The Niagara region has produced some amazing professional hockey stories this year.

First it was former Fort Erie Meteor Andrew Sturtz signing his first career professional contract, then it was Fort Erie native Megan Delay winning the Clarkson Cup in her first season with her Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) team the Markham Thunder.

The Niagara Region continues to grow its sporting landscape. Look no further than the past three years when the Meridian Centre in downtown St. Catharines has landed national or international events including the 2016 IIHF U-18 Women’s World Hockey Championships, the 2017 Canadian Women’s Curling Championships (Scott Tournament of Hearts) and now the 2018 U-18 […]

Myer’s Ryan Shannon rounds the bases during play in the Bullet Proof  high school baseball tournament. Photo Credit: Jeff Eidt Last week the annual Bullet Proof High School Baseball tournament was held in St. Catharines.  A.N. Myer of Niagara Falls, which has ‘threepeated’ as SOSSA champions and finished in the top five in OFSAA the last […]

Every young hockey player dreams of one day making the pros and signing an NHL contract.

For Buffalo N.Y. native and former St. Catharines Falcon and Fort Erie Meteor Andrew Sturtz that dream became a reality on March 28 when he signed with the Ottawa Senators.

“I had interest from multiple teams I had talked to about 10-15 teams throughout the year and at the end of the year there was four or five and Ottawa was the team that I went with,” said Sturtz describing the process of deciding where to sign.

As a rookie, Kristin Gallant figured her first year with the Brock Badgers women’s basketball team would see her play a small role and fight for playing time.
But after a busy season that saw the 18-year-old Halifax native become a young leader on her team, Gallant was named to the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) all-star game.

Sixteen years old, and drafted to the OHL.

Might sound great to some, but what’s lost is your leaving home. You’re off to a new school. New friends. New teammates. All part of the process that many often forget.

And what about the parents? They’re entrusting a new billet family with ultimately their son’s future.

Two questions.

How many people across Niagara know the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame is located in St. Catharines? Or that the St. Catharines Jr. A Athletics have been around since 1877?

Don’t worry you’re not alone.

The Jr. A Athletics lacrosse club is one of the oldest sporting traditions in all of Canada.

It’s very rare for a freshman quarterback to start a Canadian University football game. But when you have the skill set and the confidence of Niagara’s Tre Ford it’s really no surprise he bucked that trend.

The former A.N. Myer student-athlete is now behind centre with the University of Waterloo Warriors. Ford just finished his first year with the team, used primarily in a platoon role but also getting a start. His performances were so impressive Ford claimed the Norm Marshall trophy as the Ontario University Athletics’ rookie of the year becoming just the second player in school history to do so.

“There’s a lot of marketing on the internet mixed in with a lot of unproven recommendations.” That was a key message from one Canada’s top neurosurgeons talking about concussions.

Dr. Charles Tator, a world-renowned expert in concussions and spinal cord injuries, spoke to The Niagara Independent prior to his talk, Concussions — What Are They and What Can I Do? held at Brock University last Thursday.

Dr. Tator joined a panel of Brock faculty members, students and alumni to provide an overview of the current state of concussions from a broad perspective.  Members of the panel included: Dr. Omar Khan (working with concussion patients through ODK Physical Medicine at Hotel Dieu Shaver’s Medical Clinic) Hilary Findlay, PhD (Associate Professor, Sport Management— legalities around concussions for sport organizations), Caitlyn Gallant (Brock University doctoral candidate — research focusing on the ability to understand others’ thoughts and emotions, Theory of Mind, among individuals with concussions/mild traumatic brain injuries) and Stephanie Cowle, Manager, Knowledge Translation, Parachute.

A.N. Myer High School’s baseball program has been having great success over the last few years.  Success that rivals that of the school’s legendary football program – whose senior team had 3 successive SOSSA Championships as well as victories at OFSAA which included the #2 ranking in Canada in 2016.

Myer baseball is on a similar streak with 3 successive SOSSA championships and 3 straight trips to OFSAA, which included the #3 ranking in Ontario going into OFSAA last year.

