Thirty-two boys and girls aged six to 10 are taking part in a unique hockey development program to promote a love of hockey and physical activity. Hosted by the Frontenac Fury Girls' Hockey Association, the First Shift program allows students who have never played hockey before to share a positive first experience with seasoned coaching staff and players. The program also aims to remove barriers that might prevent children or families from trying hockey in the first place. For the Fury, this means making them feel at home within our hockey community and to stimulate a desire for continued participation. Thanks to funding from Hockey Canada, Bauer and local sponsors at Kingston's Canadian Tire, all participants are outfitted head-to-toe in equipment valued at more than $1,000. Participating families only pay $199. In addition to the equipment, volunteer Fury coaches, players and community volunteers provide six on-ice sessions. A grant to the Fury from South Frontenac Township has allowed the fury to extend the on-ice instruction by an additional six sessions. So far, with two on-ice sessions under their belt, both participants and mentors are having a great time getting to know one another and have fun! While the fall session is full, the Fury are accepting new participants for the winter session to begin in the new year. For more information, please visit http://frontenacfury.ca/news.php?news_id=1334080

All the net proceeds from the dinner and dance on August 6 at the Frontenac Arena, the first of many events in this 40th anniversary year of the arena, will be added to a $20,000 campaign for arena upgrades.

One of the main upgrades is heated seats in the stands so spectators don't have to freeze while watching games.

However, there was little need for heaters on Saturday night, as the arena acts like a giant heat trap in the summer and air conditioning was probably more on people's minds than heating when over 150 people gathered to eat and drink, reminisce about the history of the arena and dance the night away.

The evening was kicked off by a set of “Oyes” by Central Frontenac Town Crier Paddy O'Connor, followed by greetings from Frances Smith and Ron Vandewal, the mayors of Central and South Frontenac respectively. The arena was originally built by the former Portland, Bedford, Hinchinbrooke and Oso townships, and since 1998 it has been managed through an amicable partnership between Central and South Frontenac.

Phil Leonard, long-time reeve of Portland Township and three-term mayor of South Frontenac, emceed the evening. He provided his own memories of the arena, and introduced Marcel Giroux, who was on the founding committee of the arena, and arena board president, Brent Cameron. Presentations were made to Jim Stinson and Joy Nox for their outstanding, long -time service to the arena.

A blessing was given by Rev. Mac Steinburg, who also brought a short message from Trevor Steinburg. Trevor played his first hockey at the arena before playing his way into the NHL. He is now the coach of the St. Mary's Huskies.

As the dinner, catered by Linda Bates, was being served, many took the opportunity to check out a large table that was filled with memorabilia from the past; to purchase the arena memory book that was put together by the 40th anniversary committee, and to start off the bidding on the silent auction items.

After dinner, things got steamier yet as Texas Tuxedo got most everyone on the dance floor. The silent auction was also a success, with some items drawing bids of over $100, including a framed Mike Smith sweater, which went for over $400.

Event organizer Pam Morey said that it was a pleasure to work with the 40th anniversary committee to put on the gala.

“The best part of it all was that everyone who attended seemed to have a lot of fun. There is a lot of enthusiasm for the 40th anniversary which will carry through to other events this year, I'm sure,” she said.

There are copies of the memory book available at the low price of $10. For information, call the arena at 613-374-2177.

(Tickets for the gala will be on sale at the door. It is $30 for the dinner and dance and $20 for just the dance. Come on out - Door open at 6 - dance starts at 9)

There's going to be a big bash to kick off the 40th anniversary celebrations of the Frontenac Community Arena on Saturday August 6.

Doors open at 6pm, and the cash bar will be open, followed by a sit-down dinner catered by Linda Bates. There will be some informal speeches and presentations after the dinner, and a commemorative book about the history of the arena will be launched.

In the meantime, the silent auction will be going on, featuring, among other items, gift certificates and gift baskets, a signed hockey stick courtesy of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the featured item, an autographed Mike Smith jersey that was donated by the Smith family. As well, more items are coming in every day in the run up to the event.

At 9 p.m. or so, Tamworth's own Texas Tuxedo will take the stage, performing highly danceable country rock until around 1 a.m. There will be shuttle buses heading north and south at the end of the evening.

Tickets are $30 for the dinner and show. They are available at Gray's Grocery, the Central Frontenac Township Office, Asselstine Hardware, Leonard Fuels, Sydenham One Stop, Verona Hardware, Godfrey General Store and at the Arena.

