http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx Sports News brought to you by TbNewsWatch.com Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:15:58 GMT 5 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/images/tbnewswatchlogo.JPG http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=84025 They’re not playing for the money, and their dreams of a career in the game have all but disappeared. Yet still a rag-tag collection of the city’s best amateur players marches on, a return trip to the Allen Cup the carrot on the hockey stick, so-to-speak. The Thunder Bay Twins are back, and this weekend in Kenora will take to the ice against the Jeff Richards-led Kenora Senior Thistles and the relatively unknown, Borderland Thunder-laden Fort Frances Thunderhawks in a three-team round-robin affair. The team that skates away on top in Sunday’s final earns the right to host the southern Ontario champion in the Renwick Cup, the national title qualifier, in Thunder Bay in early April. Goaltender Colin Zulianello, the most experienced player on the Twins with an AHL and ECHL pedigree under his pads, said the players come out for the love of the game. "It’s tough. A lot of us have major time commitments, but this is fun and this is why we do it," said Zulianello, a 31-year-old part-time goaltender coach for the Lakehead Thunderwolves and the Thunder Bay Kings, who is trying to fit school and supply teaching into his day. "We make the time in our busy schedules to be out here and still playing competitive hockey. It’s actually a very good opportunity for a lot of us who have been fortunate to play at other levels to still play competitive hockey at our age." The Twins roster is dotted with familiar faces. There’s Jeff Adduono, the former Thunderwolves forward. There’s Ian Staal – and what would a hockey team from Thunder Bay be without a Staal in the mix – and Chris Shaen, former CIS players. And there’s a host of Superior International Junior Hockey League graduates, a list that includes Brent Irwin, Kory McEwan, Joe Nigro and Jordan Smith. Shaen, a defenceman who played for the University of Windsor, echoed Zulianello, saying a lot of players left home seeking their fortune and fame in the game, but when the time was right, they returned home, the competitive fires still burning. "A lot of them still had the desire to play," said Shaen, readying for practice Tuesday night at their home base, the Fort William First Nation Arena. "There’s no better place than to play on a stage like this, the national championship (qualifiers) with the level of competition that’s out there." It hasn’t been easy. Last year’s squad, which made it to the Allen Cup for the first time since the Thunder Bay Bombers won the championship in 2005, was plagued with irregular practice times, and even fewer game opportunities. Things have changed for the better in 2010, Zulianello said. "We’ve practiced a little bit more than we did last year, which is good. And we played eight games before Christmas. We expected to play a little bit more after Christmas, but it didn’t work out," Zulianello said. "We’ve got some scrimmages in with some junior A teams and we’ve been practicing a bit more lately. So it’s starting to pick up a bit as we’re coming into this weekend." The Twins, coached by Dave Olenik, hope to use their experience, together with an injection of youth and speed, to confound their opponents in Kenora. "At the end of the day, any short tournament that we’re playing in like this weekend comes down to goaltending and discipline. The hope is we stay out of the penalty box, we get the goaltending and then our depth, especially up front, will carry us into Sunday and hopefully a win," Olenik said, adding they hope to have a three-team senior league in place for next season. The Twins take on Fort Frances at 8 p.m. local time on Friday night, and play the host Thistles, who they split with in a pair of pre-Christmas games, on Saturday at 7 p.m. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:56:10 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=84025 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=84062   Rugby will soon become an official Olympic sport, and to celebrate elementary school students from across the city swapped their books Wednesday for an oval-shaped ball. Nearly 150 students from six different Lakehead Public Schools hit the ground running for the third annual flag rugby festival. Teams of up to 10 boys and 10 girls, all under the age of 14, played round-robin style tournaments throughout the day at the Lakehead University Hangar. The teams dressed in Olympic-themed uniforms to honour the inclusion of rugby into the 2016 Olympic Summer Games in Brazil. Hammarskjold High School teacher Tom Alexander says the tournament is a way for students to get active and have some fun while celebrating the new Olympic sport. Prizes were handed out for team spirit and uniform design. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:08:30 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=84062 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83977 A quarter of a century later, amateur curlers are still trying to recreate "The Shot." In the 10th end of the 1985 Brier in Moncton, facing a pair of Pat Ryan stones, one all-but-buried behind cover, Northern Ontario skip Al Hackner needed a miracle. Trailing 5-3 at the time, the Thunder Bay skip needed to hit the first stone thin, push it out of the rings, cascade into Ryan’s rock at the back of the house and stick his shooter. The Iceman, as Hackner is known, calmly slid into the hack, eyed the one inch of Ryan’s buried rock that he could see and pushed off. With help from his sweepers he nicked the first, removed the second and the crowd at the Moncton Coliseum erupted. Hackner then went on to steal a point in the extra end to snatch the title out of Ryan’s hands. On Monday "The Shot" was named the greatest moment in Northern Ontario curling history by the Northern Ontario Curling Association, a list that also includes Heather Houston’s back-to-back Scott Tournament of Hearts wins in 1988 and 1989, Hackner’s first Brier win in 1982 and Houston’s 1989 world championship win. "When we made the shot at the time, we thought it was just a curling shot. But over the years it’s stood the test of time and history and still regarded as maybe the greatest shot ever made in the Brier," Hackner said on Tuesday at the Fort William Curling Club. "We’ve got to be pretty proud of that, but we also have to realize we were pretty fortunate to make it." Moments earlier Ryan had seemingly buried his stone and raised his hands in the air, an early victory salute that proved a little premature. Hackner said the shot was framed, and in his mind all he was thinking was to not hit the guard sitting in front of the rings. "I can remember going down the ice thinking I’ve made a lot of these razzle-dazzle shots in club play before, but not in quite such meaningful games. I remember thinking just one more, one more right here. That was my thought," said Hackner, adding he didn’t feel pressure as he wiped his stone clean and readied to fire it down the pebbles. "Pressure is when you have a very makeable shot and you feel the pressure that you have to make it. I really felt there was no pressure on me there, because I could have easily missed that shot and nobody would have said you choked. I just had to throw it clean," he said. His third that day was Rick Lang, whose wife Lorraine was Houston’s lead, giving him ties to the first four moments on the list. Lang, a five-time Brier champion, said he remembers The Shot like it happened yesterday. "It was kind of a one-in-a-thousand and made under the condition that he had to make it or go home. He ended up winning the Brier and changing curling history because of it," Lang said. "It was so dramatic and the place went crazy after Al made the shot." As impossible as the shot may have looked to anyone in the stands, Lang said they were confident he could make it. "We actually had played that spot so many times, we said, well, we know exactly what the ice is, and it’s there. Just throw it good and try to make it." While Hackner’s effort drew plenty of attention, not to be outdone later in the decade was Houston. The foursome, which also included Diane Adams and Tracy Kennedy, recently relived their glory while watching Krista McCarville attempt to duplicate her efforts, but come up short with a third-place finish at January’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Sault Ste. Marie. "We’re really proud of what we did and how much we could represent Northwestern Ontario," Houston said. The list, which rounded out with the notorious gin Collins-laced early morning classes, came as a complete surprise to Houston. "Nobody had any idea the list was coming. We were really excited and really pleased to still be in people’s memories." Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:01:32 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83977 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83957 Four years ago Dan Speer and Shandor Alphonso were wide-eyed rookies, along for the ride as the Lakehead Thunderwolves came within a goal of a national championship. Today they’re the last remaining members of that squad, the sole Queen’s Cup title the team has won in its brief nine-year existence. On Saturday Speer and Alphonso will have a chance to repeat history, when the McGill Redmen come to town for a one-game showdown for the right to call themselves OUA champions. It’s a scenario both players thought they’d live out a little more frequently during their five-year term with the Thunderwolves. "It definitely feels pretty good," said Speer on Tuesday morning, three days after the team scored five unanswered goals in a 5-2 victory that ousted Western from the OUA playoffs in two straight. "In five years I’ve done it twice only. Even the other thing, with nationals, we were really lucky we were to host it. You take for granted how difficult it is in leagues like the Ontario Hockey League and CIS to get to the national championship." Like