Chill in first

Posted July 13, 2011 by ThunderBayClassifieds.ca in Sports | No comments yet

The playoff recipe is simple: win four times and the Thunder Bay Chill are guaranteed in. They took their first step toward that goal on Tuesday night, riding a pair of Brandon Swartzendruber goals to a relatively easy 3-0 win over the visiting WSA Winnipeg, taking over top spot in the Heartland Division in the process. The Chill (10-2-1) also got a late goal from Anthony Putrus, a beautiful header off a cross from substitute Cody Shelton. Swartzendruber, despite the margin of victory, said the team needs a better effort on Wednesday when the two teams hook up for a final time in 2011. “We had trouble tonight in the attacking third connecting passes and finding each other. I think that really limited our chances. We still found the net three times, but we’re a little disappointed in our performance,” he said, having upped his goal total to eight this summer, well off his league-leading pace of a year ago. “Tomorrow is another day, and hopefully we’ll come back and play a little better.” The Chill have every right to feel a little fatigued. The game, their first at home since June 18, was their seventh in 11 days. They went 4-1-1 on their recent road trip, but it took its toll, he said. “Guys aren’t 100 per cent. But it’s games like this you’ve got to fight through to prepare for playoffs. It’s just big games. We need to fight through the injuries and play hard and finish our chances when we get them.” It didn’t help that striker Gustavo Oliveira was on the sidelines, serving the first game of a two-game suspension, accrued against Colorado when he smacked an opponent after a particularly hard tackle. But Chill coach Tony Colistro wasn’t making excuses, acknowledging the sluggishness, but nonetheless happy knowing the team controls its own destiny from here on in. “Obviously it’s a tight race, so every game is important for us,” Colistro said. “Our biggest concern right now is managing through this next game tomorrow with the legs we have.” As always, he’s not stressed at the lack of finish, despite numerous chances to put the game away early, including a first-half missed by Swartzendruber, Putrus and Skandar Babay. “When you’re fatigued sometimes you’re not as sharp with your shots and things and it’s difficult. You can definitely see there is a bit of fatigue in the striker’s legs, with the way they’re hitting the ball. So we were glad we got the one goal up very early. “These guys are very dangerous with the counterattacks and their set plays. That’s what got us in Winnipeg (a 3-0 loss earlier this season). So we had to be aware of that in the second half. It was nice to get the two insurance goals.” Swartzendruber tallied first, heading a cross-crease pass from Nolan Intermoia in the 12th minute. Winnipeg (3-11-1) had its best chance to score in the 36th, when Kenny Sacramento headed a Jonathan Hernandez cross just over the net and the outstretched arms of Chill keeper Stephen Paterson, who recorded his sixth shutout.   Swartzendruber was stuffed by Winnipeg goalie Alexander Gladstone in the 75th minute, but three minutes later the Chill’s leading scorer tapped in a pass from Putrus to double the Thunder Bay lead and put the game away. Putrus’s tally came in the 90th minute. View full post on Tbnewswatch.com – Sports

High school hosts first official BMX race

Posted June 2, 2011 by ThunderBayClassifieds.ca in Sports | No comments yet

Local high school students were tearing up the dirt, slamming into mud and jumping in the air as part of the first-ever high school BMX race Tuesday afternoon. More than 100 students took part in the race at the Jumbo Gardens BMX Park. Westgate assistant cycling coach Malcolm Downey said the turnout was better than expected and so far the students couldn’t be happier with the sport. “Since this is a new sport to Thunder Bay, and a growing sport around the world, we thought we’d introduce it to the kids,” Downey said. Participants left the track, some covered in mud with smiles on their faces, saying they wished they could race again. Downey said that attitude was also evident during the five practices held before Tuesday’s race. “They just love it we have to rip them off the track afterwards,” he said. Thunder Bay is the first city in the province to introduce the growing sport of BMX into its high school sports system. Traditionally the high school cycling season has road and mountain bike races, but BMX racers weren’t included. Since the turnout Tuesday was the best of all races so far this season in any discipline, Downey said he expects the sport to catch on. “And now they can be part of the school race system,” he said. “Hopefully this will turn into a main stop in the SSSAA circuit.” St. Ignatius’ Grade 10 student Kyle Veitch has been racing and dirt-jumping at the track for three years now but he hadn’t raced officially until Tuesday. Veitch, who dominated his race, said he believes every one of his friends is enjoying the experience. “It’s a great thing to do in high school and just have fun,” Veitch said. “I’m going to do it again next year.” View full post on Tbnewswatch.com – Sports

Littlefield upsets Caland, claims first local major victory

Posted September 7, 2010 by ThunderBayClassifieds.ca in Thunder Bay News | No comments yet