For further information, call 613-374-3177 or visit Frontenacarena.com

Reflections on 40 years of the NFCA

Jim Stinson's first involvement in the North Frontenac Community Arena (he has trouble using the new Frontenac Community Arena moniker) was as a fund-raising volunteer in 1974 or 1975.

“I was assigned Desert Lake Road because that is where I live. I went door to door asking for money,” he said when interviewed at the arena this week.

He recalls that the idea of building an arena in Frontenac County had been kicked around since the mid 1960s but there were always obstacles in the way.

There was talk in the early '70s between Hinchinbrooke, Oso, Olden and Bedford townships.

According to Dave Hansen, who was serving on Hinchinbrooke Council at the time, the townships went together to Frontenac County for funding support.

“We were told that if we agreed on a site and invested $100, they would put up the rest of the money. They were convinced we would never agree on a site, but we did agree on the Parham fair grounds as a site. When we went back, they said it turned out it was illegal for them to make the funding promise, so they backed out,” said Hansen, when contacted at his home on Tuesday.

According to Jim Stinson and Dave Hansen, there was also talk between Loughborough and Portland Townships about building an arena but they couldn't agree about locating it in Harrowsmith or Sydenham.

The logjam was broken when Portland came to the northern group after Grant Piercy offered them a piece of land on the border between Portland and Hinchinbrooke. Portland also committed to funding 41% of the operating costs, and that was that.

Frontenac County offered up $100,000 ($20,000 for each township involved) and $25,000 came from the Lions Club. Wintario was offering up $2 for each dollar raised through fund raising. That, in addition to the already strong support for the project, kicked off a highly successful fund-raising drive. Between door-to-door canvassing, dinners, draws and corporate donations, $80,000 was raised, of which over $1,600 came from school children. In the end, only $14,000 of the $492,000 budget came from local taxation

Although the arena is not located within the boundaries of any existing hamlet, it has the advantage of being located within a reasonably short drive from Arden, Sharbot Lake, Parham, Verona, Harrowsmith and Sydenham.

Once the arena was built, it needed a manager. At that time Jim Stinson, like so many others from the region, commuted each day to a job at Alcan in Kingston. One day while sharing a ride to work, someone said he should consider applying for the job as arena manager. Since he had refrigeration and electrical training, he was a prime candidate for the arena manager's job, which at the beginning was only about maintaining the building, making the ice, keeping all the equipment running, etc.

“I knew how to turn on the compressors, but what I didn't know was how to make ice, and an arena needs ice,” he recalls.

The ice-maker at the Cataraqui arena came up and showed him how to make ice by flooding the rink in stages and slowly building up the surface, and in the fall of 1976, the North Frontenac Arena opened with a fresh sheet of ice.

North Frontenac Minor Hockey started up right away, with Dick Steel as the driving force, with both girls and boys playing. Over 300 kids played hockey in that first year. At the same time Faye Steel started up a Figure Skating club, which lasted over 20 years.

In the 1980s, there was a curling club at the arena for several years. The Frontenac Flyers, a Junior C team that competed in the Empire B League with teams from Amherstview, Napanee, Picton, Madoc and Campbelford, ran for almost 20 years before folding about ten years ago

But it has been recreational hockey that has been the mainstay of the arena's success, and it remains busy seven days a week during the season with a men's league, an Over 30 league and boys' and girls' hockey leagues. Last year over 350 kids were enrolled in hockey at what is now known as the Frontenac Community Arena.

Ten years ago, the arena was upgraded thanks to a fund-raising campaign known as Project End Zone, and more improvements are planned, including the current campaign to pay for heaters for the stands. The campaign has a $20,000 goal and now sits at $13,000.

The arena will be marking its 40th anniversary this season, starting with a gala dinner and dance on August 6 (see the ad on page 12) and continuing into the coming season.

We will have more details about the dance in next week's edition of the Frontenac News. For more information, go to Frontenacarena.com

Sunday June 12 dawned cool and wet for June - perfect weather for a run or a long walk. That's what more than 50 people did at the Frontenac Arena that morning, raising money for the Frontenac Fury hockey program and helping to bring the Healthy Kids KFL&A Challenge to South and Central Frontenac.

