Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Wednesday morning.
Snowfall warning: Up to 25 cm possible over next two days
Spring might be in the air, but winter isn’t done with us yet. Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning for Greater Sudbury and the area, starting tonight and into early Thursday morning. Total snowfall amounts of between 15 and 25 cm is expected, particularly north of Sudbury and Elliot Lake, the warning reads. At its heaviest, the snow is expected to fall at a rate of between 2 to 4 cm per hour. “Snow is expected to move into the region later tonight and continue through the day Wednesday and into Wednesday night,” the statement reads. “For areas farther south along the Highway 17 corridor, including Greater Sudbury and Elliot Lake, precipitation may be a mix of rain and snow, with a changeover to all snow not likely until Wednesday evening.” Precipitation should taper off Thursday morning, Environment Canada said.
‘Once-in-a-lifetime’: Buzz building in Sudbury for solar eclipse
Buzz has been building about the once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse that will happen in North America on April 8, and it’s no different among Sudburians. The eclipse will be visible here in Sudbury, but it won’t reach totality. As such, most members of the Sudbury Astronomy Club will be travelling out of town, into the path of the total eclipse, including Colin DuRochers, the club’s outreach co-ordinator. He and other club members will be setting up on private property in the Niagara area to view the eclipse. The Niagara region has actually declared a state of emergency as it prepares to welcome up to one million visitors for the celestial event. Other Sudbury Astronomy Club members are “actually going south of the border, down toward Mexico and the central United States for it, where there’s a better chance of clear skies,” DuRochers said.
First gold pour at Gogama mine
The new Côté Gold Mine has poured its first gold bar. Almost four years after the sod-turning to begin digging out the open pit, IAMGOLD is marking a memorable milestone of its now flagship operation outside Gogama. “This achievement represents the culmination of over 15 million hours of work over four years of construction — an incredible effort for the team on the ground as the project cost to first gold remains in line with the updated budget estimate while maintaining a near impeccable safety record,” said company president-CEO Renaud Adams in a March 31 news release. Located roughly halfway between Sudbury and Timmins, Côté is IAMGOLD’s only Ontario operation. Its other mines are Westwood in Quebec and Essakane in Burkina Faso. It’s expected to be among Canada’s largest gold mines, on a district-sized scale, over the next few decades. The initial mine life is 18 years but the company sees open-ended potential with a second deposit in waiting nearby at the Gosselin deposit, which has yet to be developed and brought into production.
Pets & Animals: At 24, Josie could be Sudbury's oldest cat
At an estimated age of 24 years old, Josie, who’s the resident store cat at the Pet Save Re'Tail' Thrift Store on Notre Dame Avenue, could possibly be Greater Sudbury’s oldest cat. If you converted her age into human years, she’d be about 112. When Sudbury.com visited, Pet Save Re'Tail' Thrift Store co-ordinator Kari Fabiilli explained that Josie was surrendered to the Pet Save animal rescue organization around 11 years ago, and the vet said she was around 13 years old at the time. Because she was already a senior cat, it was decided that she’d stay at the thrift store while she awaited adoption, as the shelter environment wouldn’t be good for her. But adoption wasn’t meant to be for Josie. When she first came into the organization’s care, she hid in the back of the thrift store quite a bit, and most people don’t want to adopt a senior cat anyway, so “we decided to keep her as a store cat,” Fabiilli said.
Wolves take their first playoff loss, but still lead series
Coming off two wins in Mississauga, the Sudbury Wolves were back on home ice Monday looking to take a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Steelheads. Mississauga, however, had other ideas. For the third consecutive game, the Wolves went with Jakub Vondras in goal, while Jack Ivankovic replaced the injured Ryerson Leenders in net for the Steelheads. It only took 3:36 for the puck to find the back of the net for the first goal of the game. Chas Sharpe scored his second goal of the playoffs while on the power play for Mississauga, giving the Steelheads a very early 1-0 lead. Despite both teams playing well and getting plenty of chances on each of the two goaltenders, Sharpe’s goal was the only goal of the first period, and the teams went into the dressing rooms for the first intermission with Mississauga leading 1-0. Just under five minutes into the middle frame, the Steelheads extended their lead thanks to Lucas Karmiris’ second goal of the post-season, making the score 2-0 for Mississauga.
Cubs, Beavers facing off in West Division final
After a stellar season, the Greater Sudbury Cubs have the championship series fully in their sights, but first they’ll have to get through the West Division final and the Blind River Beavers. The Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League has announced the schedule for its West Division Final between the Blind River Beavers and Greater Sudbury Cubs. Action in the best-of-seven series kicks off April 4 at 7 p.m. at the Blind River Community Centre. The Beavers will also host Game 2, slated for April 6, also at 7 p.m. The series then heads to the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex in Sudbury for match-ups on April 8 and April 9, with a 7:05 game time for each contest. It will then be back to Blind River for Game 5, if necessary, on April 11 at 7 p.m.
