Catégorie : Tribune-Express (Hawkesbury)

The Vankleek Collegiate Institute (VCI) mixed rink rocked its way into the finals match of the Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletics Association (EOSSAA) curling championships in Kingston last week. The VCI mixed rink of skip Rafael MacKinnon, lead Addison Eva, second Tristan Das Eiras, and third Madison Parisien went the full seven ends against Cornwall’s École L’Héritage rink in the finals with Cornwall taking the gold with a 9-3 score.

“They (Cornwall) had a little bit more experience on their side, which is always a factor,” said VCI Coach Dan Tremblay.

VCI played against Ernestown first in their roundrobin event the first day of the EOSSAA championships March 6. The four Vankleek Hill curlers edged out their opposition 6-5, then went on for their first encounter of the bonspiel agains L’Héritage.

The Cornwall school won that round 10-6. Still in play, VCI went on to the semi-final round of the competition and beat Kingston Secondary 8-6. That qualified the four VCI curlers for their finals rematch against L’Héritage.

“I see a bright future for these four, with a little more experience,” said Tremblay, adding that the four have all curled together for the past three years. “They all came up through the Vankleek Hill Curling Club.”

The VCI girls rink of skip Sydney Mode, Heidi Zihlmann, Cooper Smith, and Alexa MacLaren did not do as well during EOSSAA. They lost both of their round-robin matches against Kingston’s Frontenac 7-2 and St. Joseph of Cornwall 8-1 after seven ends. The Cornwall school went on to win the girls division at EOSSAA.

Coach Tremblay noted that the members of VCI’s girls rink had not played together for several years and decided this season to put together a rink “for fun” to represent the school in girls curling at the regional level. They won the Prescott-Russell title last month, which earned them their berth at EOSSAA.

“They all have experience in curling and I expect they will return next year,” said Tremblay. “I am really proud of how they (mixed and girls) represented the school.”

“It was close,” said Head Coach Franky Dopelhammer, “but we weren’t playing to our potential.”

The two teams were tied 3-3 coming out of second period in their fifth match against each other March 8 in Gatineau. They each got a goal around the mid-mark of third period. Then the Volant got a pair of empty-net goals to win the match and the right to move on to the next round in the National Capital Junior Hockey League (NCJHL) playoffs.

Cougars assistant captain Eric Skyba put Vankleek Hill on the scoreboard first midway through first period, with help from team captain Mikael Bissonnette and Brendan Easterbrook. Bissonnette added another point to the Cougars’ score five minutes later, with an assist from assistant captain John Mahoney.

Guillaume Durocher, with help from Samuel Duval, got the Volant’s first goal of the game with four minutes left in first period. During the final two minutes Samuel Lamarche, assisted by Étienne Champagnes and Jérémy Marcotte, tied up the score.

Second period saw Mathis Villeneuve break the tie in the Volant’s favour, with help from Champagne and Jacob Éthier. In the last four minutes of the period Alexandre Saul scored an unassisted goal for the Cougars to tie up the score again.

Thomas Kelly’s unassisted goal broke the tie in Vankleek Hill’s favour at the midpoint of third period. Then the Volant fired in a series of points during the rest of the period starting with Champagne to tie up the score again, Villeneuve to break it, and then two unassisted empty net goals by Marcotte to finish the game.

The Cougars coach noted that he and the players are disappointed they did not get to move on to the second round of the playoffs. Next season, Coach Dopelhamer noted, should be different as he expects to see most, if not all, of this season’s roster of players return for another try at the NCJHL title.

Dopelhamer noted that only four of this season’s Cougars won’t be coming back because they have reached the league’s 21-year-old age limit. He observed that would leave Vankleek Hill with a good core group of veterans and seasoned rookies for next year compared to some other NCJHL clubs that will see a large number of their older players leaving.

Dopelhamer expressed thanks for local fan support of the Cougars during their playoffs series. He noted that at least 300 local fans showed up for all of the team’s road games against the Volant and the last home game had a crowd of between 500 to 600.

As part of a continuing campaign to help local residents protect themselves and their family members against fraud and identity theft, the Hawkesbury OPP detachment will have a mid-March drop-in booth to provide electronic copies of I.D. cards for children and seniors.

The event takes place March 16, 4 to 6 p.m., at the Asselin’s Your Independent Grocer in Hawkesbury.

Police will be on-site with an EZ Child and Senior Ident kit to provide parents and family guardians with electronic copies of I.D. cards for children and seniors. The cards will be confidential to the family and the OPP will not keep any of the information itself.

Officers will also have pamphlets available on how residents can protect themselves from various types of frauds. The OPP mascot Constable Rosie will also be on-site for meet-and-greets and photos with children.

The champion athlete talked to students during a March 2 visit about the trials and tribulations he faced in his athletic career after an accident left him paralyzed from the waist down and how he overcame that and other obstacles on his part to a World Cup title in paracycling. Desjardins’ talk followed after a video presentation of his World Cup podium finish.

“I still get goosebumps from watching that” he said.

Desjardins made a point of trying to answer every question put to him by students. He reminisced about his own days as a VCI student and encouraged his young audience to enjoy to the full their time at school because he remembers his VIC days as « great times, » including all the hours he spent in the automotive shop working on his dirt bike.

Talking about his accident, Desjardins told students that « you have to live with risks every day and that you must know what those risks are, and that they can affect a lot more people than you think. » He added that he was lucky to have the support system that he did to get through his early struggles, physically and emotionally, after the accident. His family, friends, and Vanessa, his girlfriend then who later became his wife, were all people that were affected by his injury.

