If you were looking for big-time athletic thrills, you could have done much worse than be in Rainy River District the past 12 months.
From high-profile hockey tournaments to another extremely exciting Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship, and with a cornucopia of amateur sports mixed in, there was no shortage of events taking place in the region to satisfy the appetite of any sports aficionado.
Condensing the calendar year to just a handful of highlights is never easy, but what follows is one person’s interpretation of the highlights—and lowlights—of 2003 in the local world of sports.
Bring on the New Year, I say. May it be even better than the old one.
< *c>JANUARY
•The Fort Frances K of C Knights PeeWee “AA” hockey team loses 8-3 to the Winnipeg Rangers in the “A” final of the PeeWee 12 “AA” Division at the Robin’s Donuts Minor Hockey Classic in Thunder Bay to post the best result of the eight local teams at the event.
•The Borderland Thunder release forwards Dallas Mosbeck and Rob Scales just before the Canadian Junior “A” Hockey League’s imposed deadline to have rosters down to 21 players.
•The Lorne Jackson rink from Fort Frances loses 4-3 to Fort William’s Scott Henderson in the last-chance final of the Northwestern Ontario Curling Association men’s playdowns to just miss qualifying for the provincials. Raymond Roy of Fort Frances and Craig Armstrong of Stratton also attended the event.
•The Fort Frances Muskie girls hockey team beats the International Falls Broncos 3-1 in a spirited exhibition game here, which includes numerous penalties and four players knocked out of the game due to injury.
•Lavana Fox finishes second in the women’s 30-39 division at the annual “Freeze Yer Gizzard Blizzard Run” during Icebox Days in International Falls.
•Seven Borderland Thunder players are selected to the roster of Team West for the SIJHL all-star game at the Fort William Gardens, with Borderland’s Kevin Webb scoring in a 5-3 victory over Team East. Meanwhile, head coach Dave Allison has a four-game suspension for verbal abuse of an official reduced to one.
•The Border Skating Club takes home 23 medals, while the Emo Figure Skating Club collects 21 at the Sunset Country regionals in Kenora.
•Sydney Gillon of Fort Frances takes gold in the Level 1 Child freestyle category at the Rhythmic Royals Invitational in Winnipeg, her first ever competition.
< *c>FEBRUARY
•Alex Parent of the Fort Frances Aquanauts Swim Team sets three provincial records in the SWAD (Swimmers With A Disability) category at the Northwestern Ontario regional championship here, then goes on to win six gold medals in the SWAD division at the junior nationals in Regina.
Teammate Rachel Dutton is co-winner of the girls’ 11-12 regionals title, while Peter Jensen of the Fort Frances Cyclone Swim Club wins the boys’ 10-and-under regional crown.
•The Muskies’ junior volleyball team wins the Beaver Brae Broncos Invitational in Kenora with a 2-0 sweep of the host team.
•Sioux Lookout beats the Wildcats 2-0 in the best-of-three championship final to win the first annual Fort Frances Women’s Volleyball League open tournament.
•Aquanauts’ swimmer Karli McKinnon sets five club records at the Man-Sask Open swimming championships in Winnipeg.
•Taylor Latimer of the Emo Figure Skating Club becomes the first skater to represent the club at the provincial championship after winning silver at the Northern Ontario sectional inter-club meet in Sault Ste. Marie.
•The Muskie boys rink of skip Adam Bolen, third Brendon Loney, second Jason Pattison, and leads David Kaun and Joey Wensley win the NWOSSAA title in Red Lake with a 6-3 win over the Dryden Eagles.
•The Muskie girls rink of skip Amy Nielson, third Kate Bondett, second Katie Bolen, and lead Jenna Enge go 4-1 at the NorWOSSA playdowns to advance to the NWOSSAA championship, where they finish fourth.
•After 23 years of trying, skip Bonnie Broman leads her team of third Shelley Ducharme, second Noreen Melville, and lead Betty DeGagne to the “A” event championship at the 50th-annual Fort Frances ladies’ bonspiel.
•The Muskie junior girls volleyball team, who started the season 1-4, captures their seventh NorWOSSA title in eight years on home court with a 3-1 win over Dryden in the final.
•The Muskie senior girls volleyball team has their three-year hold on the NorWOSSA title broken by Dryden in a classic final, with Dryden winning 3-1 including a 37-35 victory in the fourth and deciding set.
•The Muskie senior boys basketball squad loses 64-54 to the Kenora Broncos in the NorWOSSA final, while the junior boys hoopsters are nipped 57-55 in the semifinal by the Broncos.
