The blog has been a bit of an afterthought this week as I've been hounding teacher/coaches to help me out with the various previews that have been running in The Waterloo Region Record this week.
For those who missed them, we had a District 8 boys basketball preview on Tuesday and a WCSSAA boys hockey preview on Wednesday.
The WCSSAA girls hockey preview will run on Thursday with the WCSSAA boys basketball preview to run on Friday.
* * *
It was great to see the Monsignor Doyle Mustangs take to the ice on Tuesday for their second-ever WCSSAA boys hockey game.
The Mustangs gave it all they had in a hard-fought 2-2 tie with the Cameron Heights Gaels.
Word around Galt Arena Gardens was that Doyle principal Chris Woodcroft deserves huge props for the establishment of girls and boys hockey teams there.
Mustangs goalie MacKenzie Weibe won't much care for the photo of him giving up a second-period goal to Cameron's Ryan Chambers, but at least he looked good in the sharp, new uniforms.
Speaking of sharp, Mustangs captain Austin Puim figured his team had its work cut out for it as soon as the boys took to the ice against the Forest Heights Trojans last week.
"You could tell just by looking at them that they were going to be good . . . they had their names on the back of their jerseys," he said.
The Trojans won the game 5-0.
* * *
Former St. Mary's student Lukas Balkovech has been selected to represente Canada on the national rugby sevens team in Dubai this Friday and will continue on with the team to South Africa.
Here's a copy of a 'postcard' written by Balkovech on the Rugby Canada website:
Hi Everyone,
We’ve safely touched down in Dubai and are settling in quite nicely. Last night, after a day of long, yet very comfortable travel, we had a quick bite to eat and headed off for some well needed rest.
On Monday morning, we departed for our first training session to shake the travel out of our legs and adapt to the very hot climate. Overall, it was a great success. It felt fantastic to get a little bit of a run around in and put pieces of the team’s systems together. So far, spirits are high, and we all look forward to the rest of the week’s trainings and scrimmages before the competition begins on Friday.
Dubai is certainly a beautiful and interesting city. For many on the team, it is their first time here and there is so much to take in. The hospitality, residence, food and facilities are amazing. We couldn’t ask to be treated any better. Our personal team liaison and other tournament volunteers have made sure we are well looked after and comfortable.
Looking ahead to the rest of the week, we have more training sessions and scrimmages with other teams in the competition, which will greatly benefit our performance come game day. The pieces will fall into place and we are looking to putting on some strong performances in our pool with Australia, Scotland and Wales.
To all of our family, friends, and fans back home, we thank you for your continuing support of the program. Expect some great rugby from the team both in this competition and next weekend in Port Elizabeth, South Africa!
Sincerely,
Lukas Balkovec
Thanks to St. Mary's teacher Tom Mandich for the heads up.
* * *
With the arrival of the winter seasons, please keep in mind that I'll resurrect the weekly top-10 list of outstanding performances. Contact me at mbryson@therecord.com with nominations.
And once again, submissions are particulary needed from volleyball coaches and players as stats aren't reported to the WCSSAA or D8 websites.
