On July 31, 2010, Becki, Katie, and Theresa Procter successfully swam three kilometres across Sharbot Lake from the Sharbot Lake Provincial Park to the public beach in one hour and 50 minutes to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society.

They would like to thank everyone who supported them, notably Norm Landry and Bernie Slavin for donating their time and boats on the day of the swim.

More than $1100 was raised for the Canadian Cancer Society, and donations are still being accepted online at  http://convio.cancer.ca/goto/hopeswim2010 (Note: no “www”). Thank you!

Photo: Jack Fenlong at Eastern Ontario Sprint Qualifier with Coach Devon Bayle-Jones; Genevieve L'abbe and Sprint Coach Devon Bayle-Jones; Courtesy Jack Fenlong

Genevieve L'Abbe (age 12) and Jack Fenlong (14) were both medal winners at the Ontario Provincial Trillium Sprint Paddling Competition in Sudbury on August 14 & 15. Genevieve won a gold medal in the B finals of the 2000 metre K1, placing third in the province in the Bantam category. Jack Felong won a bronze medal in the K1 2000 metre category placing ninth in the province overall in the Bantam category. Both paddlers have been paddling competitively for two years.

Cia Myles Gonzalez (16) and Robin Miazga (16) of the Sydenham Lake Canoe Club, have made it to the Canadian National Canoe Kayak Paddling Competition in the Sprint Racing Midget category to be held at Wascana Lake in Regina, Saskatchewan. They will be racing from the 25th till the 29th. Both Cia and Robin have been paddling for 5 years. They are both racing C2 and C4 and Cia is racing C1. They will be racing with Reagan Jackson and Zaffia Laplante from North Bay for the C4 race, a distance  of 1000m.

Genevieve L'Abbe, Jack Fenlong, Cia Myles-Gonzalez, and Robin Miazga can be found at the Sydenham Lake Canoe Club in Sydenham training daily from 8:30-11:30 until Aug 24th.

If you have any further questions, please contact Sprint Coach Devon Bayle-Jones at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 613-376-6613 or Erik Miazga at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 613-376-3654

The Frontenac Fury Pee Wee House League girls travelled to Ottawa for the Cumberland-Rockland Invitational Tournament on the weekend, and came away with the B Championship. In four games, the girls outscored their opponents 23-5, with two shutouts from goaltender Jade Robinson. Scoring from a number of players across the team led to some decisive victories in the tournament, culminating in a 5-0 win over the Clarence Lightning in the final.

Great hockey, congratulations girls.

Photo: Golden Eagles running back Josh Thompson completes one of many passes on Tuesday against Cornwall. At the KASSA final last Saturday, Thompson was named MVP.

After winning the KASSAA (Kingston region) finals in Kingston on November 13, when they came back from a 14-1 deficit to beat the Holy Cross Crusaders 15-14, Sydenham's Senior Golden Eagles dug in their claws again at home against the St. Joseph's Panthers of Cornwall on Tuesday in the EOSSAA (Eastern Ontario) final.

Sydenham took an early lead mid-way through the first quarter after Sydenham running back Josh Thompson recovered a fumbled punt. The Panthers came back and took the lead 9-8 early in the second quarter, and it seemed as if the game might go down to the final whistle.

Things were more tense because the Golden Eagles starting quarter back Steve Knapton was hit hard, suffering a shoulder injury and was out for the rest of the game, which looked to be a strong point in the Panthers. But just minutes into the second quarter Brett Irwin, the back up quarter back for the Eagles, showed his mettle and took control of the offense.

The Eagles pushed back hard early in the second half, thanks to their superior special teams. The Golden Eagles recovered their own opening kick-off at the Panthers 40 yard line, leading to Josh Thompson scoring a touchdown, which brought the score to 15-9.

Then, with the Panthers backed up to their own goal line and trying to punt the ball away, pressure from the Golden Eagle front line forced the punter to try and run the ball out of the end zone. A hard tackle dislodged the ball and it was recovered by Sydenham’s Chris Shibley for another touchdown. The score was now 22-9.

For the remainder of the game the Golden Eagles defense shut the Panthers down and the final score was 27-11.

Sydenahm is now off to the OFSSAA (provincial) semi-finals at Minto Field in Ottawa on Saturday (Nov. 20) where they will go head to head with Ottawa's St. Peter's Knights.