Speer, Alphonso will be playing his final OUA contest on Saturday – though he’ll have at least two more games on home ice during the Cavendish University Cup later this month. The moment isn’t lost on the Orangeville, Ont. native. "We were there my first year, and maybe we thought it was going to happen a couple of times, but it didn’t. It feels so good to be going on with this group of guys, a great group of guys," said Alphonso, who has five points in seven playoff games in 2010. Winning this weekend has more than just banner-hanging implications. In all likelihood the Wolves are playing for the No. 1 or No. 2 seed at the four-day Cavendish University Cup. But, Speer said, it’s their way of putting a stamp on their season and proving their host spot is more than just a courtesy invite, which appeared to be the case in 2009. That year the Wolves lost out in the second round of the playoffs and waited around for more than a month for the national championship to begin. "We had the mentality of going through the front door. And winning the Queen’s Cup is something that we’ve always had a goal to do. I think if we do that, we come in and represent Ontario and feel a lot better going into the tournament," Speer said. "The seeding or not, I think just with that push that we’re champions already, when you hold that, it just pushes you to play better." Alphonso, who has emerged as one of the leaders on a team filled with them, said there’s not really a lot that he and Speer can tell their teammates at this stage of the season. "(I’d tell them) just to keep playing the way that they’re playing. We’re here for a reason. We’ve been playing well of late, and not to change anything. If we play the same way we played against Guelph and against Western, we’ll be fine," Alphonso said. Rookie coach Joel Scherban said he’s challenging his troops to approach the game like any other. He said he doesn’t want his team to get too high in the lead-up to McGill, a team that will bring two of the top offensive talents in the nation to Fort William Gardens, in OUA leading playoff scorer Francis Verreault-Paul, and Alexandre Picard Hooper, who with 13 points is just one behind his teammate. Scherban, however, isn’t worrying too much about what a win or a loss might mean. "The seeding is not too important to us. We’ve got the six top teams in the country, and you’re going to have to be playing at your best, so it doesn’t really matter who you’re playing in the pools. We’re going to work hard and hopefully win this weekend, and the seedings will take care of themselves." Claw marks : Four of the six berths at the Cavendish University Cup have been filled. In addition to Lakehead and McGill, Alberta and Manitoba have qualified and will be representing Canada West. Alberta swept Calgary in a best-of-three semifinal, while Manitoba upset Saskatchewan in three, breaking an eight-year streak Alberta and Saskatchewan had playing each other for the league title … In the east, Saint Mary’s is looking for a return trip to Thunder Bay, taking on upstart St. FX for the lone AUS spot. Saint Mary’s made national news earlier this season, signing former NHLer Mike Danton, who spent five years in jail on conspiracy to commit murder charges. The other spot will also be decided Saturday night when Western plays the University of Quebec at Trois Rivieres Patriotes for the final OUA berth Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:23:20 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83957 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83821 A local strongman saw a lack of strength competitions in the area as a sign to do something about it. Ben Thompson, 20, organized the event with friends from the health services program at Confederation College. Thompson said he wanted to show off the strength of local athletes and decided a competition was the best way to do it. The weightlifting competition had 17 participants bench pressing and dead lifting at the South Side Fitness Centre on Sunday. Participants paid an entrance fee of $10 and competed in different categories divided by weight and the amount lifted. Money raised from the entrance fee and donations goes to the Canadian Cancer Society and George Jeffrey Children’s Centre. Thompson said he wanted to raise money for the Cancer Society in support of weightlifters with cancer. "I thought that was really a tragedy," Thompson said. "Any money that can be put towards find a cure would be beneficial and same with George Jeffrey… just money going towards a good cause." The range of competitors ranged from amateurs to professionals. Kyle Rayner , 21, became a professional strongman after he showed what he could do at the Ontario’s Strongest Man competition last year. He finished 18th out of 25 competitors.  