Braves limp into senior eliminations
From the Sarnia Observer. July 29, 2012.
Injuries have turned the Sarnia Braves senior men’s season into a tragic comedy this year.
“We’ve had catchers playing shortstop; it’s just been unbelievable. At one point we were missing out two, three, four, five hitters for probably about ten games,” said Braves president and centre-fielder James Grant, adding that the team has also lost three fifths of its starting rotation.
“I think we’ve had 13 different players miss three weeks or more this season.”
While the Braves have maintained a 10-2 record atop the Western Counties Baseball League, the injuries have really shown through during the other half of their schedule. Read the rest of this entry
Cautious support for CHL players’ union
From the Sarnia Observer. Aug. 27, 2012.
Even with little information about a potential CHL players’ union, Sarnia Sting players, at their first day of training camp Monday, seemed generally in favour of the idea.
“I think it’d be cool,” said team captain Nathan Chiarlitti. “If they raise a couple of solid points and I agree with them, I have no problem backing that up.”
Added veteran winger Craig Hottot, “basically all I know is it’s to get more rights for the guys in the OHL. I think it’s a great idea.”
Defenceman Connor Murphy also thought the idea was good.
“There’s always issues that need to be kind of brought up that we have opinions about,” he said.
The players are generally in favour of exploring a union but, like Sting management, don’t fully know what’s happening with the fledgling CHLPA. Read the rest of this entry
Sting trade Chiarlitti
From the Sarnia Observer, Aug. 29, 2012.
Flush with too many 20-year-olds, the Sarnia Sting dealt overage captain Nathan Chiarlitti to the Owen Sound Attack Wednesday for three draft picks.
Nathan Chiarlitti, right, jokes with fellow overager Charlie Sarault at Sarnia Sting training camp Wednesday at the RBC Centre. Chiarlitti, the Sting’s captain for the past two seasons, was traded to Owen Sound Wednesday for three draft picks in a move to help the team get down from five overage players to three. PAUL OWEN/THE OBSERVER/QMI AGENCY
Sarnia received a conditional fifth round draft pick in this year’s OHL Priority Selection, a 10th round pick in next year’s draft and a second rounder in 2015 in return for Chiarlitti, who
had four goals and 11 assists in 60 games for the Sting last season.
Chiarlitti said he wasn’t expecting to be dealt.
“It’s a little bit of a shock, but hopefully it works out for myself and Sarnia,” he said. “I just heard a lot of rumours. Twitter kind of erupted last night and a bunch of people texted me this morning.” Read the rest of this entry
Sting searching for goals
From the Sarnia Observer, Aug. 31, 2012.
Davis Brown, black, drives to the net against Alex Basso at the Sarnia Sting’s annual Black vs. White intrasquad match this week at the RBC Centre. PAUL OWEN / THE OBSERVER / QMI AGENCY
The Sarnia Sting aren’t sure if they’ll be able to replace the goals they’ve lost from last year’s lineup.
If head coach and general manager Jacques Beaulieu has his way, they won’t have to.
“Last year we were very skilled, and we cheated sometimes and it cost us games. I think we need to be more of a meat-and-potato type of team,” he said.
Departed Sting forwards Nail Yakupov (31), Brett Thompson (27), Ludvig Rensfeldt (22) and Ryan Spooner (15) accounted for 98 of the team’s 243 goals last season. All told, 51% of the goals scored by the Sting last season were by players no longer with the squad.
Anne Merklinger named CEO of Own the Podium
Written for CBC.ca, Jan. 26, 2012.
After a worldwide search lasting five months, Canada’s Own the Podium program found its new chief executive officer in its own backyard.
Anne Merklinger, the organization’s director of summer sport since August 2009, was promoted from within Thursday, making her the organization’s third CEO in its seven-year history.
“Anne’s planning and the work that she laid out for the committee was, frankly, impeccable,” said OTP chairman John Furlong.
The 53-year-old Ottawa native will now be charged with spearheading Canada’s effort to finish in the top 12 of the medal standings in London after a 14th place finish with 18 medals in Beijing in 2008. Read the rest of this entry
Less risk of injury in Russia’s KHL: Kovalev
Adapted from a script from CBC’s The National for use on CBCSports.ca.
- Former Penguins forward Alex Kovalev says the ice surface is a lot bigger in the KHL “so there is more space and more room for players that can be hurt [to] get away and skate away from getting injured.” (Eliot J. Schechter/Getty Images)”
Concussions have made headlines across the National Hockey League this season, sending one star after another to the injured list. Halfway around the world, Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League seems to have avoided the same problem.
Alex Kovalev spent 18 seasons in the NHL before joining the Atlant Moscow Oblast in the KHL this season. The former Montreal Canadien and Ottawa Senator told CBC’s The National that he believes there is less risk of injury playing in Russia.
“The ice surface is a lot bigger so there is more space and more room for players that can be hurt [to] get away and skate away from getting injured,” the 38-year-old Kovalev said. Read the rest of this entry
Freestyle skier Sarah Burke dies
Published Jan. 19, 2012 on CBCSports.ca. The story grew and evolved as more information was gathered, but the original obit, written two days in advance was mine and is reproduced below.
Sarah Burke’s love of freestyle skiing started early. As a teenage moguls skier in Midland, Ont., she’d often sneak onto snowboard halfpipes for the last runs of the day.
“We did it on the last run so that if we got our tickets pulled we wouldn’t be too bummed,” she once told ESPN.
Burke went from an unwanted pest on the halfpipe to one of its biggest stars and advocates, winning Winter X Games gold medals and lobbying for the sport’s inclusion in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Read the rest of this entry
