Sports

The Muskie boys’ soccer team are a win away from their third-straight NorWOSSA crown after clinching the top seed in the playoffs in their regular-season finale yesterday in Kenora.
With a 3-2 win over the host Broncos in the final game of the day, the black-and-gold wrapped up the league campaign with a 5-1 record to finish in first place.

Second-year WISSOTA Modified driver Steve Nordin spoke for many of those who made their way to the Emo Speedway on Saturday for its annual open practice session in preparation for the 2013 racing season.
“We are pretty much knocking the cobwebs out of the car today, along with knocking the cobwebs out of myself to get back going again,” Nordin said.

The Muskie track-and-field team turned in strong performances across the board yesterday in Dryden.
“A lot of the competitors all posted personal bests and they were very excited about doing that for the first meet of the year,” noted coach Ilka Milne.
“Now they’ve got a chance to see what they will be up against when they head to NWOSSAA,” she added.

Although the 2013/14 season is still a long way off, the Fort Frances Minor Hockey Association already is taking steps to ensure its house leagues are as strong as they can be.

With near gale-force winds causing havoc for everyone who took to the pitch yesterday in Dryden, the Muskie boys’ and girls’ soccer teams dealt with the elements as best they could in their second set of NorWOSSA games.
When the dust settled, the boys split their two games while the girls had a loss and a draw to show for their efforts.

When Corey Dobransky first heard of the accident that injured local snowmachine racer Curtis Boivin back in December, 2011, he wanted to help out as much as he can—but was unable to do so because of injuries he had suffered the previous winter in a snowmachine accident.

For Fort Frances hockey players Carter Brown and Brandon Bodnar, the opportunity to match up with the top 1997 birthdate players in Ontario during the inaugural OHL Gold Cup tournament in Kitchener this past week was something they’ll never forget.

For the first time in three years, a new team will be joining the Superior International Junior Hockey League for the 2013/14 season.
The new franchise, which will be called the Eagles and be based out of Ear Falls, officially was announced last Thursday by the league, with Ear Falls Mayor Kevin Kahoot serving as the team’s general manager and head coach.

When the 2013-14 season begins for the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, Fort Frances native Joe Basaraba will have something new added to his uniform.
The 21-year-old right-winger, a third-round draft pick of the Florida Panthers in 2010 and entering his senior season with the Bulldogs, yesterday was named one of the team’s two co-captains for the upcoming campaign.

The SIJHL will see a new team for the 2013/14 season with the addition of the Ear Falls Eagles.
The Eagles, who will become the sixth team in the Junior ‘A’ league, will play out of the Ear Falls Arena when the new season begins.
Their team colours are expected to be black, white, gold, and orange.