http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx Sports News brought to you by Tbnewswatch.com Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:54:38 GMT 5 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/images/tbnewswatchlogo.JPG http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=187312 Scott Morrison said his starting five had a flat practice on Thursday and weren't much better come game-time Friday night. Luckily he's got reserves like Adam Johnson, Nathan Wainwright and Matt Schmidt to fall back on. Johnson, a first-year import from Baltimore, torched the Waterloo Warriors for 26 points, adding nine boards and four steals, almost singlehandedly willing the No. 2 Wolves to a home-court 84-74 triumph. Wainwright buried four three-pointers for a 12-point effort off the bench, while Schmidt came on and drained nine points in just 11 minutes of action. LU's starters – Greg Carter, Ben Johnson, Ryan Thomson, Yoosrie Salhia and Venzal Russell – combined for just 32 points, including a dismal two-point effort from Salhia. It was the kind of game Morrison knew Adam Johnson had in him, but hadn't yet seen since bringing him on board last fall. The 6-foot-6 sophomore, in his second year of eligibility, said the adjustment to the Lakehead style hasn't been an easy one. Story continues after video... "I'm trying to go hard in practice. I'm starting to get a lot of shot reps up, so that's helped a lot. The team effort period has just helped me get along." "It was OK. The win felt better than the 26 points. If I had 26 with a loss, it wouldn't have felt as good," Adam Johnson said. It felt good watching it, particularly in the second quarter when he exploded, took a close game and helped the Pack build a double-digit advantage. At one point he scored nine straight points for Lakehead, including back-to-back-to-back hoops that shoved the Warriors back on their heels, coming off a quarter that saw them take a late lead on the Wolves, only to have Wainwright nail a three in the dying seconds to give LU a 17-15 lead after 10 minutes. "He's been working hard since Christmas, I'll give him that," Morrison said. "He had a rough first semester getting accustomed to the way we do things. I thought he's made a good effort since Christmas to toe the line and hopefully the result of his hard work is a couple of games like that. "We really needed him tonight." Wainwright, a native of Kapuskasing, Ont., hit another three to start the second quarter, landed a third late in the quarter to stretch the LU lead to 13. "If you've ever watched a practice, that's what I do in practice, so that's what I've got to do in a game. I just got a little extra look today because our starters came out a little slow," Wainwright said. "That's their first bad game of the year, so they're allowed to have one. I know they'll bounce back tomorrow." Waterloo (4-13), may be a last-place squad, but playing without top scorer Cam McIntyre, they gave Lakehead all they had and then some, putting to within three points in the third. But the hot-handed Wolves, who failed to score for the first four minutes of the contest, found their range again, pulling away and going up by as much as 14 in the fourth, before settling for the 10-point margin of victory. Mark Wright led the Warriors with 19. Three other Waterloo players hit double digits. Lakehead (15-2) pulled back into a tie for top spot in the OUA West with Laurier, who edged Windsor 79-77 earlier this week. They'll take on Waterloo at the Thunderdome again on Saturday night. Game time is approximately 8 p.m.     Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:37:20 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=187312 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=187297 The playoffs are calling and on Friday night the Lakehead Thunderwolves answered the bell. Lindsay Druery dropped 17 points to power the Wolves to a lopsided runaway 67-48 win over the hapless Windsor Warriors. It was a must-win contest that pushed the home squad into a tie for fifth place in the OUA West with two weekends left in the regular season, their 8-9 record equalling the Western Mustangs, who the Wolves hold the tiebreaker over by virtue of a season series sweep. "It's always a tight race in the OUA, especially in the West Division," said Druery, sporting the start of a black eye after taking an elbow to the face in the second half, ending her night. "We know that it's been our goal all week that pretty much playoffs started right here. So we wanted to go out and get comfortable on the court again and make our playoff spot in hopes of earning a playoff spot." Comfortable is an understatement for their first-quarter outburst, that saw the Wolves take a 25-8 lead and really never look back, save for a third-quarter run by the Warriors, who dropped to an anaemic 1-16 with the loss. "As you know we've lost four straight and we were struggling a little bit, so we just wanted to get our feet back under us and get it going right from the beginning of the game." Druery, who last week moved into seventh on the Thunderwolves all-time scoring list in her final season of eligibility, scored six of LU's first nine points, the other basket a Kelsey Bardsley three-pointer. Lacey McNulty took control later in the quarter with seven straight points, upping the Lakehead lead to 21-6. The Wolves took a 38-19 lead into the half at the Thunderdome, but it was clear they weren't the dominant team that showed up in the opening 10 minutes. It was a trend that would continue through much of the third, when Waterloo pulled to within 10. "You take a look from the second quarter on