Elmvale Lions Club U13B Black and Gold Hockey Tournament
Written by Theresa Dermott, Feb. 5, 2025
The U13 B Elmvale Lions Club Coyotes travelled to Powassan Ontario for the Black and Gold “Hawkey” Tournament. The boys made a strong debut against the highly ranked East Nipissing Vipers with defensemen Finten Seney scoring the first of the tournament with a rocket from the blue line. Cooper Knelsen, Charlie Coughlin, William Thorn, L.J. Noble and Max Champion added to the strong defensive play with their zone clearing, back checking and holding the blue line. Star goalie, Eli Daniels saw lots of action but held the Vipers to 2 goals. Elmvale with their first win 3-2! Goal scorers were Cameron Lalonde with a beautiful snipe as well as Kohen Weiss who earned player of the game.
Early Saturday morning, saw the Coyotes back in action versus the Porcupine Junior Gold Kings where the Coyotes had many scoring opportunities but struggled with penalties. Jack Burke capitalized on an empty net which sealed the fate for Elmvale 4-2. Linemates Ryan Dziama and Oliver Van Loosen displayed great passing and play throughout the game and tournament. Seamus Wicksted earned player of the game with his goal and determination. Elmvale earned 1st place in their pool going undefeated into their third game Saturday evening against the Deep River Knights. W 5-2 where Ray Duckett was named the player of the game for his strong offensive play and goal.
Onto the semi-finals match-up against the Renfrew Wolves. The Coyotes knew it would be a tough matchup against the team who led the tournament in penalty minutes. The Wolves came out strong with an early goal that was soon answered by the Coyotes. With lots of power play opportunities and great hustle, center Gibson Godin scored Elmvale’s 2nd goal with linemate Reed Dermott getting the 3rd in the game. Unfortunately the Coyotes came up short, losing 3-5 to the Wolves.
The Coyotes led by coaches Brandon Godin, Darryl Van Loosen, A.J. Champion, Logan Noble and John Seney should be proud of their great play, hard work and determination. The U13 B Elmvale Lions Club Coyotes had an amazing weekend creating lifelong memories and mini-stick battle wounds and team bonding. They look forward to further success in their playoffs.
Penetang Kings Still Hold 4th Place as Play-offs Near
The Penetang Kings continue to remain in fourth place in the Carruthers Division of the Provincial Junior Hockey League as the Play-offs near after games played until February 8th, 2025.
Submitted by Jamie Robillard, Feb. 9, 2025
On Friday January 31st the Kings travelled to Innisfil and could not get anything going offensively dropping a 3-0 decision to the Spartans. Penetang netminder Landon Simec turned aside 27 shots in the loss while the Kings fired 34 shots on Spartans goalie Aidan Lindsay. Ashton Kirwin playing in his 100th PJHL game was named the Kings player of the game.
On Sunday February 2nd in Midland the Kings again struggled to score, dropping a 2-1 overtime decision to the Flyers. Penetang peppered former Kings goalie, Kevin Pearson with 37 shots but were only able to beat him once on a goal by Kirwin. The Kings thought they had won the game in overtime when Max Geere’s shot beat Pearson cleanly, but the on-ice officials missed the puck entering the net and Midland went on a counterattack to score the winning goal by Cal Virtue-McCague just seconds later. Penetang’s Simec turned aside 15 shots in goal. The player of the game for Penetang was Geere (no head shot available).
The Kings then finished their long road trip in Alliston on Wednesday February 5th when they faced the first place losing by a 4-1 score. Camron Hutchinson scored the only goal for the Kings. Simec was outstanding in the Penetang goal, stopping 58 of the 62 shots he faced and for his efforts he was named player of the game.
On Saturday February 8th, finally back home in the friendly confines of the Penetanguishene Memorial Community Centre the Kings responded with a 5-1 win over the Huntsville Otters. Ashton Kirwin scored a natural hat-trick as the Kings opened a 3-0 lead early in the third period. Huntsville then narrowed the score to 3-1 at 6:17 into the third period before Cole Rumbolt and Max Geere cemented the victory with single markers. Simec again was strong in the Kings net making 32 saves. Penetang had 35 shots on Otter’s goalie and former King Michael Purkhart. Kirwin was named the Kings player of the game.
The Kings have a busy weekend ahead to finish the regular season with four games in four days beginning on Friday February 14th at home against the Muskoka Bears at 8:00 pm followed on Saturday February 15th again at home against the Stayner Siskins at 8:00 pm. On Sunday February 16th the Kings travel to Orillia to face off against the Terrier and then on Family Day, Monday February 17th, the Kings are in Midland to meet the Flyers for a 2:30 pm contest to conclude the regular season.
Notes: The Kings game scheduled for Friday February 7th was postponed due to inclement weather and was rescheduled to Monday February 10th in Penetang. Game results from this contest will be reported in the next edition of the North Simcoe Springwater News.
The standings after the games played on February 8th have the Alliston Hornets leading the division with 71 points followed by Orillia with 63 points, Stayner with 54 points and Penetang with 36 points in 37 games. Huntsville is fifth with 31 followed by Innisfil with 31 Midland 18 and Muskoka 10 points respectively. If the standings remain as is Penetang would face Huntsville in the opening round of the play-offs with Penetang controlling their own destiny to wrap up fourth place by winning two of their remaining games.