•The Muskie boys and girls hockey teams are both swept by the Dryden Eagles in the NorWOSSA semifinals.
< *c>MARCH
•Jared Catholique-Bruyere wins gold in the 81 kg-plus division of men’s judo and a silver in the team event as part of Team Ontario at the Canada Winter Games in Bathurst-Campbellton, N.B.
•Curtis Boivin wins two championship finals at the fourth-annual Canadian Kitty Cat Championship snowmobile racing event on Sand Bay.
•Aquanaut swimmers Heather and Rachel Dutton, Boyd Badiuk, and Nichole Lowey finish out of the medals at the junior provincials in Nepean.
•Shirley Jensson and Bev McCool from Fort Frances are named lifetime members of the Sunset Country Five-Pin Bowling Association during the zone aggregate bowling championship here, where Fort Frances finishes third overall.
•Taylor Latimer finishes sixth in the Preliminary division at the provincial figure skating championships in Whitby.
•Jeff Watts posts a 207 average to finish second in the Junior boys’ division at the provincial round of the YBC’s “4 Steps to Stardom” in Sudbury.
•Chrissy Thomson from Fort Frances posts the first ever top-five finish for the St. John’s Red Storm women’s golf team at the Northwood Intercollegiate tournament in West Palm Beach, Fla.
•The Borderland Thunder win the SIJHL regular season title with a record of 28-20-2-2 for 60 points, then beat the Dryden Ice Dogs 4-1 in the best-of-seven SIJHL semifinal.
•The Muskie boys curling team finishes with a 1-3 mark at the all-Ontarios n St. Thomas.
•Skip Scott Gobeil and his Fort Frances rink of third Jeff Simpkins, second Dennis Smith, and lead Pete LeDrew are edged 6-5 by Alberta’s Mark Johnson in the final of the Canadian Police Curling Championships in Summerside, P.E.I.
•The Minnesota Gypsies down the Dryden Lakers 5-1 to claim the 21st-annual Drew McKelvie Memorial mixed broomball tournament here.
•Raymond Roy defeats Ron Bridgeman 7-4 in the “A” event final of the annual Fort Frances men’s bonspiel.
•Ben Andrusco becomes the first squash player to reach the “A” Division of Squash Manitoba after winning the Manitoba Closed Championships in Winnipeg.
< *c>APRIL
•The Borderland Thunder shut out the Thunder Bay KC Bulldogs 2-0 to win the best-of-seven SIJHL final 4-1 to earn their first league championship.
•The Fort Frances Visserettes gymnastics team rallies around team member Sarah Blais, who lost her mother Gisele in a car accident earlier in the month, by winning two golds and a bronze at the Springfest Invitational meet here.
•Tracy Coran and Lorne Jackson are crowned grand aggregate champions in the women’s and men’s divisions, respectively, to close the Fort Frances Curling Club season.
•Gillons’ complete a decade of dominance by collecting their 10th-straight championship in the Fort Frances Women’s Volleyball League.
•Dixie McDonald overcomes a knee injury to help the Sunset Country team garner its first aggregate title in a decade at the provincial bowling championships in Dryden.
•The senior girls’ badminton teams of Simone/Natalie Desjardins and Jen Lawson/Sarah Paterson qualify for the NWOSSAA finals in Thunder Bay, where the Desjardins sisters go on to earn a berth in the all-Ontarios.
•The Wellington Dukes of the Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey League beat the North Bay Skyhawks of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League 4-0 in the final of the Dudley Hewitt Cup Central Canada Junior “A” hockey championship here. The Borderland Thunder lose a heartbreaking 3-2 decision to the Dukes in the semifinal of the tournament, which also included the Thunder Bay KC Bulldogs.
•Jared Catholique-Bruyere claims gold in the 81-kg plus category at the junior provincial judo championships in Toronto.
< *c>MAY
•Simone/Natalie Desjardins finish in the top eight at the all-Ontario badminton championships in Milton.
•The Fort Frances regional girls basketball team makes it to the semifinals of the Manitoba Juvenile “B” girls regional tournament in Portage La Prairie in their debut appearance before losing 76-34 to Brandon.
•The 21st-annual Ducks Unlimited banquet here rakes in a record amount of approximately $45,000.
•The Muskie boys soccer team wins its second straight NorWOSSA championship with a 3-0 win over the Rainy River Owls in Kenora, before losing 3-2 on penalty kicks against the St. Ignatius Falcons in the NWOSSAA final here.
The Muskie girls have their string of NorWOSSA titles snapped at five, as the host Broncos pull the upset with a 1-0 overtime victory in the final.