and we won by three points. In the first quarter I thought we were well prepared and came out with a lot of good energy," said LU coach Jon Kreiner. "We knew how important it was. We had a good week of practice. We had a bit of a hangover on Monday from losing four games in a row, but we knew we have a good schedule, with four of the next six games at home." There's no question of the importance the team is placing on each remaining game, he said. "These games are huge and we've got to do our job and a lot better job from the second quarter on." The turning point happened in the third, if there is such a thing in a 20-point win. With the Warriors rallying and threatening to cut the lead to single digits, Waterloo's Therese Jacobse missed an open lay-up. The Wolves raced down the court and McNulty was left alone under the basket, the defensive lapse making it 60-46. On their next trip down the hardwood Erika French carbon copied McNulty, stretching the lead to 16 and ending the comeback hopes of the Warriors. Claw marks: Druery has been approached by at least two European teams to play next season. One of the squads is in Belgium, Kreiner confirmed.     Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:41:34 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=187297 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=187329 The slump is over, at least for one night. Ryan McDonald scored the go-ahead goal at 19:02 of the third period on Friday and Brennan Menard added an empty netter as time ran out as the Lakehead Thunderwolves ended a five-game losing streak with a 4-2 win over the host Brock Badgers. Andrew Wilkins and Jake Carrick also scored for Lakehead (17-8-0), which guaranteed itself home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs and need one win in its remaining three games to clinch second in the OUA West. Waterloo, which entered Friday tied with the Wolves for second, fell 5-1 to Western to fall two points behind. Wilkins started the offense rolling at 3:23 of the opening stanza, potting a shorthanded goal past Brock goalie Kurt Jory. Jordan Gignac evened the score on the power play, the only goal of the second, and then Kaine Geldart pushed the Badgers ahead 7:34 into the third, but Carrick tied it two minutes later with his seventh of the season. Lakehead travels to London, Ont. on Saturday to take on Western, a team that has swept the season series to date, shutting out the Wolves in three straight contests. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:37:31 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=187329 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=187330 Alannah MacLean and Harry Seaton on Friday showed they can ski with the best the nation has to offer. MacLean took second in the junior women's 1.4-kilometre sprint race at the Eastern Canadian Championships in Cantley, Que. Seaton, her National Development Centre-Thunder Bay teammate, crossed the finish line in the bornze-medal position in the senior men's category. "The team did excellent.  Taking home two medals and 2 top 6 finishes on the first day of competition is a good sign of things to come."  Skiers had to ski smart to make it to the final heats, "conditions were firm and fairly fast on a course that required smart tactical skiing to move on in the heats," said assistant coach Timo Puiras. Erin Tribe placed sixth in the senior women's category, Nick Monette was sixth in the junior men's race and Dudley Coulter wound up ninth in senior men's. The interval star classic race is scheduled for Saturday, with a pursuit start skate race on the books for Sunday. In other NDC news, Thunder Bay's Michael Somppi finished 20th in his first race on the FIS-OPA tour in Campra, Switzerland.   Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:50:58 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=187330 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=187345 The exam break is over and the Churchill Trojans were up to their old tricks again on Friday. Jared White and Mohammed Syed each had 18 points, leading the Trojans to an easy 68-37 win over the Westgate Tigers in senior boys basketball. Dexter Hupe was the top-scoring Tiger with 15. In the only other high school action on Friday, in boys curling with was St. Ignatius thumping Cromarty 14-1.   Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:33:50 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=187345 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=186994 Matt Murray made 16 stops and was named Team Cherry’s player of the game on Wednesday night at the CHL’s top prospects game in Kelowna, B.C. The Thunder Bay netminder was, however, saddled with the loss, giving up a power play goal with 25 seconds to go to Team Orr’s Brandon Troock of the Western Hockey League’s Seattle Thunderbirds. With the goal Team Orr took a 2-1 win in the annual showcase of the best draft eligible players in North America. Murray, who plays for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, is the second-rated North American goaltender heading into next June’s NHL Entry Draft.   Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:32:35 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=186994 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=186955 Lonny Bohonos was a winner in his Superior International Junior Hockey League coaching debut. Marc Nother made 34 saves and Brandon Warmington notched a pair of goals, leading the Thunder Bay North Stars to a 4-0 win over the powerful Wisconsin Wilderness on Wednesday night, stretching their winning streak to four games, equalling a season high. "It's a big win for us. We wanted to get the win for Lonny in his first game as a junior coach here. It's huge for our team, a big confidence boost to win against Wisconsin and it looks like it's a turning point for everyone," Nother said. "That's probably our most complete game from the forwards all the way back to the D. So I think we're all happy with the win." Warmington, who's lit the lamp five times in nine games since joining the Stars from the Markham Waxers, said the adversity surrounding the SIJHL club, as tough as it's been, may have united the players and willed them to the win. "We had a great team effort out there. It seemed like we all came together," Warmington said. "We weren't really expecting a coaching change, but it seems like it's been working for us. Everything seems to be working out there, we just got a 4-0 win." Bohonos, though not completely satisfied with the way his new troops played, nonetheless was happy to start out a winner. "It's good for our hockey club. Obviously Wisconsin is a very good hockey team. I'm obviously happy, but there are a lot of things we need to work on. Our PK did a very good job and our goaltending was outstanding," Bohonos said. "But I felt there were too many undisciplined penalties and we have to cut those down. We got lucky. They've got a really good power play and we can't give teams that many chances because eventually they're going to capitalize." The Stars were a perfect 10-for-10 while shorthanded and caught Wisconsin goalie Tanner Millron, who leads the league with a sparkling 1.46 goals against average, on an off night. Michael Orosey, whose been hot of late, struck first, stepping across the blueline and ripping a slap shot past Millron at the 5:40 mark of the opening period. Less than two minutes later Kyle Lapenskie doubled the North Stars lead in similar fashion, ringing it off the post and into the net for a 2-0 lead they'd take into the break. Warmington jumped on a loose puck in front of Millron late in the second, pounding it home for the only goal of the period, and iced the contest at 3:34 of the third, stealing the puck from Wisconsin defender Christian Belobaba and waltzed in alone on Millron to score the final goal of the game. "I had a couple of goals tonight, but I had good line-mates who got me the puck. It's great to play with good players," Warmington said. The Stars and Wilderness play the second of three in a row on Friday at the Gardens, then hit the road for a dozen straight to wrap up regular-season play. First period Scoring : 1. Thunder Bay, Orosey 7 (Ma. Fox, Osborne) 5:40. 2. Thunder Bay, Lapenskie 18 (Mi. Fox, Mascarin) 6:56.  Penalties : Lapenskie TB (interference) 10:00, Blacksmith TB (high sticking) 11:48, Ma. Fox (delay of game ) 17:49. Second period Scoring : 3. Thunder Bay, Warmington 4 (Rempel, Wolframe) 17:11. Penalties : Dietrich WIS (hooking) 2:45, Osborne TB (high sticking) 18:47, Dubinksy TB (hooking) 19:58. Third period Scoring : 4. Thunder Bay, Warmington 5 (Rempel) 3:34. Penalties : Blacksmith TB (tripping) 4:37, Tilley TB (holding) 10:17, Mi. Fox TB (high sticking double minor) 11:18, Osborne TB, Hendrickson WIS (unsportsmanlike conduct) 12:11. Game Data – SOG – Wisconsin 10-14-10-34, Thunder Bay 8-12-7-27; Power plays (goals-chances) – Wisconsin (0-5), Thunder Bay (0-1); Goaltenders – Wisconsin: Tanner Millron, Thunder Bay: Marc Nother; A : 336.   Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:24:12 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=186955 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=186810 Andrew Wilkins says the Lakehead Thunderwolves just need to catch a break. It’s not like the team is playing terribly, the LU forward said Wednesday morning, readying to hit the road for games against Brock and Western, looking to snap an out-of-the-blue five-game losing skid that’s plummeted the team out of the top 10 rankings. The timing of the slump is just lousy, Wilkins said. “Obviously it’s not what you want going into the playoffs,” he said. “But we still have four more games left. The positive thing is we’re working hard. Pucks just aren’t going in. We’re getting our chances, which is a good thing as well. “I think we’re motivated after a good practice here today and we’re looking for a hardworking weekend with some dirty goals to help turn this around.” It hasn’t helped they’ve run into hot goaltenders during the slide. Western’s Josh Unice shut out the Wolves three times in two weekends, while Brock’s Kurt Jory held them at bay last Friday, a 3-2 road loss to a team on the move in the OUA West. “We’re right there. I think a couple of weeks ago we could have put five pucks in the net, but it’s just one of those slumps that every good team goes through and it’s just a matter of working hard to turn it around.” Newcomer Thomas Frazee, brought to the Wolves (16-8-0) at Christmas to provide offensive punch, but author of just one goal in eight games, said the slump is disappointing. “I know the team was doing well before I got here,” the Vancouver native said. “I think every team goes through ups and downs throughout the year and games are harder to win after Christmas in any league. I think if we can just get back to the basics, shoot lot of pucks, go hard to the net and get some greasy goals, I think we’re going to come out of this all right.” story continues after video ... The offense should improve with the return of suspended forward Matt Caria to the LU lineup, though the team will be without the services of line-mate Adam Sergerie, out indefinitely with post-concussion symptoms. Coach Joel Scherban admitted the situation is seeping its way