Local Sports

Molly Carlson may be a future Olympian, but that doesn’t mean her diving coach, Mike Lang, doesn’t still think of his star protégé as a young girl.

Drew Childs is trying to one-up Deion Sanders. A former star with the now-defunct K&A Wolverines of the Superior International Junior Hockey League, the 22-year-old wound up in the suburbs of St. Louis on a golf scholarship.

An emergency appendectomy will sideline Thunder Bay’s Patrick Sharp for the first couple of weeks of the regular season. The Chicago Blackhawks forward is expected to miss up to a month, the NHL team said in release issued on Monday.

Marc Staal is keeping his ‘A’. The New York Rangers on Monday confirmed the Thunder Bay native will join newly acquired free-agent signee Brad Richards as one of two alternate captains.

Molly Carlson took home a fifth-place finish at the Pan-Am Junior Games in the three-metre springboard diving competition. The 12-year-old Thunder Bay native scored 299.80 at the Medillon, Colombia event on Sunday, placing her 16.

The Thunder Bay North Stars withstood a third-period charge Sunday by the Portage Terriers to earn their first preseason win of 2011-12. Cary Brown scored what proved to be the winner at 4:11 of the final frame of the 4-3 decision.

Thunder Bay Sportop midget AA Queens forward Michela Cava brought home some additional accolades from the Stoney Creek Sabres Showcase tournament in Hamilton over the weekend, after helping her side claim the championship, as she earned most valuable

Thunder Bay has put in its bid in to host the 2016 Can-Am Police-Fire Games. Dignitaries for the Can-Am games arrived in Thunder Bay Saturday to view some of the city’s attractions and inspect a number of the sporting venues.

Two days, two games and two losses mark the start of the SIJHL preseason for the Thunder Bay North Stars. Brendan Harms collected a hat trick, scoring once each period, leading the host Portage Terriers to an easy 7-3 triumph on Saturday afternoon.

Brock McDonald scored the winner with five seconds to go in regulation and the Neepawa Natives escaped with a come-from-behind 2-1 win Friday night over the visiting Thunder Bay North Stars.