The winner of that game will face off at the OFFSSA finals at the National Capital Bowl in Toronto at the Rogers Centre on Wednesday November 24.

Prince Charles Public School in Verona has embraced floor ball, the latest international fad in hockey, and judging by the students, it’s a big hit. Billed as “the world's most popular indoor hockey game", it is played by millions of people in over 50 countries world-wide and is also used by many European-born NHL hockey players for their dry land training.

Not only does the game have its own world championship, it is a provisional member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Its governing body, the International Floorball Federation, is hoping that it will become a sport in the Summer Olympics in 2020.

Regardless, students at PCPS are enjoying the fast-paced game, which closely resembles floor hockey and ball hockey but is designed as a safer, faster low-cost game. It is played with light-weight plastic sticks and an official hard plastic ball that is also light weight (23 grams to be exact) and similar to a whiffle ball. There is no special equipment required; players can dress in gym shoes, t-shirts and shorts and need wear no other protective clothing except for plastic glasses or goggles.

Photo: Sydenham's Golden Eagles

Although going to print on a Tuesday leaves us here at the News hanging regarding the outcome of the Eagles’ final game at the National Capital Bowl, which was played in Toronto at the Rogers Centre yesterday, Wed. Nov. 24 against Peterborough's Crestwood Mustangs, I thought I might brief fans regarding the last nail-biter of a game that got them there.

The Golden Eagles had to be the underdogs going into Saturday’s game. The St. Peter’s Knights were the defending champions; Sydenham’s starting quarterback Steve Knapton was out for the season; they were playing their third game in a week; and the game was being played in Ottawa, the Knights’ home town.

The Golden Eagles’ grade 11 quarterback Brett Irwin, who took over from Knapton, stayed calm and cool, not causing any turnovers in the game and connecting with Ben Fisher for a long touchdown pass that put Sydenham up 8-0 at half time.

The Knights came on in the second half, scoring a single early on, and with four minutes left they finally scored a touchdown to bring the score back to 8-7. The turning point in the game came when Sydenham’s Hayden Peters, a kicker himself, partially blocked the St. Peter’s conversion kick attempt, forcing it to bounce off the crossbar and out, keeping the score at 8-7.

Sydenham then recovered the onside kick. A few plays later Brett Irwin handed the ball off the running back Josh Thompson, who reared back and threw a touchdown pass to Ollie Moyse. The game was put completely out of reach when Kieran Doyle intercepted a St. Peter’s pass and returned it for another touchdown, bringing the final score to 21-7.

Sydenham’s coach Mike Love said that Brett Irwin deserves a lot of credit for the win. “Brett played a great game even with a strong wind blowing constantly on the field,” Love said. “Overall it was a pretty hard fought game. The Knights are physically a very big team and their running back played a great game gaining 200 yards.”

In the run up to Wednesday’s game Mike Love suggested the team will just try to continue to ride the wave that has seen them win eight games in a row after stumbling with losses in their first two games at the beginning of the season.

“We've played five games in 15 days and so have not had a lot of time to regroup. Our plan is to go in just doing what we've been doing. We've had a really great season and the guys have played better every single week and have come a long way. If we do end up taking the cup on Wednesday, all I know is that it will be a pretty fun bus ride home.”

(P.S. If you don’t know what happened in Toronto yesterday, just ask any teenager or any parent of a teenager living south of Parham)

Photo by Emily Hole

It was a heartbreaking loss for the Sydenham Golden Eagles at the OFSAA National Capital Region final at the Rogers Centre in Toronto last week. The Golden Eagles took Peterborough’s Crestwood High School to overtime. The entire season came down to a two-yard attempt at a decisive touchdown by star running back Josh Thompson, which was held off by the Crestwood defence. Minutes later Crestwood kicked the winning field goal. The win was the first for Crestwood after losing in the final game at the Rogers Centre three years in a row. Still, it was an impressive run for the Golden Eagles, a season full of comebacks that will add to SHS football lore.

Photo: Volleyball Champions at Hinchinbrooke PS, courtesy of Ms. Julia Schall

Hats off to grade 6, 7 and 8 students at Hinchinbrooke Public School who were crowned this year’s Division 6 Co-ed Volleyball champions. The team’s season ran from early October until last week and included a number of exhibition games at NAEC, Prince Charles PS and Sharbot Lake Intermediate. The final tournament of the season took place at Napanee Secondary School and included teams from Clarendon Central PS, Marysville, Centreville, Sharbot Lake Intermediate, Sandhurst and Holsgrove. In that final tournament, Hinchinbrooke played and beat teams from Clarendon, Marysville and Enterprise, bringing them to the finals where they faced off against Centreville. The Hinchinbrooke team came away victorious at the end of the day. Congratulations to all of the players and to Coach Ms. Julia Schall on a great effort and a great season of play.