•Chrissy Thomson finishes her rookie season with the St. John’s Red Storm women’s golf team with four top-20 results to her credit.
•The Fort Frances Aquanauts take sixth place out of 17 teams at the Half-Way Motors Nissan International May Invitational in Thunder Bay.
•Brian Beers shoots 70 to win the Kitchen Creek Memorial tournament by four strokes over Greg Ross to open the local competitive golf season.
•Todd Baker (Emo) and Greg Stahn (Devlin) compiled a two-day total of 19.22 pounds to come out victorious in the second annual Emo Walleye Tournament.
•Borderland Thunder players Dan Hoehne (top goalie), Jay Phillips (co-winner of defenceman of the year), and A.J. Tucker (co-winner of sportsmanship award) are honoured at the SIJHL awards banquet.
As well, J.P. Heino is voted in to replace Jerry Blazino as SIJHL president.
< *c>JUNE
•Alex Parent earns the most points of any male swimmer on the Team Canada entry at the DSE National Open disabled swimmer championships in Sheffield, England.
•Carling Barton and Kevin Gemmell are named the Muskie female and male athlete-of-the-year at Fort High’s annual athletic awards banquet.
•Dan Hoehne picks up the Jim Witherspoon Memorial Trophy as the Borderland Thunder’s Most Valuable Player.
•Wayne and Scott McLeod shoot a combined score of 38 to capture the annual Father’s Day golf tournament at Kitchen Creek.
•Rob Doucette of Elmhurst, Man. shoots a three-under 69 to beat Glen Mills of Fort Frances by one stroke to win the Manitoba PGA’s first-ever tour stop at Kitchen Creek.
•Melissa Armstrong from Fort Frances comes in second in the women’s division of the half-marathon at the 25th Manitoba Marathon in Winnipeg.
•The Muskie football team holds its spring camp with only 65 percent of the roster in attendance.
•The Borderland Racing Association moves its weekly go-kart event from Saturday afternoon to Friday evening for the first time.
< *c>JULY
•Ray Bedard of Fort Frances wins a silver (long jump) and a bronze (200m dash) at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin, Ireland.
•Long-time softball and fastball umpire John Kingsley Downs is killed in a one-vehicle accident returning from a tournament in Stratton. The annual Devlin slo-pitch event, held later in the month, is renamed the Kingsley Downs Memorial Slow-Pitch Tournament in his honour.
•Rachel Dutton finishes fourth in the girls’ 13-14 800-metre freestyle for the best result among seven Aquanauts at the Man-Sask long-course swimming championships in Regina.
•Pat Cross and Keith Cates rally from 14th place after Day One to capture the Castin’ for Cash bass tournament on Lake Despair.
•Heather Dutton repeats as the overall champion of the Canada Day Mile Swim at Pither’s Point with a time of 28:23.46.
•Rick Stamarski has a hand in the Northern Ontario men’s team winning the bronze medal at the Masters bowling nationals in Gatineau, Que.
•Chrissy Thomson accomplishes a local first by claiming the Manitoba Women’s Amateur Golf Championship in Winnipeg, defeating Jill Hardy of Winnipeg by one shot after Hardy was hit with a two-stroke penalty on the final hole.
•Alex Parent finish fifth in the 200-metre freestyle at the Canadian Open for SWAD long-course national championships in Edmonton.
•The SIJHL announces it will take the centre-ice red line out of play during the upcoming season, and that there will be no U.S. teams taking part in the league when its season begins in September.
•James Lindner of Brainerd, Mn. and his brother Bill from Baxter, Mn. team up to win the ninth-annual Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship with a total combined catch of 55.46 pounds. Jeff Watts of Fort Frances wins the FFCBC Kid-Pro title with the help of Devlin’s Dale LaBelle and Jody Shypit, netting a total of 14.52 pounds.
< *c>AUGUST
•Former NHL player and Fort Frances resident Mike Allison is selected for induction to the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
•Dr. Steve Chown pars the 18th hole to take the Kitchen Creek club championship by one shot over Greg Ward. Karen Saarimaki of Geraldton win the annual ladies’ tournament later in the month with a score of 77.
•Glen Mills and Steve Wood finish out of the top 15 at the Manitoba PGA golf championship in Winnipeg.
•The first nine holes of the Heron Landing Golf Course on the Couchiching First Nations Reserve open to the public, with the other nine scheduled to open in the spring of 2004.