Rayner  started lifting weights when he played football at St. Patrick High School. He competed in a strongman competition in 2008 and from there, he decided to keep getting stronger. He said he hopes one day to go to the Canadian Strongest Man competition. "Last year I decided to step it up and play with the big boys," Rayner said. "I figured instead of doing amateur competitions I’d rather be a small fish in a big pond. I feel like I’m getting some where." Rayner said he had a goal to bench press more than 400 pounds and dead lift 600 pounds. When Raynard lifts the weight, he said all the pressure is on him. He said he is competing against himself and only he can lift it. Rayner worked with newcomer Ryan Gregnol, 26, to get him stronger. Gregnol tore his chest last week and didn’t participate in the bench pressing part of the competition but decided to do the dead lift with a goal to lift 600 pounds. Gregnol started lifting weights to strengthen his golf game. He competes in long drive events and to hit the ball harder he said he decided to lift some weights. "Lift more and hit the ball further is pretty much how I looked at it," Gregnol said. "I got to be friends with the guys and they got me to go out and lift with them." Gregnol said he didn’t feel intimidated when he first started lifting weights. He did it for his own numbers, he said. "It’s you against the weight really…you’re not competing against anyone else really," he said. Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:41:30 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83821 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83910 For 40 minutes on Saturday night, the Lakehead Thunderwolves men’s basketball team was cheering for Carleton. The Wolves, who earlier that night dropped an 87-66 decision to the Windsor Lancers in the OUA West final, needed a Carleton win to keep their national championship hopes alive. The Ravens, as the host, have an automatic berth at nationals. But by winning the OUA East, they also earned one of two OUA berths at the eight-team tournament. Thus their 78-64 win Saturday over the Ottawa Gee-Gees gave the Wolves a second life. The Wolves will meet the Gee Gees on Saturday night in the nation’s capital, a one-game winner-take-all scenario that sees the winner move on to nationals and the loser go home. Lakehead’s second-year guard Greg Carter, a native of Ottawa, said it was a tough road loss, but one that they think they can overcome. "We really wanted to have that OUA West final championship under our belt, and hang our first championship banner in the history of Lakehead, but we didn’t execute enough to get the win," Carter said, just before coach Scott Morrison put his troops through an extended shooting drill on Monday afternoon. But they’ll take what they can get, he added. "We’re thankful God gave us a second chance to go to nationals. Nationals are the biggest thing of the season for us. We’re really focused on executing and coming out hard in Ottawa," he said. The Wolves have met the Gee Gees once already this season, and the result wasn’t pretty. Coming off a stunning three-point win over Carleton, the Wolves were blown out 93-56 by Ottawa the following night, at home nonetheless. Carter, who averaged 6.6 points per game, said the Wolves let Ottawa build too big a lead in their first encounter, and fell flat-footed trying to pull their way back into the contest. "I think if we just do the little things, we’ll be all right," said Carter, who plans to have a full contingent of family and friends in the stands on Saturday. Forward Brendan King, who hails from Pettawawa, a military town located an hour or so northwest of Ottawa, said the team is going to make the most of the unexpected opportunity. "We feel as we’ve been given a second chance to come out and really give it all we can. So this weekend we’re not going to leave anything behind," he said. A slow start is out of the question, he added. "Definitely not," he said. "Ottawa’s a good team and so is Windsor. They’re not going to come out soft on us. They’re going to come out trying to win. Everyone wants to go to nationals, right? So we just have to have a good week in practice, put it all together and hopefully go down there and get a win and make nationals." The prize, however, is the great equalizer, and in a one-game affair, anything is possible. Morrison said they have to eliminate the mental mistakes, which come with inexperience, but that man-for-man the team has earned mention among the top squads in the country. Now they have to go out and prove it once and for all, against an athletic club that will be gunning for them from the get go. "We think we deserve to be (at nationals). Ottawa is saying the same thing. We’re just going to try to keep it a little bit simpler this week and have a great game on Saturday." Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:55:41 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83910 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83760 Last year Andre Watt signed up for the Sleeping Giant Loppet on the morning of the race, and then went out and finished ahead of the pack. On Saturday, with the mercury well above the melting point within the depths of Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, he was up to his same old tricks again. The Duluth native made the most of sandpaper slow conditions and crossed the finish line 28 seconds ahead of his onetime roommate Nikolai Anikin to win the prestigious 50-kilometre freestyle race for a second consecutive year. “I definitely had to work harder this year. The course was prepared excellently, however the warm sun just baked it, so it was almost like sandpaper in a few spots where the sun had hit. We were about 10 minutes slower this year,” said Watt, who set a course record at the 33rd annual Sleeping Giant Loppet in 2009. Watt said he raced in a group of four skiers, which included Thunder Bay’s top entrant, third-place finisher Jeffrey Cameron, for most of the race, and unlike last year, decided to maintain a pack mentality until much nearer the end of the course. “With 8K to go I went on the hills and skied in hard,” he said. “I decided to go for it. Last year I went a lot earlier, about half way into it, but I knew with the warm conditions that that was too risky and might bonk,” said Watt. Anikin, also from Duluth, said it was a tight race most of the way through, though the leaders found themselves traveling at an accelerated pace, thanks to another group of racers. “For the first 12K, skiing with the 20K people, they were killing us, they were going really strong.  As soon as they turned off and it was just the five of us, we slowed it down. The real break came on the steep uphill, with about 8K to go. We spread out and I was successful in the sprint,” Anikan said. For Cameron, it was another third place finish at the hands of a pair of Americans.  “There’s one big hill about 10K from here, and that’s where things really opened up. (Andre) went hard, Anikan stayed with him and had a little gap at the end. I caught back up to Anikan after a few K, and Watt kind of kept his 20 second lead more or less. The former Lakehead University star finished two seconds behind Anikan, disappointing on one hand, but satisfactory on the other. “It was the same as last year,” he said, managing a chuckle or two. “The whole time I was gunning for a top result, but I’ll take it, it’s better than fourth.” The Thunder Bay contingent had a better result on the women’s side. Karla Bailey, who spent much of the winter attempting to qualify for the Olympics racing 1.5-kilometre sprints, topped last year’s winner Paulette Niemi of Ironwood, Mich. by four seconds, crossing the finish line in 2:34:28. Bailey, 31, was just as surprised as anyone that she won, collecting the $1,000 first-place cheque in the process. It was her first 50-kilometre race in seven years, which makes her result that much more remarkable.  “That was a really good race,” an exhausted Bailey said. “All of us top three women skied pretty much the whole 50K. On the last 2K, Paulette said, ‘Come on girls, let’s pick it up. So we tried to go a bit harder and I knew the last kilometre I had to sprint, so I just went as hard as I could until the end.” Race coordinator Peter Gallagher said the 2010 numbers were slightly down from what they expected, with about 750 entrants in a number of different race lengths and disciplines taking to the trails. That’s about 100 or so less than usual, which he attributed to a lack of snow in the region this winter. “Everybody that skis regularly is out skiing, but it’s kind of the people on the fringe of the activity, who only in peak snow years come out to ski. We’re happy with those people that have come, but we’re always hoping for a little more.” Mason Bacso of Plymouth, Minn. took the 50-kilometre classic style race in a time of 2:39:52. Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:55:25 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83760 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83761 Gymnasts focused on power, precision and passion while performing at the provincial qualifier and the invitation competition. The Thunder Bay Gymnastics Association held both the provincial qualifier and the invitation competition at the Coliseum building on the CLE grounds on Saturday. The competitions were open to local athletes as well as athletes from Dryden, Kenora, Red Lake and Sioux Lookout. Special awards were given to gymnasts demonstrating outstanding power, passion and precision. Piper Rasmussen, 11, spent three years training to perform and competed in the provincial qualifier. She won the power award for demonstrating an outstanding performance in that category. Piper competed in the level six category for the provincial qualifier and ranked first overall. The Grade 6 student from St. Bernard public school said she was nervous when she first started but loosened up a bit after she started to compete. Piper said she like performing on the floor and vaulting the most. She said she enjoys vaulting since her tumbles have a lot of power to them. "Power just makes me feel strong and makes me feel really confident," Piper said. "A routine goes with the music so if you have powerful music you should have powerful dance moves. Also, if you have graceful music you should have graceful moves." Mckenna Cades, 12, performed in