Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Local Sports for Tuesday December 29

Area high school hockey teams won their opening games at tournaments in Duluth and Rochester.

The Fort Frances Muskies boys hockey team blanked Proctor 5-0 in the opener at the Hilltopper Classic in Duluth.

Nick Jourdain had a pair with Brendan Cawston, Tyson McLean and Donovan Cousineau getting the others.

The Muskies face Edgewood tonight.


At the Rochester Kiwanis Hockey tournament, International Falls Broncos defeated Albert Lea 6-1.

Jordan Christianson scored twice for the Broncos.

Jon McDonald, Willie Corrin, Alex Bruess and Dylan Farmer added singles.

Broncos face Rochester Lourdes in a semi-final game this evening.


On the weekend, the Broncos edged the Muskies 4-3 Saturday at the Ice for Kids Arena.

Jon McDonald scored twice for the Broncos with singles from Michael Bounds and Jordan Christianson.

Dustin Brown, Matt DePiero and David Chambers scored for the Muskies.

In an alumni game, the Muskies squad defeated the Broncos alumni 10-5 on Saturday while the current Muskies girls hockey team beat a Muskies alumni girls team 8-4 on Sunday.


Broncos girls hockey team, also in a tournament in Rochester, defeated the MSO IceBergs 10-6.l
Sydney Gordon led the way with 4 goals.

MacKenzie Raboin had a hat-trick.

Broncos play St. Paul's Academy tonight.



In Roseau, the Fort Frances Muskies girls hockey team fell 6-3 to host Roseau in a tournament played in that Minnesota city.

Muskies will face Lake of the Bears Bears in their second game later this morning.



In high school basketball, Hanna Heibel chipped in a team high 16 points to lead the Broncos girls basketball team to a 54-25 thumping of Proctor in the opener of the Proctor Holiday tournament.

Broncos play Denfield this afternoon.


For the second time this season, Ben Gordon is back in the American Hockey League.

The International Falls native was loaned to the Toronto Marlies by the Reading Royals of the East Coast League.

In October, Gordon played two games with the Providence Bruins.

Beer Store Crashed

Three people are in custody after a vehicle was driven through the front of a Beer Store outlet in Thunder Bay early Monday morning and five to ten cases of beer taken.

Thunder Bay Police later found the vehicle at a house where two women and a man - between 18 and 20 years old - were taken into custody without incident.

Gun Registry Scrapped in 2010

The MP for the Kenora Riding believes there is enough support to dismantle the controversial long-gun registry.

A private members bill has gone through first reading and is now being reviewed at a Committee level.

Greg Rickford hopes to see the end to registry early in 2010.

"It's my hope that the committee, particularly the Liberals, don't do a two-face about-face and try to delay it at committee," says Rickford. "I anticipate later this winter to vote on it a second time."

Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP John Rafferty has also said he would continue to support the bill until its conclusion.

Border Programs Get Review

Heightened security concerns are prompting Ottawa to rethink programs to help people in remote communities easily cross the border into Canada.

An internal Canada Border Services Agency review says three programs will be revamped at a significant cost to taxpayers.

The programs were established before 9-11.

They involve the pre-screening of people who cross the border into isolated areas of central and eastern Canada, mostly for leisure or access to cottages.

Usually people must swipe a card to cross and are videotaped.

But the federal evaluation says the programs raise a number of security concerns.

Tourism Zones Panned

The province's plan to create 13 new tourism zones isn't sitting well with tourist groups in northwestern Ontario.

Those new zones include one covering the area between Sault Ste. Marie and the Manitoba border.

Gerry Cariou of the Ontario Sunset Country Travel Association says its attempt by the government to control how tourist marketing dollars are spent.

"There's a lot of concern," says Cariou. "There's a lot of questions. The Ministry really wasn't forthcoming with answers other than repeatedly telling us 'We know what's best for you. This is good for you.' In the end, this results in the government gaining control in their money and how its allocated across Ontario."

Cariou says Sunset Country will continue to operate, but admits the new region will a slight impact on their budget.