CALEB NICKERSON
SHAWVILLE Jan. 20, 2017
Over the weekend, hundreds of avid young hockey players and their families descended upon the Shawville Arena for the first annual iteration of the Pontiac Provincial Bantam/ Midget Tournament.
Organizer Scott Lemay explained that the weekend was put together to coincide with the popular Pontiac Provincial Atom/Peewee Tournament, which will take place for the third year on Jan. 26-28.
“We have about 250 kids participating this weekend and there’s another 250 for next weekend,” he said. “A lot of organizing, a lot of logistics go into it. We have a committee and everybody has jobs to do.”

With 16 teams spread among four divisions (Bantam A and B as well as Midget A and B), the games were rolling steady from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening. The hometown Pontiac Lions fielded a squad in each division and the Bantam B Comets made the trek down from Fort Coulonge to round out the local talent.
Lemay said that despite all the moving parts that make up an event like this one, the committee members and parent volunteers from the local teams were key to keeping everything under control.
“[We’ve been] hearing a lot of positive feedback, everyone is telling us that it’s really well organized,” he said.
He added that after hosting the Atom/Peewee Tournament for several years, there was a little surplus that the organizers were able to give back to their local teams this season, as the Shawville Minor Hockey Association was in the process of updating their uniforms.
“We had a little money set aside in the coffers … and we decided to buy two sets of jerseys,” he said. “Last night was the first night they got to wear their new jerseys, so that was pretty exciting. It’s nice to see that.”
Dressed to the nines, the local players were keen to make an impression for the hometown crowd, who turned out in droves to take in the action.
Lemay was pleased to see the local community present, and thanked all the local sponsors, volunteers and supporters for their contributions.
Bantam B
Friday night saw a showdown between the Bantam B Lions and their rivals from up the road in Fort Coulonge. Both teams came out strong, with the Comets were leading 2-1 by the end of the first. The Lions tied the game up mid-way through the third for a final score of 2-2.
“We had a good game against Fort Coulonge,” said Lions Coach Greg Hayes. “They’re a tough team, they have kind of a mix of players on their team, different calibres.”
Unfortunately, the Lions would struggle the rest of the weekend, losing to the West Carleton Warriors 3-1 on Saturday night and getting thrashed by the Aylmer Pirates 5-1 first thing Sunday morning. Alex Mayhew scored the lone goals for the Lions both games.
“Overall, we put a good effort in but we were up against some good competition,” said Hayes. “We need to get a little bit more teamwork going, a little more passing, a little more aggression on the forechecks.”
“It’s nice to be in your home arena for a tournament,” he added. “We had great support all weekend.”
The Comets from Coulonge however, were just heating up, as they smashed the West Carleton team 6-3 Saturday morning and shutting out the Aylmer Pirates 2-0 at noon, putting them in the finals on Sunday.
They ended up in a rematch against the Pirates for gold and the game was much closer than the first. Comet Maxime Asselin tallied one in the first period, which was quickly answered by the Pirates. Asselin responed back with another early in the second and his teammate Dominic Romain added another a minute later to make the score 3-1. The Pirates added one more in the third but it wasn’t enough and the Fort Coulonge Comets went home with the Bantam B banner and bragging rights for the year.
Bantam A
The Bantam A Lions came out strong Friday evening, edging out the Stittsville Rams 2-1. Saturday afternoon they completely ran away with the game against Kanata A2 The Herd, with a final score of 9-1. Harry Lukacs-Hitz lit up the scoreboard, netting himself a hat trick and two assists, while his teammate Ethan Queale notched two goals and an assist.
Sunday morning they kept their momentum going, handily beating the Russell Warriors 5-2, to move on to a rematch with The Herd in the finals that afternoon.
The Kanata squad seemed to have learned from their mistakes and came out blazing from both barrels. They took first blood, but it wasn’t long before Lukacs-Hitz found the back of the net to tie it up. Kanata answered back early in the second but Hunter Lukacs-Hitz put one past their net minder with just over a minute left in the period to keep the score at two apiece.
