The Shiretown Blogger

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Slammers ship Shipbuilders in season opener

Former Slammer Justin Bowers, right, was presented with a
sketch by Slammers general manager Danny Braun prior to
Friday night's game. The sketch was created by Derek Croney.

The Woodstock Slammers opened the 2012-13 Maritime Junior Hockey League campaign on Friday, September 14th with a 5-3 victory over the Metro Shipbuilders.

The contest against the former Metro Marauders began with a ceremony to honor former Slammer Justin Bowers. Bowers' number nine was retired by the Slammers at the beginning of Game 7 of the Kent Cup Final on April 20th. His banner now hangs in the rafters above the Slammers' bench.

Bowers was presented with a sketch created by NBCC Woodstock photography instructor and Slammers' team photographer Derek Croney. Slammers general manager Danny Braun was on hand for the presentation.

Banners commemorating Woodstock's Kent Cup and Fred Page Cup victories and their second place finishing were also unveiled. Wes Corey was the master of ceremonies for both presentations.

The Slammers wasted no time getting into the spirit of things, scoring shorthanded only 59 seconds into the contest. Robbie DeFulviis beat Shipbuilders netminder Anderson Snair after intercepting a pass from Shane MacDonald. DeFulviis and Jake Wright each had two goals for the Slammers.

Patrick MacIssac got Metro on the board with 3:12 remaining in the opening period, tying the game at one goal apiece to close period one.

DeFulvvis scored for the second time in the contest only 28 seconds into the middle frame, breaking the tie and giving Woodstock a 2-1 lead.

Wright scored singlehandedly at 1:39, increasing the Slammers' lead to two. He scored his second goal of the contest nearly three minutes later, with Ian Lewis and Bradley MacDonald chipping in with the assists.

Slammers captain Ryan Purvis brought Woodstock's lead to 5-1 at 4:52 in the second period. Branden Morris and Zach Shannon chipped in with the assists.

The Slammers received a bench minor at the end of the second period, placing the Shipbuilders on a man advantage. Metro made the best of the power play situation, and Ryan Davis beat Simon-Pier Chamberland on a shot after taking a pass from JP Harvey and Leon Lockwood at 2:17.

Metro made one last attempt at a victory at 7:05, scoring on another power play. Lockwood intercepted a pass from Harvey and Davis, beating Chamberland on the shot. It reduced the deficit to two, but it was to no avail.

Chamberland refused 27 of 30 shots faced for the win, while Anderson Snair blocked 10 of 15 shots faced before being relieved by Jeff Arkin in the second period. Arkin stopped all 18 shots faced.

The Slammers went 0 for 5 on the man advantage, while Metro scored on two of seven power play situations.

Slammers head coach Jason Tatarnic was impressed with his team's performance throughout the game.

"I thought we played well for the majority of the game," Tatarnic stated in an online press release.

Tatarnic also expressed satisfaction with his team's prospects.

"We received what we expected with the new additions of Robbie DeFulviis and EJ Faust," Tatarnic stated. "[Simon-Pier] Chamberland was a bit of an unknown, but we were impressed by his play in net."

Tatarnic said that the Slammers took some unnecessary penalties during the third period.

"I thought we dictated the majority of the play until we put ourselves in penalty trouble in the third period," Tatarnic explained, referring to the 18 total penalty minutes assessed to the Slammers during period three. "Part of the problem with the penalties is that there has been a miscommunication with the referees regarding new rules that have or have not been implemented within our league."

"Hopefully everyone is on the same page next Friday night. Both teams played under the same rules last night, so you can't complain, all you can do is play."

The Slammers traveled to Amherst Saturday night to face the Ramblers in a 7 pm matchup, but the results of that contest were not available at press time.

The Slammers will face the Truro Bearcats on Friday, Sept. 21st at 7:30 pm at the Carleton Civic Centre.

With files from www.slammershockey.ca and www.themhl.ca

Justin Bowers' number nine banner joins Lachlan MacIntosh
and Dan Dooley's banners in the rafters at the Carleton Civic
Centre

Unveiling the banners

Wes Corey was the master of ceremonies for
the unveiling of the banners and presentation
of a sketch to Justin Bowers.

Justin Bowers

Starter Simon-Pier Chamberland stopped 27 of 30 shots faced,
leading the Slammers to a 5-3 win over the Metro Shipbuilders.