into the Thunderwolves dressing room, but his players do understand it’s not the end of their season by any means. He’s confident they can turn things around, starting Friday night against Brock. “We’re a frustrated group, that’s for sure. But I think for the most part we’ve worked hard and we’ve played pretty well through this stretch. The one thing it’s shown us is that we have to elevate our game to stay with the elite teams,” Scherban said. “Of our eight losses this year, five are to teams ranked in the top three in the country in Western and McGill, and four of those were by one goal.” Of course, things don’t get any easier this weekend, a repeat of last weekend’s failed trip to St. Catharines and London. Brock and Western have combined to go 21-2-1 at home. “So we need to elevate our game to win in buildings like that and beat the top teams in the country,” Scheran said.     Claw marks: Injured forward Jake Carrick (charley horse) is being re-evaluated later this week and may or may not make the trek south.     Follow Leith Dunick on Twitter: @LeithDunick   Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:20:21 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=186810 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=186734 Todd Howarth held the reins of the Thunder Bay North Stars for nine-and-a-half seasons. Lonny Bohonos has held them for two days. Already he's promising changes. The 38-year-old former NHLer took over the once mighty North Stars, a perennial powerhouse in the Superior International Junior Hockey League that has fallen on tough times in 2011-12 – at least by the lofty standards ex-coach Howarth and company set in the mid-2000s. Mired in third place in the standings and inconsistent on the ice, Bohonos said turning the ship around this late in the season will be challenging, to say the least. But he plans to do it his way. "I look at it as great opportunity. Obviously (Todd) has a great track record and it's sad to see that anybody gets let go. But we have to move forward here with systems that teach the kids to play the way I want them to play the game," said Bohonos, best known for a 1999 playoff run with the Toronto Maple Leafs when he scored nine points in nine games, helping lead Toronto to the conference final. He's not sure how the team will react to his way of doing things, having played under a disciplinarian like Howarth for so long. The circumstances under which Howarth was summarily dismissed on Sunday, after leading the Stars to three straight wins will hit each player hard, some harder than others, Bohonos said. "I don't know. Everybody's going to react differently. Like I said, we have to move forward. Obviously they've got a new coach. As a former player I've seen it done and witnessed it. It's never fun to see anybody get let go," Bohonos said. "I don't know if anybody has had that happen to them before, but we are looking forward to (the rest of the season). We've got a great team and we get to host the Dudley Hewitt Cup." Goalie Marc Nother, who Howarth brought to Thunder Bay earlier this season from the Wellington Dukes, said the past few days have been tough. "Yeah, I mean all the boys, we all loved Howie. He was a great coach. He was definitely a player's coach for us. But I think we're excited to see what the future brings," said Nother, elected by his teammates to speak to the media after captain Sam Dubinsky, whose father David is a co-owner of the team and helped usher Howarth out, respectfully declined. "I'm too beat up by this," the younger Dubinsky said. The club initially told media Howarth had left for personal reasons, which Howarth later disputed in published reports. The wiping clean of the North Stars coaching and management slate was thorough. In addition to Howarth, assistant coach Jason Firth is no longer with the SIJHL club, and general manager Trevor Lang was let go and picked up by the Fort Frances Lakers to be their director of scouting. Assistant coach Rob Varrin is staying on, with Gord Wilson added as the second assistant under Bohonos. Nother has high hopes for his new coach, as the Stars get set for their first game under his tutelage on Wednesday night against the all-powerful Wisconsin Wilderness, the No. 4-ranked junior A team in the country, a squad that's lost all of five games this season. "I think he's going to bring some good things to the table. I think we're going to stick to the same game though. I'm not sure exactly what to expect, but I think it's going to be OK." Bohonos spent about three years with the Thunder Bay Kings organization after retiring in 2006, where he coached 14 of the current players on the North Stars roster. That should help make the transition a little easier, said Bohonos, who wants to win his way into the Dudley Hewitt Cup, even though as hosts the Stars have an automatic bye. "Hopefully that can rub off on some of the other kids and it's an easy transition for them. Like I told the kids yesterday, for me it doesn't matter if you're a first-year kid or a fourth- or fifth-year player, you're all going to get an opportunity to play and we'll from there. Star gazing : Howarth's son Isaac will stay with the Stars, despite his father's departure ... Forward Bradley Cox expects to miss a couple of weeks with a shoulder injury suffered against Iron Range on the weekend ... Sioux Lookout's Chris Hoffman was named player of the week ... Howarth, who took over the team from Dave Simpson at the start of the 2002-03 season, was 379-94-14-23 behind the bench. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:47:12 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=186734