The third period was a pitched battle that had local fans hollering and getting some use out of their cowbells. In dramatic fashion, Harry scored with less than three minutes left in regulation time to put the Lions in the driver’s seat and as the final seconds slipped away, Queale buried an empty-netter to put the nail in Kanata’s coffin. Final score: 4-2.
“Today they came back and gave us a good run for our money,” said Lions coach Wes Tubman. “It was a much better team that played out there, but we stuck with our game plan and came through in the end.”
He said that despite the one blowout, all the teams in the division were pretty evenly matched and played clean, competitive hockey.
“We played very well in the tournament,” he said. “We’re trying to teach the kids a couple different strategies for defensive play. They learned that this weekend and they’re coming along together, which is good because our playoffs are coming up.”
Midget B
Friday night, the Pontiac Lions Midget B squad started off their weekend with a tough 1-0 loss to the Hull Frontaliers, who scored early in the first and didn’t give an inch for the rest of the game.
On Saturday they faced off against Arnprior Sunnyvale, where a goal from Connor Scully in the second and another from Thomas Beck early in the third had them sitting pretty. But the lads from across the river stormed back in final minutes of the game, scoring three quick goals to beat the home team by a nose.
The next morning, the Hull Éperviers unceremoniously ended the Lions’ run, defeating them 6-1. Ryan Gilpin notched the lone goal for the home team.
Despite the sub-optimal finish, coach Jim Gibbons was pleased with how his squad played.
“We lost each of our first two games by one goal and we played well,” he said. “Our last game was very disappointing; by the end of the first period we were down 4-0. I thought the end of the game, we played much better. The second period, we definitely outshot the other team. That’s hockey, sometimes the bounces don’t go your way and they definitely didn’t go our way in the first.”
Gibbons had only positive things to say about the other teams’ conduct over the course of the weekend.
“I thought it was a very good tournament, there were no really dirty plays,” he said. “With Midget boys, they’re teenagers, they sometimes lose composure but it was a very good tournament that way.”
He added that they would have a few things to take back to practice and work on.
“Positioning … that’s often where we get into trouble,” he explained. “We have to be more disciplined in keeping our positions.”
Midget A
The Midget A Lions were equally matched against the Cumberland Dukes on Friday night and ended the game with a 3-3 tie.
Saturday night they got off to a slow start, letting the Hull Senateurs run up a 3-0 lead in the first frame, but outscored their opponents 3-1 in the second period to stay in the game. As the third period wound down, two quick goals from the Lions were enough to clinch the win, 5-4.
Sunday they faced off against the Hull Festivals, a pitched battle that would set the stage for the finals that afternoon. Despite a strong showing from the local boys, the Festivals came out harder and took the game 4-2.
Later that day, the two rivals met for their division finals and the last game of the tournament. The stands were filled with supporters decked out in team colours and the excitement was electric as both teams lined up for the faceoff.
The Lions seemed to have learned from their first encounter with the lads from Hull and lead the first period 2-1, with goals from Evan Atkinson and Justin Dagenais. Dagenais added another early in the second and Vance Olmstead found the net a few minutes later, giving the home team a nice cushion.
Hull’s frustration seemed to boil over and after some tit-for-tat hacking and slashing, penalties in the second period alone soared into the double digits. Though they managed to score another, the Lions Kaleb Hodgins answered back with only 10 seconds left in the frame to make the game 5-2.
The rough play would only get worse as they headed into the third. With the penalties piling up and several players ejected from the game, the Hull coach decided they had had enough and forfeited the game with roughly four minutes left on the clock, conceding the win, and the tournament, to the Lions.
“After playing the Festivals in the morning and losing a tight one, the boys regrouped and knew exactly what they had to do,” explained coach Ray Curley. “Off the first faceoff, both teams looked equally matched but as the game progressed, our team escalated their play.”
“Well, we got good on our penalty kill,” assistant coach Matt Curley remarked with a grin after the game.
Ray added that the tournament was well–run and expressed his gratitude for the organizing committee and all the volunteers that helped out.
“Back in my day, this tournament was considered the biggest tournament around and lasted two weekends,” he said. “I want to thank the community for their support throughout the weekend. It was nice to see the arena once again filled with cheering fans.”
See page eight for more photos