Hey sports fans, it's time to lift the lid off the local scene and see how our athletes have been doing recently.
I'll start with some tremendous news from the curling
world.
The City of Greater Sudbury will be well represented at the
2007 Senior Canadian Curling Championships in Trois-Rivieres,
Quebec from March 18-25.
The Vicky Barrett Rink from the Idlwylde Curling Club and the
Bud O'Donnell Rink from the Sudbury Curling Club both won their
respective Northern Ontario senior championships this past
weekend in Sault Ste. Marie.
The Barrett Rink, consisting of skip Barrett, third Margaret
McLaughlin, second Brenda Harrow and lead Roma Lundgren took
out the competition this past weekend, racking up a 3-0 record
and then disposing of the Jan Towns Rink from Blind River in
the final with a score of 7-6.
The O'Donnell Rink, featuring skip O'Donnell, third Alan
Arkilander, second Doug Rollins and lead Bruce Reynolds rung up
a 4-1 record and took the championship final by a score of 8-5
over the Chris Milks Rink from Englehart.
Both rinks will now compete against the best in Canadian senior
curling with the winners earning the chance to represent Canada
at the 2008 World Senior Curling Championships.
The Barrett and O'Donnell Rinks have done Sudbury proud.
Now, let's move onto some volleyball stuff.
Sudbury's Dana Collins had a marvellous rookie season with the
University of Toronto women's volleyball squad.
Despite being a freshman, Collins played in 31 regular season
games and helped Toronto become one of the most powerful teams
in the country.
Toronto sizzled all season, going 17-2 and finishing first in
the OUA East Conference and second overall in the entire
league.
Toronto made it to the OUA volleyball championship tournament,
but fell 3-1 to Western in the bronze medal game. Collins
registered one point in the tough loss.
Overall, Collins scored 11.50 points in her first year. Toronto
finished the season ranked eighth ranked team in Canada and top
ranked team in Ontario.
Now, some hockey notes. I can't help but be impressed with the
recent play of Sudbury Wolves' goalie Sebastian Dahm and
forward Justin Donati. Dahm struggled in his first five games,
going 1-4. In February, Dahm was solid, going 7-3 with a 2.64
goals-against-average and a .913 save percentage.
In two shootout victories, Dahm stopped 14 consecutive shots
against Peterborough and Mississauga, allowing the Wolves to
pick up two wins.
As for Donati, he just keeps scoring.
In his last 11 games, Donati has 13 goals and 16 points. He's
currently on a four-game goal-scoring streak with seven goals
and eight points.
With the playoffs in sight, the high level of play from Dahm
and Donati is a welcomed sight.
In the playoffs, sharp goaltending and timely scoring are keys
to success. Dahm and Donati are providing this for Sudbury.
In other hockey news...Sudbury's Trevor Blanchard finished his
second season of OUA hockey with Concordia as the team's top
scorer. Blanchard recorded 14 goals and 31 points in 25 games.
He also leads the team in penalty minutes with 75. In the
playoffs, Blanchard and Concordia were bounced out two games to
one by McGill.
Blanchard had one goal and three points in the series.
The Kal Tire Sudbury Junior Wolves will look to spring off the
ropes tonight when they host their bitter rivals, the North Bay
Skyhawks at the McClelland Arena in Copper Cliff. Game time is
7:30 pm.
Sudbury has dropped three straight games heading into the
match, and there's no doubt head coach Darryl Moxam will put
forth the challenge to his troops to stop the losing streak
immediately. North Bay is 3-2 in their last five games.
Overall, Sudbury sits second overall in the NOJHL with a record
of 26-13-0-5, good for 57 points. The Skyhawks are in fifth
place with a record of 23-20-0-1, good for 47 points.
Despite their standings, North Bay has won the last three games
against Sudbury.
There's no love lost at all between these two clubs, and since
it's their final regular season meeting, the game should be
filled with intensity and emotion. Tickets are just $8 for
adults and kids 12 and under get in free with an adult.
What better way to spend your Wednesday night than watching two hated rivals go all out.