Later on, it was a cold start to Hockey Day, which included an outdoor BBQ and a large bouncy castle. Luckily, the arena was available for some very young players to get in some ball hockey. The weather turned sunny and warm in the afternoon, however, and the once lonely bouncy castle came to life as children and families arrived on the scene in large numbers. The fun continued until late in the afternoon, when the ball hockey league got one of its last sessions of the season underway.

Hockey Day arrived just in time for the Fury to announce that the Girls' Hockey Association has been selected as part of the First Shift Program for the 2016-2017 hockey season. The First Shift aims to overcome barriers to participation in organised hockey.

For a $199 registration, girls between 6 and 10 who are not currently enrolled in hockey can receive a full set of Bauer equipment including: helmet and face mask, shoulder and elbow pads, base layer top with neck guard, Jersey pants and socks, shinguards, protective under shorts, gloves, sticks, and skates.

The program also includes six one-hour on ice training sessions this fall with a 1-4 participant to coach ratio.

The program is designed to focus on fun and on helping kids learn how to skate.

There are 35 spaces available in the program and they will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Families are encouraged to contact the Fury through their facebook page or by email at frontenacfury.ca.

Come out & support girls hockey in your community. On Sunday, June 12, the Frontenac Girls' Hockey Association (Frontenac Fury) will be holding their 3rd annual Fun Run at the Frontenac Arena, 4299 Boundary Rd., starting at 9 a.m. There will be a 1K Kids Walk/Run, as well as a 5K & 10K Walk/Run.

The run is one of the association’s major fundraisers of the year, with all funds going back into the association. This year the run is sponsored in part by KFL&A Healthy Kids. They are looking for more runners. Fury girls will serve as "race marshals" and there will be door prizes. Register at runningroom.com

Also taking place later in the day at the arena is “Hockey Day in Frontenac”. Starting at noon there will be a barbecue, Face Painting, Air Castle and wagon Rides. Funds from the barbecue will support Frontenac Arena improvements

Registration is now open and the association is still seeking some atom and peewee players. They are also hoping to mount a novice team this year. The volunteer-led association is growing. This past season they grew to two peewee and two bantam teams from one each.

One of the peewee teams captured the championship this year and the peewee and bantams teams have also come away with a few tournament wins. They are also excited about being accepted for the First Shift program, which will help equip players aged 6-10 with equipment at a much reduced rate. All of this is great news for the community as the association helps empower young girls to be active as they help build self-confidence, sportsmanship and leadership.

Please contact Julie Lambert if you have any questions This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tim Laprade, Arena and Recreation Supervisor for the Township of South Frontenac, had a vision about making the Frontenac Community Arena a continuing destination for youngsters and their families after the ice hockey season is over.

Back in December he put a call out to see if anyone wanted to run a ball hockey league. Laprade got an overwhelming response both from local individuals and the Frontenac Minor Hockey Association, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Now just two weeks into its opening season, the Frontenac Ball Hockey League has eager players and their families flocking to Piccadilly. The sheer number of cars that filled the parking lot and spilled over onto the grass on May 1, the league's second Sunday, was nothing compared to the hive of energy and activity that was taking place inside. The music was loud and clear thanks to a new sound system; the lighting brighter and the stands were packed with onlookers as three separate games took place simultaneously.

Over 265 youngsters of all ages were playing, each with new jerseys, and Laprade was thrilled to see the sport take off. “The response was overwhelming right from the start and it's great to see the place just rocking,” he said on Sunday afternoon.

The league quickly registered with the Ontario Ball Hockey Association, and the FMHA also applied for a Trillium grant, and received funds to train coaches and referees.

Laprade who took over the arena management in September 2015, said, “One of my goals as arena manager has been to find ways to increase programming during the off season. From March until September it has been sitting empty and I knew there was an opportunity here.”

Laprade said that a number of initiatives have been fulfilled since the new league began, including the installation of the new sound system. The arena's capital fund also paid for new overhead lighting, which replaced the old metal halide lights with new LED lights that are not just brighter but also more efficient. Laprade said that new spectator heating has also been installed thanks to the Turn Up the Heat campaign, which will keep spectators more comfortable when the ice is back come September. Laprade said the next project that will be completed before the start of the next ice hockey season will be the replacement of the 40-year-old ice compressors with two new ones that are more energy efficient.

