The Citizen, 2012-04-05, Page 8PAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2012.SportsBantam Lightning end fourth in Lower Lakes tourney
Expectations were high as the
Saugeen Maitland Bantam AA
Lightning opened their Lower Lakes
League final tournament against the
top-ranked Whitby Wolves.
Lexi Smith opened the scoring for
the Bolts after the Whitby goaltender
tumbled a point shot from Nikki
Zabel. Whitby battled back to score
the equalizer and pressed hard to go
ahead. However, Lightning
goaltender Rebecca Ropp would not
allow another goal and the game
ended in a 1-1 tie.
The Lightning’s second game of
the four-team round robin was
against the rival Oakville Hornets.
Again the Bolts tallied first with
Kaitlyn Eckert scoring and assists
going to Miranda Lantz and Maddie
Duncan. The Lightning carried
much of the play, but the pesky
Hornets scored early in the third
period to tie the score at one.
The puck-stoppers were stingy
again as the Oakville goalie and
Lightning net-minder Morgan Baker
shut the door and the game end in
another 1-1 draw.
With the two ties, the Lightning
needed a win over the Aurora
Panthers for a shot at the gold medal
game. The Lightning got into some
penalty trouble in the second period
and the Panthers scored two power
play goals. Needing a win, the
Lightning pulled their goaltender
with close to six minutes remaining
and Cassidy Mason scored to make
it 2-1.
Despite some furious late pressure
from the Lightning to score the
equalizer, Aurora scored an empty
netter to ice the game 3-1.
The loss put the Lightning into the
bronze medal game against Oakville
on Saturday afternoon. The Bolts
seemed a little disheartened and it
showed as the Hornets scored two
early goals. However, the Lightning
showed their mettle and came back
with two of their own to tie the game
before the end of two periods. Lantz
notched one on the powerplay from
Smith and Ciara Lark. Eckert then
scored on a seeing-eye shot from
Neve VanPelt.
A fluky Oakville goal on a dump-
in deflected off a glass stanchion was
the difference as the Hornets and
Lightning traded another pair of
third period goals for a final score of
4-3. Tori Terpstra scored the final
Lightning goal from Lark and
Ashlee Lawrence. The Lightning
have no reason to hang their heads as
two ties and a pair of one goal games
with the top teams in the province
proves the team’s competitiveness.
The Lightning now have two
weeks to prepare for the year-end
OWHA Provincial tournament in the
GTA.
Follow the Lightning results at
www.saugeenmaitlandlightning.com
PeeWee Reps claim Young Canada Week trophy
The Blyth Brussels PeeWee Rep team won the C Consolation at the Goderich Young Canada
Week tournament. During the finals they defeated the South Huron Sabres 3-1. Prior games
saw the team lose 4-1 to the BCH Ice Dogs, tie the Durham Huskies 1-1, beat the Seaforth
Stars 2-0 and lose to the Hanover Falcons 2-0.The team also found victory in the Western
Ontario Athletics Association (WOAA) ‘C’ championship beating opponents Minto in four
games. (Denny Scott photo)
Midget Lightning net
third-place finish in
tournament
The Saugeen Maitland Midget AA
Lightning picked up the bronze
medal when they beat Toronto
Leaside 5-2 in the Lower Lakes
Championships this past weekend.
The Lightning got off to a slow
start, losing 3-0 to the high powered
and eventual gold medal winners,
Toronto Aeros. In game two,
Saugeen outshot Oakville 29-16 but
were edged 1-0. The Lightning
finally found their scoring touch
when they tied Leaside 3-3 in their
final round-robin match.
Scoring on the weekend was
Hannah Davidson with a hattrick in
the medal game while singles went
to Stacie Vink, Kelly Gribbons,
Brittany Butcher, Laura Irwin and
Sara Gossell. Assists were awarded
to Butcher (3), Gribbons (2), Vink
(2), Dollee Meigs (2) and Lindsay
Dales.
The Lightning will be playing in
the provincial championships on the
April 13-15 weekend in Vaughan.
Huron can’t take school closures: CH’s Mayor Ginn
School closures will be another
body blow to an already suffering
area, Central Huron mayor Jim
Ginn told the Avon Maitland District
School Board (AMDSB) March 27.