•Gleeson Clinic (Thunder Bay) wins the women’s division of the Borderland “Ball Blast” tournament with a 1-0 win over Curves (Fort Frances), while Thunder Bay Portuguese defeated the Thunder Bay Euro-Stars 1-0 to take the men’s title.
•Johnny Lundon captures his first Kitchen Creek Classic title with a two-under total of 141 to beat “Snake” Krawchuk by two strokes.
•Chrissy Thomson finishes 74th and misses the cut at the national ladies amateur golf championships in Montreal.
•Gillons blanked Curves 4-0 to claim the Borderland Soccer Association women’s championship, while Taggs fended off Gillons’ 3-2 on penalty kicks to repeat as kings of the men’s league.
•Fort Frances native Ty Olsen, now based in Smithers, B.C., finishes second in the saddle bronc category at the Canadian High School Finals Rodeo in Medicine Hat, Ab.
•Dean Smith and Bart Stebnitsky from Kenora win the 10th-annual Morson Bass Classic with a two-day catch of 32.45 pounds.
< *c>SEPTEMBER
•Financial statements reveal the Borderland Thunder have lost in excess of $122,000 in its first two seasons of operation. A segment of Couchiching First Nation Reserve residents threaten a possible shutdown of the team in mid-season if reigning Chief Chuck McPherson and his supporters on the band council are ousted in the upcoming February administrative elections.
•Only 10 players from the Thunder’s SIJHL championship squad in April return for the team’s third season.
•The team of Earl Klyne, Fred Crowe, Brady Hupet, and Donna Lee win on the second playoff hole to capture the first Borderland Thunder fundraising golf tournament at the new Heron Landing Golf Course on Couchiching First Nation Reserve.
•Sight and Sound (Fort Frances) hammers Rainy Lake 9-1 to earn the Rainy River District Fastball League title.
•Steve Wood, Steve Pruys, Shawn O’Donnell, Charlie Windego, and Jason Kuorikoski finish sixth at the Buick Scramble national golf championships in Niagara Falls, Ont.
•The Fort Frances Muskies open their season with a 68-0 exhibition loss to the International Falls Broncos, before being forced to begin their regular schedule with four straight games on the road.
•Steve Arpin takes the checkered flag in the Modified division at the WISSOTA 100 national stock car racing championship in Cedar Lake, Wisc.
•The Borderland Racing Association season wraps up with Vic Larson from Dryden (Modified), Ron Westover from Devlin (Street Stock), and Ken Perry from Fort Frances (Mini-Sprint) winning the points titles in their respective divisions.
< *c>OCTOBER
•Winnipeg’s Ted Stewner and Kenora’s Al Carlson win the second-annual LaBelle’s Rainy Lake Bass Classic with a two-day combined catch of 42.26 pounds.
•Mark Chapman and Kent Christiansen of Baudette reel in the top prize at the fifth-annual Rainy River Walleye Tournament with a two-day total of 20.92 pounds.
•The Border Skating Club begins a new season with a new coach in Deborah Lloyd-Jones, who replaced the departed Tanis Williamson.
•The Thunder Club, a booster organization dedicated to helping offset the costs of operating the Borderland Thunder, is established with the blessing of the Couchiching band council.
•Pam Buttner of Fort Frances is the lucky recipient of the No. 1 position in the random draw for the 2004 Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship.
•Chicoutimi, Que. curler Camille Villeneuve visits the Fort Frances Curling Club as part of his quest to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for having curled in the largest number of clubs and with the largest number of curlers.
•The Fort Frances Midget “AA” Canadians gain entrance into the Manitoba Eastman Midget League.
•Heather Dutton finishes second in the senior girls’ division of the NWOSSAA cross-country running championships in Thunder Bay to become the first Muskie runner to qualify for the all-Ontarios since the team was reborn two years ago.
•The Muskie football team loses 38-0 to the St. Paul’s Crusaders in the quarterfinals of the Winnipeg High School Football League playoffs to end the year without a victory for the second straight season.
•Chrissy Thomson finishes second at the NCAA’s Harvard Invitational golf tournament for the best finish so far of her two-year collegiate career with the St. John’s Red Storm women’s team.
•Andrew Friesen (Sturgeon Creek Alternate Program), Michael Sande (J.W. Walker), and Stefan Gerber (Sturgeon Creek) finish second, third, and fourth in the boys’ division, respectively, at the Royal Canadian Legion Mid-Canada elementary school cross-country run in Thunder Bay.
< *c>NOVEMBER
•Heather Dutton comes in 152nd in a field of 214 at the all-Ontario cross-country running championships.
