Page 8 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 50

8 JANUARY 2017 Issue #50 www.sportsenergynews.com

Sports Panel
presents

What do you feel are the top 3 local sports news stories in 2016?

Gilles Gaudet - Sports Enthusiast - It seems that 2016 hasn’t been a very eventful kind of a year for the Cornwall sports’ scene.
Actually there’s been a dearth of sports news in the area. That is unless you’re trying to run a hockey team in Cornwall. This past year
was out with the River Kings, and in with the Nationals; riding the roulette wheel of professional hockey in our city. Do the River
Kings/Nationals count as one story or two, or maybe it’s just the same old story. When it comes to semi-pro hockey, it seems like
we’re semi-interested! At a glance 2016 was a year that was made up of many smaller sports news events, perhaps we should call it a
status quo year, Tony Luis is still boxing; the Colts are still playing hockey; if it’s winter somebody is curling down at the club; lots of
tourneys, be it golf, hockey, lacrosse, baseball etc. Maybe the best sports news event in Cornwall was a near tragic event that luckily
only destroyed a building and not the many young lives it might have, under different circumstances. Yes, the May blaze at the dorm
of the Ontario Hockey Academy on Vincent Massey Drive was a near miss of epic proportions, and we’re all thankful for that. It was
a blessing that the number one sports story in Cornwall of 2016 was reduced to an insurance claim.

Jake Lapierre - Conditioning Coach - The year 2016 has certainly been a memorable, nail biting, on the edge of your seat sports’ year around
the world and locally. Some memorable world events include Canada’s Andre De Grasse’s 100m final with Usain Bolt; Penny Oleksiak’s amazing
four medal performance in the pool at the 2016 Rio Olympics; and the Ottawa Red Blacks Grey Cup victory - just to name a few.
In that mix, locally, I would include, Mr. Tony Luis continuing his domination in the ring beating Samuel Amoako in February and Christian
Uruzquieta this past November; Mr. Paul Norman advancing his MMA dominance defeating Heavyweight Alex Bouchard which earned him the
Provincial Kickboxing title; Tylor and Tyson Spinks signing pro contracts with Toledo Walleyes; Mr. Jakob Loucks QB performance with the
Mount Allison Mounties Football squad, earning him the Atlantic University Sports (AUS) and Canadian Inter-University Sports (CIS) Rookie of
the Year awards; Zach Zwanenburg winning Canadian National C1 & OC1 Team Trials in Kayaking, earning a spot with the Canadian National
Kayak Team and eligibility to compete in the Rio World Championships in 2017; as well as Mary Patrick earning a spot with Canada’s National
High Performance Junior Team in the sport of marksmanship.
Cornwall was also treated to an exhibition game courtesy of two World Junior hockey teams playing at Ed Lumley Arena (fantastic hockey) and
what about those CMLA Tykes victorious; winning Tyke C Provincial Gold Medals in Whitby On.
There are many more great local sports stories such as Rebels Bantam B1 taking gold in Napanee, NGS Atom B Rep claiming gold in Pierrefond,
SVR Minor Atom A taking gold in Niagara Falls, Girls Midget B Highlanders Hockey winning gold in Cornwall & Oshawa, Bantam B Typhoons
winning gold in Oakville and the great sport stories continue... In my opinion, there are so many great local athletes striving to be the best they can
be to achieve their goals. Trying to come up with three top stories is inconceivable so I apologise Mike; I failed at my task this month...
Happy New Year everyone.

Jim Riddell - Seaway Karate Club - My choice for the three top sports stories of 2016 would be:
1) The Shorty Jenkins Classic finding a permanent home in Cornwall. This event which is part of the World Curling Tour attracts
top Canadian and International curlers. This provides Cornwall with widespread positive exposure and creates a large economic
spinoff in the local area.
2) The folding of the Cornwall River Kings after five seasons in the LNAH. A strong effort by team supporters was unable to
raise enough money in time to meet the league’s deadline.
3) The Cornwall Sports Hall of Fame inductions which happens every second year saw twelve individuals from nine different
sports enter the HOF in 2016. This event is one that most area sports fans enjoy following.

Sports Energy Sports Energy

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