. “That’s why it is genuinely great to see how excited they are when say a local team is playing one from Elmvale, or when a team from Barrie is playing one from Langton.”
“It’s their turn to feel the same way travel teams feel and it shows in how much fun they have.”
JUNIOR B PLAYOFFS
The Thorold Blackhawks staved off elimination with a 4-3 win at home over the Pelham Panthers Monday.
The Panthers still lead the best-of-seven, Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, Golden Horseshoe Conference quarter-final playoff series 3-1. Game 5 goes Wednesday at Pelham. Game 6, if necessary, is back in Thorold Thursday.
Evan Miller scored a pair of goals for Thorold, including the winner with under five minutes to play to break a 3-3 tie. Devon Thibodeau and Daniel Rocco also scored for the Hawks.
Noah Caperchione had two goals and Matt Ruigrok one for the Panthers.
Noah Fortuna made 33 saves in net for the win.
KILTY B’s 7 METEORS 4
Holden Rogers and Mason Reeves scored twice each as the Hamilton Kilty B’s topped the Fort Erie Meteors to take a 3-0 lead in their series. The Kilty B’s can wrap up the series in Game 4 Wednesday in Fort Erie.
Freddie Teeple, Lucas Thompson and TJ Hughes added singles.
Nathan Reichel had two and Drew Passero one for the Meteors.
Cal Schell made 29 saves in goal for the win.
PEEWEE TIGERS STILL ALIVE
The Welland Telus Tigers major peewee A hockey team kept its playoff hopes alive with a 2-2 tie against Garden City.
Mitchell Tomaino and Nicolas DiPietro provided the offence as Welland skated to its second straight tie in Niagara District payoff action. Sutter Pilon recorded both tallies for the Falcons.
Garden City and Glanbrook currently sit tied with five points after having completed their four round-robin games. Welland and Lincoln, who have an unplayed game against each other remaining on the schedule, have three points each after three games. The top two teams from the round-robin will advance to play a best two-of-three championship final.