•The Hopper’s Bruins beat Graders 5-2 to repeat as champions at the Hopper’s Memorial Tournament at the Memorial Sports Centre.
•The Muskie senior girls basketball team defeats the Dryden Eagles 36-24 in Kenora to repeat as NorWOSSA champions. The squad goes on to lose the best-of-three NWOSSAA final in two straight games to the Churchill Trojans in Thunder Bay.
•The Muskie junior girls basketball team pulls out a thrilling 37-36 victory over Dryden in the NorWOSSA semifinal, before losing 43-19 to the Kenora Broncos in the final.
•The Muskie junior boys volleyball team finish with the NorWOSSA silver medal, after losing 3-0 to Dryden in the best-of-five final, while the senior boys crew loses 3-1 to Kenora in the semi-final.
•Sarah Noonan helps the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs women’s soccer team to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship with a 2-1 win over the defending champion Winona State Warriors. But the Bulldogs finish fifth in the NCAA Division II final rankings to barely miss out on qualifying for the nationals.
•Allison Hyatt and the Rainy River Community College Voyageurs women’s volleyball team comes within one victory of advancing to the National Junior College Athletic Association national tournament after losing 3-1 to the Central Lakes College Raiders in the best-of-five Region XIII-B championship in Brainerd, Mn.
•Travis and Kathy Bois take the gold medal in the Junior division at the provincial round of the annual Family Twosome bowling tournament in Dryden.
•The Borderland Thunder go on an eight-game winless skid before picking up a 6-5 overtime victory over the visiting Dryden Ice Dogs.
•The Northwest Tae Kwon Do team snares 17 medals at the 20th-annual Central Canadian Tae Kwon Do championships in Winnipeg.
•The Muskie boys hockey team gets off to a flying start, winning a tournament in Morden, Man. and going undefeated in their first nine NorWOSSA contests.
•Bryan Bonot from Stratton is edged 9-7 by Dryden’s Rob Alderdice in the second-place tiebreaker at the Northwestern senior men’s curling playdowns to just miss qualifying for the provincials in Sioux Lookout.
< *c>DECEMBER
•Allan Yerxa wins the President’s Division at the 2003 Zone Executive Championships in Dryden to earn a berth in the provincial championships in Thunder Bay this March.
•The Emo Figure Skating Club hauls home 33 medals, while the Border Skating Club claims 12 at Skate Winnipeg’s Super Skate 2003 competition.
•Boyd Badiuk dashes to five top-10 finishes, while fellow Aquanaut competitor Alex Parent sets a provincial record in the 100m freestyle of the Swimmers With A Disability (SWAD) category at the Prairie Winter Invitational meet in Winnipeg.
•The Muskie boys hockey team knocks off the International Falls Broncos 2-1 in the only meeting of the season between the cross-border rivals.
•The IBEW Lightning (Fort Frances) win the PeeWee “A” tournament here with a 6-3 win over the Westfort Rangers (Thunder Bay), with the Lightning’s Brendan Cawston scoring all six of his team’s goals.
•Lorne Jackson is nipped 11-9 by Rob Shubat (Atikokan Curling Club) in the deciding playoff game of the Zone 7 men’s playdowns at the Fort Frances Curling Club.
•Jon Wood, Andrew Stamarski, Ashley LaFreniere, and sisters Cristy and Courtney Beadle represent Plaza Lanes as part of the Sunset Country team at the 2004 Northern Ontario Youth Challenge bowling tournament in Sudbury.
•Curtis Boivin finishes second in the Junior Novice class at the 43rd-annual Canadian Power Toboggan Championships in Beausejour, Man.
•Shirley Jensson wins the ladies’ division at the Zone Pins Over Average tournament in Atikokan, while Amanda French, Robert Tuesday, and Carey Basaraba join her as qualifiers for the provincials in Thunder Bay in March.
•Vicki Stinson heads to Omiya, Japan as a coach with the Team Canada entry at the first ever international martial gym meet.
•Trevor Bonot of Stratton loses 7-4 to Terrace Bay’s Eric Theriault in the second-place tiebreaker at the Northwestern Ontario junior men’s curling playdowns in Geraldton. Adam Bolen’s Fort Frances rink finishes 2-5 at the event, while Fort Frances’ Amy Nielson and her team wind up tied for third at the junior ladies’ playdowns at the Keewatin Curling Club.
•The Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship board of directors announce the field for the 2004 championship will be expanded from 136 to 138 teams with the addition of ‘O-Fish-L Angler Ambassador’ Al Lindner and former FFCBC champion Gary Lake.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