Slammers associate coach Kyle Adams getting the point across

Andrew Schriver (left foreground)

Jonny Erbs

Nick Lindstrom

Branden Morris

Facing off

Close up shot of a celebration

Slammers captain Ryan Purvis, right, scored once in Friday
night's game against Metro.

Slammers head coach Jason Tatarnic led his team to a 5-3
win over the Metro Shipbuilders on Friday, Sept. 14th.

Ian Lewis

Evan Carmody (left)

Alex White

Brett MacLean taking the face off

Ryan Purvis

Jonny Erbs and Ryan Purvis

Ryan Purvis being escorted to the penalty box by linesman
Ryan Springer, middle, and referee Thayer Doyle. Doyle
made several questionable calls in Friday night's game.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Former Slammer becoming Sea Dog

A former Woodstock Slammer will jump from the Maritime Junior Hockey League (MHL) to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).

Mackenzie Brown, seventeen, of Tobique First Nation spent the 2011-12 season with the Woodstock Slammers, while affiliating with the Sea Dogs.

Mackenzie Brown

Saint John Sea Dogs head coach Mike Kelly told CJ 104 radio that Brown's year with the Slammers was positive for his development.

"He's exactly what we had hoped," Kelly told CJ 104. "He was a good player last year, and he's better now."

"He plays with lots of confidence, and its a huge benefit for him to have played Junior A last year."

Kelly added that Brown is dedicated to his development, and is progressing as the Sea Dogs had hoped upon drafting him from Midget AAA hockey last year.

"I know that Mackenzie has put a lot of work in this summer in Fredericton working out," Kelly said. "He has worked hard and is pretty committed to his hockey."

"For a kid like that, it takes a lot of sacrifice. We can see where he is a bit stronger, and with that comes more confidence."

Kelly is also the Sea Dogs' general manager, and he says that Brown has earned his spot on Saint John's roster.

"Its good for him," Kelly said. "He's worked hard, and he deserves it. Its a natural progression for him because he has been given the opportunity to play for a higher level team last year, which was good for him and he will reap the benefits."

"Hopefully someday down the road, someone else will be able to reap the benefits of him playing with our program."

Brown has played two preseason exhibition games with the Sea Dogs, scoring two goals and assisting one.

At this point, Kelly says he isn't sure what type of role Brown will play with the team in the upcoming season, but figures he will get a significant amount of ice time.

Brown played 39 games with the Slammers last season. The winger scored five goals and racked up five assists for a total of ten points.

With files from CJ 104

Downtown Woodstock on boil order after power outage

Hundreds of area residents were left without power for a few hours as a result of an overnight outage on Friday night, August 31st, in Woodstock.

But the power outage also affected a water reservoir, forcing the town to issue a boil order as a precaution.

Woodstock Mayor Art Slipp realizes the inconvenience of the boil order, but said it is a safety precaution.

"We are certainly aware that this is a major inconvenience for the citizens of the Town of Woodstock," Slipp told the Bugle-Observer. "As soon as town officials were aware of the problem, they immediately began remedial action."

"We ask for the continued patience of citizens. We hope to have the boil order lifted as soon as possible."

Slipp added that the boil order is necessary due to an apparent technical malfunction at one of the water reservoirs caused by the power outage Friday night. The outage continued throughout the night.

"It is being investigated by town staff to see the nature of the problem and why the system failed," Slipp said.

He noted that the handling of the situation was done according to safety protocols, and the boil order was instated as a public safety measure.

"We are waiting for the results of tests so the boil order can be lifted."

The Town of Woodstock says that any water which will be ingested (used for drinking, brushing teeth, making ice cubes, or washing raw vegetables) should be brought to a rolling boil for at least one minute.

The water is safe to use for taking showers or baths or washing dishes with hot water and soap, and it will not impact the safety of swimming pools.

Streets affected by the boil order include Main Street (from Cambridge Street to Upham Street), Connell Street (between Main Street and St. James Street), Boyne, Bridge, Broadway, Bell, Bull, Carleton, Cedar, Cemetery, Centre, Chapel, Church, College, Cross, Division, Douglas, Elm, Emerald, Foundry, George, Gold, Green, Grover, Guelph, Hartley, Harvey, King, Maple, Orange, Park, Pine, Prince Albert, Prince William, Queen, Queen Street South, Regent, Richmond, St. Andrews, St. Gertrude, St. John, Union, Union Street North, Victoria, Water, Water Street South, and White Street.

With files from the Bugle-Observer and CJ 104