the level five category of the provincial qualifier and came in first overall. "We’re here just to have fun, get scored and practice what we know," Mckenna said. "Gymnastics is lots of fun and it teaches you other skills like hand-eye coordination. We had awards for power, passion and precision, which are the areas we focus on when we practice." Mckenna said passion is important because it shows flare and attitude when competing. Having passion while performing defines a gymnast from the rest of the athletes, she said. Jacalyn Cop-Rasmussen, director for the Thunder Bay Gymnastics Association, said those that competed in the provincial qualifiers would go onto the Ontario cup held in Windsor on April 9. Ages and level of skill broke up each flight. The top 50 per cent from level five and the top 60 per cent from level six would go on to compete in Windsor. "The provincial cup is a big deal for these athletes," Cop-Rasmussen said. "Some of them are training 16 hours a week and so they are putting in that time to go to the Ontario cup. They are competing against the elite gymnasts." Sun, 07 Mar 2010 10:43:47 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83761 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83802 A slow start was too much to overcome Saturday night, as the Lakehead Thunderwolves were handily defeated 87-66 by the Windsor Lancers in the OUA West Division finals at the St. Denis Centre in Windsor. Windsor will now advance to face the Carleton Ravens in next Saturday’s Wilson Cup at Ottawa to determine the conference champion. Lakehead has one final chance to qualify for the CIS Championships as they will face the Ottawa Gee-Gees in a one game playoff next Saturday at Ottawa. The Gee-Gees lost in the East finals to Carleton who have an automatic national berth as hosts.   The ‘Wolves were led by guard Cam Hornby with 15 points, all coming from beyond the arc. Jamie Searle added 13 points while post Yoosrie Salhia dropped 10. Lakehead shot 40 per cent from the field, hitting nine three-pointers. Windsor’s Isaac Kuon sparked the win with 23 points while Lien Phillip and Josh Collins both had 13 points. Adding 11 points apiece were Nigel Johnson-Tyghter (Brampton, Ontario) and Matt Handsor as the Lancers shot 43.4 per cent from the field with 11 three-pointers.       Windsor controlled the rebounding department 44-34 overall and 18-8 on the offensive end. The Lancers also limited their turnovers to nine against the stingy ‘Wolves defence while Lakehead coughed it up 16 times. Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:48:32 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83802 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83801 The Lakehead Thunderwolves have earned their way into the Cavendish University Cup. Scott Dobben’s penalty shot goal with eight seconds left in the second proved to be the game winner, as the Wolves disposed of the Western Mustangs 5-2 to win the OUA West Division title, setting up a one-game Queen’s Cup final next Saturday at Fort William Gardens against East Division champion McGill. The Redmen have also qualified for nationals. It marks the first time the Wolves have played for the OUA championship since 2006, when they beat McGill. It didn’t look like Lakehead would be celebrating anything Saturday night, at least in the early stages of Game 2 of their best-of-three West Division final. The Wolves trailed 2-0 early. Mike Sharp scored shorthanded at the midway point of the first and Keaton Turkiewicz doubled the lead at 16:28. Lakehead, stymied by Western netminder Keyvan Hunt, who stopped 11 shots in the first, was finally beaten at 11:13 of the second, when Ryan McDonald scored his third of the postseason. Dan Speer tied it up on the power play with 1:16 to go in the middle stanza, and then with time winding down, Dobben was hauled down on a shorthanded breakaway, leading to the penalty shot. Shandor Alphonso scored an insurance marker three minutes into the third, and fellow graduating star Mark Soares put the game away at 16:31. The Mustangs do get a second chance to advance to nationals. Because the Wolves are hosting the Cavendish Cup, they already had an automatic berth in the tournament, slated to begin on March 25. The Mustangs will play a one-game, winner-take-all game against the host University of Quebec at Trois Rivieres next Saturday. The winner gets the third OUA spot at nationals. Also on Saturday night, the Alberta Golden Bears clinched a spot at nationals, downing Calgary 3-1 to sweep their best-of-three Canada West semifinal. By reaching the final Alberta is guaranteed one of the two Canada West spots. In the other semifinal, Manitoba evened its series with Sasktachewan, doubling the Huskies 4-2. Sat, 06 Mar 2010 23:47:54 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83801 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83705 There’s no question Trevor Gamache is a great junior A player. Gamache won the Superior International Junior Hockey League scoring title this season with 80 points, the second time he turned