« Sometimes we make decisions without always thinking about the other who may be affected by our choices, » Desjardins said. « We think that if I get hurt, break a leg, sprain a wrist, it will only affect me. We don’t always think about how more devastating injuries might affect others around us. »

Getting back on track

Many students assembled for the meeting with Desjardins looked thoughtful as he described who, after his accident, life for him became a history of « checking boxes ». Sitting up in bed by himself; check. Transferring himself from one place to another; check. Getting his driver’s licence; check.

Now, Desjardins noted, the boxes are becoming a lot more pleasant to check. Getting married, having children, travelling to different places, and setting high goals for himself in his cycling career are all boxes that he continues to check off.

After talking about his injury, Desjardins described the path that shaped his future athletic career. He was introduced to biking and a few other potential sports such as skiing, but he felt that biking was the best avenue for him. Leaving his wheelchair for his parabike gives him « a huge feeling of independence ».

He also observed that this is now the risk that he takes.

“Getting stuck with the bike, is a lot different than getting stuck with the chair, » he said. « I don’t want to be 40 kilometres from my house and get stuck with my bike.”

Desjardins brought two parabikes with him to show the students. He described the two bikes as “one for business”, indicating his racing bike, and “this one is my toy”, pointing to his new, battery-powered mountain bike.

He let students try his bikes and also demonstrated the ease with which he now manages either one.

 He talked about his experience at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where he placed eighth in the road race and 11th in the time trials. He recalled it as « an unbelievable experience » and his sights are now set on competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Desjardins wrapped up his talk with an outline of his training regimen and travel plans, including his upcoming roadwork training schedule. He intends to be wheeling along outdoors as soon as possible this spring, even if there is still some snow on the ground along his routes.

Meanwhile, Desjardins has a training camp in North Carolina to attend. He noted these training camp sessions are essential for athletes like him. During the winter he tries to do between 50 and 70 kilometres a day of cycling, either stationary or on an indoor track to maintain his physical condition.

For more information about Joey Desjardins and his accomplishments, follow the paralympic Team Canada link below. https://paralympic.ca/team-canada/joey-desjardins.

Monday featurs a Disco Skate morning at the outdoor rink in Wendover next to the Lucien Delorme Community Centre. Tuesday afternoon at the Curran Forum there are a variety of indoor games and other activities.

Wednesday morning in Treadwell at the village community hall there are a variety of indoor games and activities. Fresh fruit and popcorn will be offered at no charge to help provide energy for little participants in all the fun.

Also on Wednesday afternoon at the Lefaivre Community Hall is a workshop on aerosol stencil artwork under the direction of artist Jamie Janx Johnston. On-site registration is $15 and the event is open for participants, ages 8 to 18. Participants are advised to wear old clothes and/or aprons as paint stains may result.

Thursday afternoon at the Boisés Larocque near Larocque Park in Alfred is a Guided Walk in the Woods. The event finishes up with a campfire storytelling session with Le Père Garneau. Hot chocolate and marshmallows are provided for children and adults.

Friday morning and afternoon at the Plantagenet municipal hall is a Meet the Keepers presentation of exotic animals and information on conservation and responsible pet ownership. There will also be a variety of indoor games offered for children.

The Cougars and the Volant each have two wins so far as they head back to the ice Wednesday in Gatineau for a fifth game in their series. A win either way still means at least one more return match in Vankleek Hill to decide who will move on to the next round in the National Capital Junior Hockey League playoffs (NCJHL).

Friday night in Gatineau

Last Friday night’s round of the series in Gatineau finished 5-3 for the Volant.

Samuel Lamarch put the host team on the scoreboard first four minujtes into the game with an assist from Cédric Bertrand. The Volant extended their lead to 3-0 with another first-period goal by Jérémy Marcotte and one at the second-period mid-mark from Benoît Milloy.

Cougars assistant captain Eric Skyba broke the Volant’s scoring streak with a goal for Vankleek Hill in the last five minutes of second period. Andy Lightle-Blais assisted on the goal.

Maxime Laliberté gave the Cougars their second goal of the night during the first minute of third period, with assistant captain Joshua Desjardins assisting. Skyba tied up the score with his second goal of the night at the period midpoint, with the help of Brenden Easterbrook.

Marcotte ruined the Cougars’ chances of a win with two more goals for a hat trick in the last half of the period.

Sunday night in the Den

The Cougars came out roaring Sunday night in their temporary Den at the Robert Hartley Sports Centre and chewed up the Volant 9-2.

Marcotte opened up the scoreboard first with a goal for Gatineau halfway through first period. After that the Cougars dominated the scoring with a shorthanded goal a minute later by team captain Mikael Bissonnette, with help from assistant captain Joshua Desjardins, to tie up the score, and then a tie-breaker by assistant captain Eric Skyba in the last five minutes of the period, with Desjardins and Brenden Easterbrook assisting.

Second period belonged to the Cougars with Desjardins scoring a pair of goals during the first half of the period. Bissonnette helped on Desjardins’ first goal and also on the second one with support from Skyba.

Bissonnette scored his second goal of the night on a power play during the last half of second period. Desjardins and Skyba both assisted on the goal.

Assistant captain John Mahoney scored an unassisted goal for the Cougars in the first two minutes of third period. Gatineau got its last goal of the night a minute later from Alex Beauséjour, with help from Clément Gravelle.

Wrapping up the scoring for Vankleek Hill were Thomas Kelly, assisted by Easterbrook and Mahoney; Alexandre Chenier, with help from Skyba and Bissonnette; and a power-play goal by Landen Sweet in the final three minutes, with Chenier and Jake Lalonde assisting.

Frédérick Durocher-Bourdon guarded the Vankleek Hill net in both games.

The Cougars are in Gatineau March 8 for the fifth game in their series against the Volant. The sixth game date was not listed on either team’s website schedule by press time but should be over the weekend with Vankleek Hill as the host.