HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2001-09-26, Page 7Way to go!
Members of the Blyth Storm ball team will be travelling to Saskatchewan next year having
earned a spot to compete at the Molson's Mens B national championship, by placing third at
the provincials in Niagara Falls Sept. 14-16. Players are, in back, from left: Robb Finch, Mike
Kerr, Chris Stewart, Casey Boven, Byron Bowman, Jeff Nesbitt, Ty Stewart, Mike Haggitt, Paul
Good. Front: Brian McNichol, Kevin Meade, Mark Wilson, Mike McDonald, Calvin Kerr, Chuck
Gulutzen. (Photo submitted)
Brussels
Minor Hockey
Reminder
Post dated
registration
cheques will be
deposited on
October 1st.
IVES
INSURANCE BROKERS LTD.
Visit us at:
WWW.1VESINSURANCE.COM
"All Classes of Insurance"
DOUG GOUGH, Broker
184 Dinsley St. W., Blyth
Tel.: (519) 523-9655
Fax: (519) 523-9793
for
• Learn to skate
• Power Skating
• Figure Skating
BRUSSELS SKATING CLUB
Call Jill Sholdice 887-6836 or
Allyson Cardiff 887-9988
Starting Date: Thursday, October 4
ANYONE INTERESTED
IN PLAYING
Men's Town League
Hockey
19 and over
Contact: Murray - 887-6621
Kevin - 887-9078
vio Mike - 887-6449
Warm up skate on Oct. 9 & 16 at 9 p.m.
League starts Oct. 23, 2001
1--REGISTER NOW-1
Winners
The gals from the Brussels slowpitch team, The Psycotics, captured the A championship at the
year-end tournament held recently. Back row, from left: Jill Sholdice, Jan Deitner, Melinda
TenPas, Andrea Rammeloo, Corrie Sholdice, Crystal Devlin, Janice Machan, Julie Bullivant.
Front: Sandra Weber, Kim Strome, Claudette Armstrong, Allyson Cardiff , Rot* Kellington
Kendra Cardiff. Absent: Laurie Dinning, Sandra Pepper, Leanne Armstrong. (Photo submitted)
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2001. PAGE 7.
Sports
Storm puts Blyth on the map with provincial win
The Blyth Storm Men's slo-pitch
team will be travelling to Yorkton,
Saskatchewan next year for the SPN
Molson's Men's B Canadian
National Championships. This is as a
result of their third-place finish at the
provincial championships in Niagara
Falls Sept. 14-16.
It was a gruelling weekend as
seven games were played, four of
them taking place Sunday. Along the
way the guys beat teams from
Aylmer, St. Catharines, London,
Oshawa, Brantford and Windsor.
To put this accomplishment into
perspective, at this year's Canadian
championships in the B division
there were only 15 teams in the
country invited to participate. In the
A division there were only six teams
invited.
Teams are placed in divisions from
A to F based on their abilities and
prior achievements, unlike hockey
and some other sports which rate
teams by their population or drawing
area.
By Sunday in Niagara Falls, when
there were only 24 teams left, the
Storm started to overhear the
inevitable whispers, "Where the
heck is Blyth?" Even the tournament
organizers were amazed such a small
town could compete in this division.
the provincial championships, losing
out to the eventual winners from
Windsor. Earlier this year they came
close once again, playing in a nation-
al championship qualifier at Slo-
Pitch City in Dorchester. Only the
winner qualified to go compete in
Halifax, Nova Scotia and the Storm
was beaten in the final.
Although disappointed, some pos-
itives came out of this tournament
when the boys from Blyth defeated
last year's Canadian champions.
The team has changed little over
the years with the core group origi-
nally playing minor basement in
Blyth together and later in the Huron
County Men's Fastball League. They
have a combination of youth and
experience as this team ranges in age
from 19 to 35. While predominantly
Blyth residents, there is also a team
member from each of Clinton,
Goderich and Wingham.
As the team continued to improve
and move up to more competitive
divisions, it was increasingly evident
that some fundraising would need to
be done to help compete with teams
from the cities. A majority of these
teams had budgets from sponsor-
ships to help with or pay for equip-
ment and travel costs.
For the past four years the Blyth
Storm Co-ed Tournament has been
held in Blyth the weekend before the
long weekend in August. Part of the
proceeds from this tournament has
gone to donations to minor sports.
giving back to the program
that helped them- so many years
ago.
The Blyth Storm acknowledged
everyone all their support, especially
families, in the past and into next
year when they will try to bring a
Canadian championship home to
Blyth.
This has been something the team
has gotten used to since it decided to
begin play in what has always been
referred to as "city ball". It started
five years ago in London, and the
goal from the start has been to get to
a national championship.
In that first year they finished 13th
out of 132 teams and began to earn
the respect from their fellow com-
petitors. None of them forgot the
pain involved in playing six games
in one day at that first provincials,
and the lessons learned have helped
them ever since.
Two years ago they came extreme-
ly close with a fourth place finish at