the trick in as many years. But after scoring 103 points in just 49 games in 2008-09 for the Fort William North Stars, including a league-high 41 goals, the Longlac native suddenly went silent when his team needed him the most. Gamache was held goalless in a dozen SIJHL playoff games, only managing to collect eight assists, and the North Stars nearly paid the price, needing seven games to knock off the now-defunct Schreiber Diesels in the SIJHL semifinal. Gamache wasn’t making the same mistake twice. On Friday night at Fort William Gardens, the 20-year-old veteran struck twice, including a goal 26 seconds into the contest, leading the North Stars to a 4-1 lead over the visiting Sioux Lookout Flyers in their  opener of the league’s new round-robin playoff format. “I know last year I had a great regular season, but my playoffs weren’t the greatest, everybody knows that. I’m hoping to lead my team these playoffs. I play on a great line, we know we have a lot of pressure on us and hopefully we can take our team to the Dudley (Hewitt Cup) and redeem ourselves from last year and go to the (Royal Bank Cup),” said Gamache, who completed a three-point night with an assist on Ryan Magill’s second period tally, which at the time put Fort William up 3-0. North Stars coach Todd Howarth said he’s counting on Gamache to provide the offense he needs in the postseason. But just because he wasn’t scoring in last year’s playoffs, doesn’t mean he wasn’t contributing, Howarth added. “He never let his defensive game hurt last year. This year was good to see him get off to a good start, but if you guys remember, he did score a pretty big goal in the semifinal of the Dudley last year to get going for us. He’ll be fine. It’s pressure and these guys all want to win. They know what we want,” Howarth said. Howarth put Gamache on a line with Magill and Jordan Davis about two-and-a-half weeks ago, his way of shuffling things around as the playoffs approached. It’s working out just fine. But it remains to be seen how the league’s new playoff format will work out.  Under the new format, the fourth and fifth-place teams play a traditional seven-game series to determine the fourth seed in the semifinal. The top three teams play a round-robin tournament, with each team playing the other two twice. The team that emerges on top has its choice of any of the three remaining teams as its semifinal opponent. It’s a system introduced from Saskatchewan, and one that Howarth is OK with. “I don’t have a problem with it. No matter what, we don’t lose our home ice throughout the playoffs, because we finished first overall. It means you’re not sitting around. We would have been sitting around in the first round this year. We did that last year and I felt that really hurt us when we went up against Schreiber. We were a step behind,” Howarth said. On Friday night, the opposite was the case. Gamache beat Peter Emery before the small crowd of 75 or so had fully settled into their seats, then pounced again, this time shorthanded, at 7:44 of the first, taking a breakaway pass and powering it through the Sioux Lookout goaltender. Magill went five-hole on Emery 5:19 into the second to make it 3-0, then seven minutes later Chase Dobranski brought the Flyers to within two again, firing a shot from just off the right-wing boards that beat Guillaume Piche, the SIJHL’s February player of the month. Travis Savard netted the game’s final goal midway through the third. Gamache said it was important to get that first win, knowing they only have so many chances in such a short tournament. “It was huge. We knew those guys had to come out and win today. It was critical to get a good start. The first shift we scored and that was huge. We could tell after that they were just icing the puck. Dryden got their first win, so we had to get our first win,” Gamache said. The North Stars and Flyers meet again on Wednesday in Sioux Lookout. In between the North Stars host Dryden on Saturday night at the Gardens. FIRST PERIOD Scoring : 1. Fort William, Gamache 1 (Magill, Hanlan) 0:26. 2. Fort William, Gamache 2 (Savard) 7:44 sh. Penalties : Hamel FW (boarding) 0:58, Forbes FW (slashing) 6:46, Wensley SL (high sticking) 13:23, Dumais SL (cross checking) 19:41. SECOND PERIOD Scoring: 3. Fort William, Magill 1 (Gamache, Davis) 5:19. 4. Sioux Lookout, Dobranski  1 (Hutchinson) 12:03. Penalties : Brown SL, Gamache FW (unsportsmanlike conduct) 1:23, Henley FW (high sticking) 8:50, Usiski FW (unsportsmanlike conduct) 15:02. THIRD PERIOD Scoring : 5. Fort William, Savard 1 (Pearson, Usiski) 11:38. Penalties : Halcrow FW (roughing), McDonnell SL (holding) 10:25, Fummerton FW (high sticking) 14:29, Restoule FW (roughing) 18:29. GAME DATA – SOG – Sioux Lookout 3-10-6-19, Fort William 19-9-10-38; Power plays (goals-chances) – Sioux Lookout (0-5), Fort William (0-2); Goaltenders – Sioux Lookout: Peter Emery, Fort William: Guillaume Piche; A :  75 (estimated). Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:03:27 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/sports/Default.aspx?cid=83705