As the Niagara IceDogs cleaned out their lockers and reflected on their season that ended recently with a 4-2 loss to their k-9 rivals the Hamilton Bulldogs who won the hard-fought second round series four games to one, much is expected of the 2018-19 edition of the IceDogs.

This year’s team had a successful year with 35 wins, 23 losses, seven overtime losses and three shootout losses for a season total of 80 points, good enough for a fourth place finish in the Eastern Conference.  Overager Sam Miletic who split his time between the London Knights and Niagara lead the team in scoring with 92 points in 63 games played (28 with Niagara). He finished sixth in OHL scoring. Second year centre and top rated NHL prospect Akil Thomas had an impressive sophomore season with 81 points in 68 games.

The in-arena setup is second to none. The atmosphere is electric. Most importantly, the quality of basketball is on par with any professional team across North America.

The Niagara River Lions are in their third year of existence, playing out of the Meridian Centre in downtown St. Catharines, as part of the National Basketball League of Canada.

With the coming of spring, and The Masters now come and gone, the golf season is finally upon us. So, who was the “real” winner of this year’s Masters Tournament? Yes, there were some great story-lines, including Patrick Reed and his ugly shirt choices, putting on the green jacket. Jordan Speith put on a putting clinic, Tiger made his return to a major and Jack Nicklaus’ grandson made his first-ever hole-in- one at the Par 3 contest. But there is something else that I hope everyone had an opportunity to watch…  the Drive, Chip and Putt Finals.

The Drive, Chip and Putt Final is an accumulation of a years’ worth of qualifying sites for thousands of junior golfers from across the United States and Canada to vie for a chance to compete at Augusta National Golf Club. For the last few years I make every attempt to watch television on the Sunday prior to the grand tournament, to celebrate the start of “Masters Week”. Memories come back from my junior golf days as a member of Southbrook Golf & Country Club in Binbrook, Ontario as I spent my entire summer chasing a ball around that golf course for 18, 36 and 45 holes daily. This year Canada was well represented with three junior golfers participating in the finals. One of Canada’s brightest, up and coming golf stars, Vanessa Borovilhos, won the 11-12-year-old girls division.

Winning the right to host more sporting events in the Niagara Region is what a group from Brock University hopes to convince the Region they can do if given the opportunity to lead the process, at least temporarily.

Dr. Julie Stevens, an Associate Professor in Brock’s Sport Management program and Director of Brock’s Centre for Sport Capacity was at the Region’s Planning and Economic Development Committee meeting this week outlining a proposal that would see Brock’s Centre for Sport Capacity manage the sport hosting process, data collection and post event analysis for the Region, at least on an interim basis.

If the regular season was any indication, the Niagara Ice Dogs would be the favorites heading into their second-round playoff series against the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Unfortunately, most in the world of sports know the regular season means nothing when it comes to the post-season – especially in hockey.

The Ice Dogs entered the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Ontario Hockey League Eastern Conference standings but won five of six games against the top-ranked Bulldogs during the regular season.

“Whoever played against us today . . . would not stand in our way.” Brock Badger’s curling coach, Murray Etherington, was referring to the Brock women who steam-rolled over Mount Allison Mounties to win the bronze medal at the U-Sports Canadian Championships in Leduc, Alberta on Wednesday. The scoreboard showed Brock leading 12 to 2 after 6 ends, and that was enough for the Mounties. The Badgers team, Skip – Terri Weeks, Vice – Jessica Humphries, Second – Marcia Richardson, Lead – Joanna Francolini and Alternate – Jeanette Burnside, shot a combined 83 per cent in their final match together.

After another impressive run in the Ontario high school hockey season, for the second year in a row, Denis Morris Catholic High School hockey coach Billy McLaren hopes the game at the post-secondary level will start to get the respect it deserves. Recently finishing a very impressive fourth in Ontario, McLaren is proud of his troops and their dedication both on and off the ice. “These kids are true student-athletes with great character,” the coach said. “We emphasize effort in the classroom as much as we do effort on the ice and we hold them accountable to both,” he added. The Reds lost to Lakeshore Catholic in the Southern Ontario Secondary School Association (SOSSA) but were automatically entered into the provincial tournament as the host team. The Reds had a very impressive regular season and proved they belonged in the provincial tournament going undefeated in pool play.