Ginn was one of three delegates
who appeared in front of trustees to
respond to AMDSB staff’s proposal
to shut down Holmesville and
Colborne Central Public Schools at
the end of June 2013.
Ginn listed the many financial hits
the area of Huron County has
already taken: the 500 jobs lost
when the Volvo Motor Graders plant
closed its doors in 2009, the 2011
Goderich tornado, the closure of the
Bluewater Youth Centre last month
and the scheduled ending of the
Slots at Racetracks revenue-sharing
program in early 2013.
“One can only wonder how many
hits a local economy can take before
it hits the point of no return and
spirals down into depression,” he
said.
Ginn told trustees that the school
closures will hobble the area’s
ability to draw newcomers, further
affecting the local economy. He
asked them to consider the
Accommodation Review
Committee’s (ARC)
recommendations instead.
The ARC’s recommendations are
based on committee members’
determination to keep a “rural
option” for students at the two
schools.
One recommendation is to close
Colborne Central Public School and
send students to Holmesville Public
School.
The other recommendation is to
not change either school in the
immediate future, and instead plan
for a new, centrally-located, rural JK
to Grade 8 school to be built in the
next five years. Once this new
school is built, the ARC
recommends closing Holmesville,
Colborne Central and Brookside
Public Schools.
Under the staff proposal, students
at Holmesville Public School would
be split up among Goderich Public
School, Goderich District Collegiate
Institute Elementary School and
Clinton Public School. The split
would be based on the secondary
school boundaries of Goderich
District Collegiate Institute (GDCI)
and Central Huron Secondary
School (CHSS).
Students at Colborne Central
would be split up among Goderich
Public School, Goderich District
Collegiate Institute Elementary
School and Brookside Public
School, based on boundaries devised
by staff with community
consultation. Board staff outlined
their objections to the ARC
recommendations in a pre-released
report.
Staff rejected the proposal to keep
both schools open for now and close
Holmesville, Colborne Central and
Brookside Public Schools later since
Brookside was not named in the
accommodation review.
For Brookside Public School to be
considered for closure, trustees
would have to approve an entirely
new ARC which would put
Brookside under review,
superintendent of operations Mike
Ash said.
Ontario’s precarious financial
situation also makes it “highly
unlikely” that the Ministry of
Education will fund a new JK to
Grade 8 elementary school, he
added, especially when three
surrounding schools have space to
accommodate students.
Ash said that while the ARC’s
other proposal to merge Colborne
Central and Holmesville would save
money, it still wouldn’t save as much
money as staff’s recommendation to
close both schools.
Ash added that a Colborne
Central/Holmesville merger also
does not address the problem of
excess space at Goderich, Clinton
and Brookside public schools.
According to staff’s report, these
schools are operating at 68 per cent
loading capacity (Goderich), 63 per
cent capacity (Brookside) and 57 per
cent capacity (Clinton PS). Ash said
the staff’s solution to close Colborne
Central and Holmesville would
mean an increase of students for
those schools.
But Central Huron Councillor
Brian Barnim, another delegate,
wanted to know why the ARC
wasn’t allowed to include other
schools in its recommendations but
staff was.
“It seems the board can have it
both ways and we can only have it
one way,” he said. Ash said that
under board policy, another school
can be affected by the ARC as long
as the decision doesn’t affect more
than 50 per cent of the school’s
population. But Northwest Huron
trustee Al Sygrove questioned why
the ARC was expected to consider
Goderich, Brookside and Clinton
schools at all.
“I think it would be fair to say that
[the ARC] really went about their
business not being aware that they’re
being responsible for having to solve
enrolment problems at these other
school areas,” he said.
A public meeting to hear
delegations will be held 7 p.m. May
1 at Holmesville Public School.
AMDSB trustees will vote on
whether to accept an ARC or staff
recommendation at the board’s
8 p.m. meeting June 5.
Blyth Brussels Minor Hockey &
Blyth & Brussels Skating Clubs
REGISTRATION &
PAYMENT NIGHTS
April 16 from 7 - 9 pm in Blyth Arena
& April 17 from 7-9 pm Brussels Arena
By Rita Marshall
Special to The Citizen
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