Sports – April 11
Whitfield Guardian Pharmacy U18 Elmvale Coyotes Win OMHA Championship
April 8, 2024 – Our U18 Elmvale Coyotes have brought home an OMHA Tier 1 Championship for the great hockey town of Elmvale.
For all of us older hockey enthusiastic the U18 was formally known as Midget and the Tier 1 is like an OMHA B classification from the years past.
Game 1 Friday against Niagara on the Lakes ended with the 4-2 win.
Saturday morning the boys faced off against the top ranked Petrolia Oilers team. We fell short with a 2-1 loss.
The Coyote players and fans were not dejected though; a win or a tie in game 3 Saturday evening against the Mitchell Meteors would solidify our spot in the semi-finals. Final score was 3-3 advancing the boys to Sunday semi-final.
The Semi-final game saw us take on the Lindsay Muskies, a team we had faced with little success in the Silver Stick Tournament. The game ended in an exciting 2-1 win for Elmvale.
Off to the finals we went with much excitement and anticipation. A quick Pita Pit stop for the players and some top notch parking lot banter with the parents and fans had the Elmvale Coyotes ready to finally bring back another OMHA Championship to the storied Elmvale Coyotes organization.
Mitchell was once again the team that stood in the way of our boys accomplishing this feat. As had happened all tournament Elmvale opened up the scoring to take the 1-0 lead. The second was not as kind to the Yotes as two PP goals and a SH goal put the Meteors up 3-1 after 2 periods.
With 7 minutes to play the Coyotes still found themselves down 3-1. Time appeared to be running out on the “Cinderella” run? A PP goal started the comeback. Shortly after that Elmvale scored the tying goal on a beauty two on one and the Elmvale fans and bench erupted. The dream of winning an OMHA Championship was alive and well.
The final few minutes ended and a 10 minute overtime set the stage for a story book ending for our beloved Elmvale Coyotes. 45 seconds into the first overtime Jake Dutton shattered the Meteors dream and put him and his Coyotes teammates into a place of hockey laurel that very few people get the chance to be – All Ontario OMHA Champions.
Thanks to our sponsor the Whitfield Guardian Pharmacy for their years of sponsorship this season and over the years.
2024 Tier 1 OMHA Champions- our very own U18 Elmvale Coyotes! Go Coyotes Go!
Winners of the Monday Men’s Masters Curling League
By Dave Don
The team of Mike Townes, Mike Jacobs, John Stevenson, and Dave Lewis won the Harold Townes Memorial Trophy as the champions of the Monday Men’s Masters Curling League’s spring schedule. The win was especially significant for Mike Townes as the Trophy was donated by the Townes family in memory of his father, Harold. On hand to watch the game was Mike’s son and grandson. The winners of the consolation side of the draw were Larry Huth, Reg Cowan, Larry McMann, and Kent Grunland.
The Monday Men’s Master League is focused on men who have “mastered” the age of 60 plus. Nine teams and over 40 curlers took part in the Schedule. The group is non-competitive and dedicated to having fun with friends.
Telequip Wireless U9 LL End of Year Tournament
By Corinna Draper
Hockey parents it’s that time of the year again, end of another hockey season.
It’s a bittersweet time as families dream of weekends free from cold feet and backsides, but feel a strange emptiness looking at all the free days on the calendar. The U9 LL team, sponsored by Telequip Wireless, wrapped up the season at a tournament in Owen Sound. The team; Hudson Greenwod, William Draper, Emerson Weiss, Addison Carney, Alex Daniel, Calvin Hofman, Rowan Murphy, Audrey Trace, Cameron Temolder, Ryker Smith, Kylan Yoo, Rhys Moreau, Tristan Moreau, and Van Archambault are all hard working, dedicated and talented kids.
Saturday was a great day for a drive from Elmvale to Owen Sound; and overall it was probably the easiest season of hockey driving you could ask for. With a hockey parents dream time start of 11:30 am when we took the ice against the Essa Eagles. The Coyotes started off strong with a goal from Cal and a goal from Van in the first period. Alex showed his strong offensive play to open the second period but Essa answered back with their first goal. Then Van showed off his speed and talent tallying 2 more goals for the good guys. Essa managed to answer with another goal before the period ended. To start the third Van came out strong grabbing his 4th goal of the game! Essa pushed on scoring 2 more of their own to make this one a nail biter to the end. Hard battles by Ryker, Audrey and William backed up by the phenomenal defence of Addy and Rowan helped the Coyotes pull out a 5-4 win.