The Evan Littlefield era has begun. The 18-year-old Thunder Bay native birdied the 16th hole Monday at Whitewater to stop a mini-slide late in his final round at the Canadian Tire District Amateur and captured his first local major, beating perennial favourite Barry Caland by two strokes. In the process he became the first junior to win the Amateur title since Dale Krystalovich in 1998, the final major on the Thunder Bay District Golf Association calendar. “It felt good. It played well out there all three days. I struggled for a little bit on the back nine, but I got it together and finished well,” said Littlefield, who fired a two-under 70 on Monday to finish the three-round event with a 214 total. Littlefield showed the mettle of a golfer ready to stake his claim to elite status, shaking off bogeys on 14 and 15 to strike back with a timely birdie on 16 that gave him the lead for good. It couldn’t have come at a better time, having blown a three-stroke lead in the space of two holes. The youngster was on in two on the short par-four 14th, but missed his par putt from gimme range, while Caland sunk a birdie putt for a two-shot swing to pull within one. On the par-three 15th, Caland, a three-time Amateur champion, found the green off the tee, while Littlefield’s rolled right of the green in an awkward swale. He bladed his chip and it slid 10 feet past the hole. Unlike the seventh and eighth, when he managed to sink putts of similar length to save par, he was unable to get up and down and when Caland rolled in his par, the two were tied atop the leaderboard. It was all the motivation he needed, Littlefield said. “I was getting a little ahead of myself there, I think. It kind of brought me back down to reality and kind of made me get up and go a little more. I made a couple of birdies coming in and I just finished well,” he said. Littlefield birdied 16 after sticking his second shot to within three feet to go up by one, then took control on 17, though it was more what his opponent didn’t do than what he accomplished on the short par 4. Caland, 40, who shot 72 in windy conditions on Saturday at Chapples and 74 on Sunday at Strathcona, found trouble off the tee on the 17 th , landing his drive on a grassy roadway in the left-side woods. After debating whether or not he got relief, he decided to hit it as it lay, firing it over the green from a difficult angle. His chip came to rest four feet from the hole, but he lipped out his putt, which put Littlefield up two coming home. “I had a good birdie putt on 16, it just didn’t drop,” said Caland, who did pick up player-of-the-year honours. “Even Evan thought it was in. I don’t know what happened on 17 with the tee shot. I made bogey there, even lipped out the putt for par. It was two big mistakes that I didn’t need at that time. He played well, put pressure on me all day and I just couldn’t do it.” Not that Caland didn’t give it the old college try on 18, a massive par 5 that only the longest of hitters can reach in two. He did just that, but Littlefield caught a break on his approach, coming to rest just shy of a greenside bunker, leaving a relatively easy chip. Caland still had a chance, but his eagle putt slowed to a halt inches from the cup. Littlefield, however, ensured it didn’t matter, calmly sinking his birdie from six feet to secure the win. “I knew I had to get that one pretty close to give myself an opportunity at birdie. I thought his eagle putt there was going to go in for sure. But he left it just short and I had a little tap in for birdie there.” MacKenzie Trout, Robert Cumming and Hank Wilke tied for third, nine back of Littlefield at 223. View full post on Tbnewswatch.com – Sports

Border Cats collect 2-0 win over River Bats, lockup first in division

Posted June 8, 2010 by admin in Thunder Bay News | No comments yet

View full post on Tbnewswatch.com – Frontpage Headlines

Cats collect season’s first homerun, but fall to Honkers 7-3

Posted June 7, 2010 by admin in Thunder Bay News | No comments yet

The Border Cats recorded their season’s first homerun, but was forced to take their first loss as the Rochester Honkers (3-2) spilt the two-game series with a win Sunday evening. The Border Cats (3-1) came into the game as the undefeated division leaders, but conceded the 7-3 loss to the defending league champions in front of an energetic but small 532-person crowd at Port Arthur Stadium. Despite the blemish on what has so far been a solid start to the season, the Border Cats’ outfielder Ken Battiston gave fans something to cheer about with an eight-inning solo homerun. While the Honkers’ defence kept the Cats’ offence in check, Battiston looked comfortable at the plate in every appearance. The left fielder – who came into the game batting .300 with an on-base percentage of .364 – drew a pair of walks and hit a single before his homerun ball bounced off the Port Arthur Stadium scoreboard. “I feel real comfortable right now, and I’m seeing the ball well,” Battiston said after the game. “A lot of (the early success) is from coming in early and getting a lot of work done. And a lot of it has to do with confidence, because if you don’t have confidence at the plate you aren’t going to succeed.” Evan Mistich also found some success at the plate, driving in two runs in the seventh after a Honker’s error put runners at first and second on what could have been a double play to end that inning. The efforts of Mistich and Battiston wasn’t enough to erase the four-run fifth the Honkers put together, which gave starting pitcher Paul Barton (0-1) his first loss in his first appearance of the season. Barton delivered four shutout innings before finding himself in trouble in the fifth. The starter hit a batter, allowed two others to draw walks and gave up three hits before catching Honkers’ outfielder Mitch Caster following a misread that had the runner stuck between second and third. The Border Cats only needed one out to escape trouble, but the fifth inning was a situation that manager Mike Steed said snowballed quickly. “It was just one of those things where he struggled to get the last out,” Steed said. “We didn’t have anyone up in the bullpen. We got somebody up and by that point it was at four runs, which is an acceptable number to come back from, but today they just had our number.” The Border Cats defence struggled once more in the eighth. Three walks and a double allowed Rochester to collect some insurance in the form of another three runs. “We made some bad pitches, we had some guys put in situations that didn’t come through,” Steed said. “I just told the guys ‘do we hate to lose a game? Yes, we do. But are we going to win every game? No.’ If they thought (we could win every game) they would be nuts because that’s just not baseball. “Our bullpen just kind of let us down today, but that’s baseball and it happens.” The Border Cats will try to regroup to collect their fourth win Monday as they face the St. Cloud River Bats. That game kicks off the final two-game series of the home stand and is scheduled to start at 6:35 p.m. at the Port Arthur Stadium.

View full post on Tbnewswatch.com – Frontpage Headlines