High school hockey in Niagara and across the province has improved in both quality and reputation in recent years. McLaren admits it used to be seen as a bit of a goon league and was never taken too seriously. There were, and at times still is, a lack of cooperation between local travel hockey coaches and the high school teams. Many higher-end travel hockey coaches discourage their players from suiting up with their school teams for fear of injury or fatigue. When kids at that level do join their high school teams, it happens during the playoffs. “Some teams in the GTA for example will have AAA kids play a couple of games during the regular season with their high school team so they get their eligibility, and then come playoff time, when their club team is finished, some schools will parachute-in several AAA players to their team and make a run in the provincial championships,” McLaren explained.

One of the most exciting events in the Meridian Centre’s history was the gold medal women’s under-18 hockey game in January of 2016. It was a sea of red and white, and one of the largest crowds ever to fill the downtown St. Catharines sports and entertainment facility. The enthusiasm should have come as no surprise, given the rise in popularity of girl’s hockey across the country and right here in Niagara. The St. Catharines Female Hockey Association (SCFHA) has formed a unique partnership with the top female hockey teams in the region to help continue that growth.

St. Catharines CYO Minor Hockey introduced a girl’s hockey program back in 1995. In 2008, the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association officially sanctioned the merger of the St. Catharines CYO Chaos Rep Hockey Association and the St. Catharines CYO Girls House League to form the SCFHA. The only all-female hockey association in St. Catharines, the SCFMA – branded as the Jr. Badgers, offers both a house-league and rep (travel) program for girls aged 4 to 21 years of age.

Saturday in Dunedin, Florida, the Blue Jays held their annual spring training exhibition game against Canada’s Junior National Team.  Seventeen-year old Braden Halladay, son of the late Blue Jays pitching legend Roy, ‘Doc’ Halladay, made an appearance in the eighth inning of the game and provided a wonderful sports moment.

Braden is a 6’2” 165 right handed pitcher.  He was born and raised in Toronto when his Dad was performing brilliantly year after year in a Blue Jays uniform.  The two-time Cy Young Award winner, perhaps the greatest ever Toronto Blue Jay pitcher (a fair debate to be had with Dave Stieb fans), died last year in a plane crash in Florida.

As the Niagara IceDogs get to set to embark on yet another playoff run – their eleventh straight since arriving in St. Catharines – head coach Billy Burke feels his team doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

Entering play on Friday the IceDogs hold down fourth place in the OHL (Ontario Hockey League) Eastern Conference Standings, and will likely play the Oshawa Generals in the first round of the playoffs.

“Regardless if we get home ice or not, I still think a lot of people will see us as underdogs,” Burke, the first year Niagara head coach, said.

One major success in Niagara may soon lead to another. Shortly after the wind-up of last year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts in St. Catharines, the bid chair was being asked if we could do it again.  Doug Geddie said, “Sure, but this time, why don’t we aim for the Brier in 2020.” The economic benefit to a community hosting the Tournament of Hearts is estimated between 8 and 10 million dollars. For the Brier, that number jumps to 15 million, with 130,000 visitors projected.

After receiving warm praise from the Canadian Curling Association for their hosting of the Tournament of Hearts last year, Geddie asked officials outright: “Are we crazy to take a run at the Brier?”

The Brock University curling program continues to experience its winning ways in Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Curling Championships.  The Men’s Varsity won the Gold and the Women’s Varsity rink captured Bronze in Sault Ste. Marie in late February.

Brock curling has quietly experienced great success since Head Coach Murray Etherington took over nine years ago.  In the last five seasons alone, the Brock Varsity Men have won three OUA Bronze Medals and one OUA Gold Medal, while the Varsity Women have won two OUA Silver Medals and one OUA Bronze Medal. While these Brock teams haven’t medalled in the last few tries at the U-sports Championships, the Varsity women did win silver in 2011 and 2012; the Varsity men won Bronze in 2012 at the national championships.