The team was feeling good going into our Sunday game, dreaming of playing in a final at an OHL arena. We played an afternoon game vs. Midland, a team we had beat the regular season. We had a rough start with Midland getting off to a 3-goal lead. Grit and determination from Emerson and Rhys with a wall of defence again from Addy kept the kids in the game. Cal turned it around showing his strength and power when he scored the Coyotes first goal. Ky, Cam, and Tristan came out hard and showed off their skills this game. It was Hudson in net who really put on a show, stopping some great shots from the stars on the Midland team. The stands erupted with cheers as Cal’s offensive force tied the game. Hudson held off Midland with even more sensational saves but they snuck one by him to give Midland the lead. It was the moves by Van that got us up by another goal to tie the game again. Our team held off the push from Midland at the end to make the final a 4-4 tie! Unfortunately, this left us just short to move on the final game, but our kids left with their heads held high knowing they played hard and left it all on the ice.
It was such a pleasure watching this team grow over the season. More than half of the players were new to Elmvale hockey this year. With that said, we must give a shout out to our dedicated, supportive and motivating coaches. Mike Archambault, Mark Carney, Paul Hofman, and Jeremy Smith; who really know how keep their cool, even when it seems like no one can hear them. Big thanks as well to Amy Smith for keeping us organized and booking the Muskoka hotel, the kids say it was the highlight of the season. We also need to say how much we appreciate the hockey grandparents and siblings for putting in so much time the rink helping and cheering the kids on. You can tell you that siblings don’t always love all those hours at the arena but they do love the snacks!
Congrats to the U9 LL Coyotes – you should all be proud of a fantastic season…..until next year.
Tim Hortons Elmvale Coyotes U7 LL Team #2 had a Great Season!
By Ashley Archer
March 29, 2024 -The coaching staff could not be more proud of the growth made this hockey season by these 12 players; #3 Jack Pearson, #4 Finnegan Trace, #5 Owen Coleman, #6 Blakely Potter, #7 Emmet Gordon, #9 Kipten, KleinGebbinck, #10 Elliot Brown, #11 Kenley Archer, #12 Brooks Trottier, #13 Leland Osetti, #14 JR, Graham, and #15 Chase Temolder.
The Elmvale Coyotes U7 LL Team #2 proudly wore their Elmvale Coyote jerseys for the last time this season in a tournament in Minto where they showed off what this team was all about. It was evident this tournament weekend, not only were hockey skills made this hockey season but great friendships between our players as well.
To everyone who cheered us on, managed us on or off the ice, and supported us (Tim Hortons) – Thank you!
Lynn Stone Funeral Home U11 LL1 Hockey Team Season Wrap-up
by Mark Carney
March 29, 2024 -Elmvale’s Lynn Stone Funeral Home U11 LL1 team hit the ice for the last time this season on Friday by challenging parents to dust off their equipment and show their kids that “they’ve still got it”. Many laughs were had and only a few aging muscles were pulled.
This lively team had a great season of competition with highlights including a second place win in the Danny Wood Memorial Tournament in Midland and showing Simcoe their resiliency at the Marci Cook Memorial Tournament over March break. A huge thank you to our sponsor Lynn Stone Funeral Home Inc. who helped make our season possible!
Many friendships were built between players Jacob Allegranza, Marshall Bates, Wes Carney, Colby Dobson, Nick Haw, Jaxson Holden, Ellie Kenney, Wyatt Murphy, Jackson Potter, Brooklyn Sharpe, Blake Sickel, Dawson Ward-Paige, Tommy Ward-Paige and Bryson Weir. This team developed so much over the season and their coaches and families are so proud of their progress.
A special thank you goes out to Head Coach Matt Kenney, Assistant Coach Gareth Potter, Trainer Shane Sharpe and Manager Mark Carney. Thank you for your dedication to our players and volunteering to take on these crucial roles. Players were supported by an awesome group of parents and much thanks goes to them for taking their players to countless practices, cheering the loudest, celebrating the wins and losses, taking loads of pictures, having those ‘on-the-way home’ chats, and always being in their players’ corners. These days go by fast, so to all our EMHA hockey parents, thank you and soak up those memories with your favorite hockey player(s) while you can because one day you’ll miss this.
Elmvale Curling Club Sunday Mixed 2nd Schedule Champions
By Sue Henry
Team Rick Turner prevailed over Team Bryan Pullen (Sue Henry, Dianne Cox, Mike Grenier) in the championship game of the Sunday Mixed Curling, Second Schedule.
Skip Rick’s team included Vice Bonnie Locke, and Vice spares Joanne Downey, Sue Henry and John Stevenson (in the final game photo), 2nd Blake Anderson, and Lead Carrie Adams. Congratulations to all!
The Elmvale Curling Club is all about having ‘Fun with Friends’. Although we have a number of competitive curlers who are involved in Regional and Provincial competitions, Elmvale Curling Club is also about building and maintaining friendships with people in Elmvale and the surrounding areas.