On December 11, the Senior Girls’ volleyball team travelled to Loyalist College for a tournament consisting of eight teams.  The girls’ first game of the day was against the strong Marc Garneau team. The girls all played well and won the first set 25-22.  During the second set, Marc Garneau came out fighting and, although the girls got behind, they were able to gain momentum.  Marc Garneau eventually ended up winning the second set 25-22.  After dropping this set, the Lady Panthers did not drop another set during pool play, playing undefeated against St.Theresa’s, Quinte Secondary School and Nicholson.  This propelled our girls into first place for pool play.  The girls were once again up against Marc Garneau in the semi-finals.  The Panthers came out strong and won the first set 25-16.  During  the second set,  Marc Garneau weren’t going to give up without a fight and came out guns- a-blazing, winning the second set 25-22.

Well, our Lady Panthers did not want to give Marc Garneau another victory. They took care of business in the third set and punched their ticket to the finals, winning 15-12. The girls were very determined and ready to take on Cobourg West.  The Lady Panthers came flying out of the gates and did not look back. Our girls were just too strong for the Cobourg team. They won in straight sets 25-12 and 25-15.  The Panthers should be very proud of their victory and what a way to end off an impressive first week of league play in KASSAA. 

The tournament victory would not have been possible without the tournament MVP Rachel Neadow, who continually came up with huge plays and great leadership; Courtney Meeks’ and Sarah Armstrong’s strong service points and great passing; Jen Cota and her consistent and smart play on the court;  Dana Mika taking her game to the next level in important games; Tricia Gray always being ready and getting key points when she was called upon; Sami Stencell and her great passing and HUGE Serve; Kaitlyn Wilkes and her awesome passing and great job in the Semi Final and Championship match; and of course the set up kid Nicole Domen who always does a great job setting up our powerful swingers!!!  Great job ladies and congratulations.

NFCS report

Don Amos and May Beth Scott of Northern Frontenac Community Services presented a summary of how the $10,000 funding they received from the township was spent over the past year.

The funds were spread between at Amos described as a number of successful NFCS programs that included the Teen Centre at The Sharbot Lake Medical Centre, after school programs at three area schools, youth dances and family movie nights, the GO Guys and Go Girls programs, a video dance that attracted over 90 youth from the surrounding area, the summer boys camp program that ran for the first time this year and the publication of the annual Recreation Guide.

He explained how by partnering with the township NFCS has been successful in receiving a number of grants this past year: an $86,000 Trillium grant, a $15,000 grant from the United Church of Canada and a $18,000 grant form the United Way which will be used to higher three new staff members to their team.

“There is definitely more work that needs to be done but we are confident that by partnering with the township will help continue to move forward by providing more opportunities our youth in the area,” he said.

Cameras roll for Friends of Arden

Terry Kennedy and David Daski updated their groups work to date, all the while being filmed by independent film makers who are making a film titled Lost Highway. The film is about the stretch of Highway 7 that includes Arden.

David Daski reviewed the results from the First Impressions findings after which Kennedy provided council with a detailed list of the 21 projects, some of which have been completed and others that they group aim to complete in the near future. Other ideas the group are considering include the relocation of the entrance to Recreation Park, constructing a bandshell type of structure at the park, forming a working events group, mobilizing the over 30 independent businesses in the area and more.

Kennedy finished the presentation by making four requests ofcouncil: 1.the opportunity to discuss with council Township plans for maintaining and improving infrastructure in the Arden area over the next 3-5 years; 2. Council’s permission for the Friends of Arden to do some work on their own, including putting up signage to as part of their the trails initiatives across township lands; 3. The provision of gravel to stabilize the new access to the Look Out from recreation park and lastly, a partnering relationship in the groups application for funding opportunities.

Arden Playground

Construction of a new playground for Arden is underway and an additional $10,000 grant was received from Ontario Hydro for the project bringing the total cost to $30,000. The new playground which will include a extensive climbing structure is set to be completed by May 2012.