Many events are also being planned for the arena's upcoming 40th anniversary in August and a new website (www.frontenacarena.com) has been launched, which has information about all the current programs, activities as well as many of the upcoming special events.

The arena also has a new twitter account, which Laprade said will help to keep members of the community up to date and in touch with the day-to-day goings on. Laprade said his goal is to look at new opportunities and he wants “people to walk in and see, hear and feel a difference.”

Judging by the atmosphere in the place on Sunday, it seems that Laprade is someone who not only has a vision but can make that vision a reality.

FMHA president Al Pixley is equally pleased to be able to offer a new form of hockey to local youngsters at a price that most families can afford. For more information about how to register for the upcoming ice hockey season, visit frontenachockey.ca or email Rob Edmunds (registrar for both the FMHA's ball and ice hockey) at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Edmunds encourages parents to register early.

Attention young artists! Are you 18 years old or younger and love to be creative and draw? The Frontenac Community Arena is sponsoring a logo design contest for their 40th Anniversary, which is coming up this year. We will have some cool prizes for the top three finalists. Best of all, the winning logo design will receive recognition and will be displayed at centre ice for the 2016/2017 season. To enter the contest, please email a copy of your drawing (one submission per person) by May 27, 2016 to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or mail it to: Frontenac Community Arena, 4299 Arena Boundary Rd. Godfrey, ON K0H 1T0.

Please include your name, address, phone number and email address on your entry.

Contestants must be residents of the Frontenacs (North, South, Central, Islands).

The finalists will be contacted in early June and the winner will be announced at a later date. www.frontenacarena.com

The Frontenac Fury Atom, Pewee 1 and 2, and Bantam 1 and 2 teams all traveled to Kanata to play in a season ending tournament last weekend, the 32nd annual Kanata House League tournament. The Atoms almost made it to the semi-finals of the tournament after a tough final round-robin game. The same fate befell the Pewee 2 team, but the Pewee 1 team advanced to the semi-finals, losing in a shootout that prevented them from playing for gold. Both Bantam teams not only advanced to the finals but they came away with the gold, which might be the first time in Fury history that two teams in the same division have won the same tournament. The girls will have a rest now and will celebrate the season at the League banquet in the coming weeks.  

The stands were overflowing for the Novice Rep Flyers’ third game of the all-Ontario Novice CC finals. The Flyers, coming off back-to-back 6-1 losses to the Sturgeon Lake Thunder in Fenelon Falls, were back home at the Frontenac Community Arena on March 18 for the “do or die” game 3 of the series.

The amazing turnout of fans fired up the seven and eight-year-old players, who were looking for a win on Friday night.

The event opened with Ava Ludlow performing Oh Canada. Then, each team introduced their players to the enthusiastic, mostly orange-clad crowd who cheered, blew horns, rang whistles and bells, and banged tambourines in support of their home team.

Early in the first period, the Flyers came on strong, scoring the first goal just eight minutes in. After a tripping penalty was called on the Flyers, their defense kept the puck put of their zone and prevented the Thunder from tying up the game. Some very exciting back and forth play resulted in the Thunder scoring their first goal with just 50 seconds left in the period. But the Flyers, not wanting to go to the dressing room with the score knotted at 1, scored again a mere 15 seconds later, winning back their lead.

Early in the second, the Thunder skated hard and tied up the game 2-2. Four and a half minutes later, they snuck another one by the Flyers’ posts and took the lead for the first time in the game at 3-2. The Thunder then poured on the offense, and though the Flyers' goalie made a number of great saves, the Thunder offense persisted and scored, doubling their lead to 4-2 with just over nine minutes left in the period.

The Flyers managed to keep possession of the puck, but with under a minute left, the Thunder scored their fifth, leaving the Flyers further behind and desperate to turn the game around in the final frame.

The Flyers got a few great shots early on in the third and took advantage of a number of chances their shots went wide. The Flyers then took their second penalty of the game but held the Thunder at bay, winning them a round of applause from the crowd. The Flyers’ goalie made another great glove save, and with six minutes left in the third, the crowd started chanting “Go Flyers Go!” The Thunder finally managed to get another in the net, taking a four-goal lead with just minutes remaining in the game and the Flyers’ chances fading.

The Flyers still fought hard right to the end never letting up until the final buzzer sounded. In the end, although the Thunder swept the series the Flyers received a standing ovation from the crowd for their valiant effort. An amazing first season for this new team.