Seth's thoughts

Election Day

2011-05-02T11:35:00.002-04:00

Today's the day to finally put the Liberals out to pass and give Stephen Harper his much deserved Majority Government that Harper has been asking for. I want to remind Canadians when you go to cast your ballot think long and hard about where you place your ballot. What kind of Canada do you want? Do you want a Canada run by Jack Layton and the loony left where government handouts rule the day or do you want a Canada run by Stephen Harper and his firm hand on the economy and let him stay the course as Canada continues the recovery. If you are seriously are looking at Jack Layton I ask you to seriously look at your local NDP canidate if they were to win and become the governing party do they have the competence to do a job as a Cabinet Minister? If you look honestly at the NDP roster of Candidates how many of them would you trust running the show? it's easy to play armchair quarterback when you never have had to hold power and actually make the tough decisions? makes one just a tad nervous.
Now get out and vote! The future of your country depends on it!

Interesting news from the Ingersoll School closings...

2011-04-15T02:00:00.002-04:00

Looks like the Thames Valley School Board didn't quite figure it out when they were doing there calculations on enrollment when they went thru the Ingersoll ARC. First off the new school in North Ingersoll won't be ready in time for the first day in September, the board is blaming the weather and that pesky little Ontario Municipal Board hearing that Ingersoll resident Steve Caskey lanched and then later dropped, delaying it just long enough so it won't be ready till January 2012. The other interesting gaffe that has recently come out is that when it was talked about in the ARC every school in Ingersoll would have all day every day kindergarten, well not so fast my friend turns out that Harris Heights and Princess Ann will be offering the programs and the North Ingersoll school will not, enrollment numbers for the Kindergarten has exceeded the numbers that the Board had projected and seems now there won't be enough space to offer it. The other problem is there is nothing they can do to fix the problem untill after this school year is over, TVDSB can't put a portable up with it being a new school til after the first year. As much as the board likes to think that their projections are right maybe it's time for the people that come up with the numbers to be held accountable for what they say when it comes to the numbers they are projecting, because there is nothing worse than opening a new school only to find out the building will not beable to hold the school population. I know it'll turn out to be a painful lesson for them now but in the end they could be a little more accurate for next time.

Ingersoll Boundry Meeting

2010-11-13T05:37:00.002-05:00

There is one piece of news coming out of Ingersoll this week, they are holding a meeting Monday Nov 15th at VMS to discuss the boundary lines for the schools once the closures kick in. For the most part I think the boundary lines they have now are fine, with the exception of some of the old VMS area where it's closer for these kids to go to Harris Heights than it would be for them to go to Princess Anne. If you want to attend just to hear what they have to say or to raise some questions the meeting will take place at VMS at 7pm

Things are about to get mighty Interesting....

2010-11-13T05:10:00.002-05:00

Looks like the Norwich ARC is ready for a fight after they recommended keeping all 3 Norwich area elementary schools open. The Board wants to close the 3 and move them into the now defunct high school. Should make for a awful interesting meeting when they vote to close, hate to say it but the non Oxford Trustee's will most likely go along with what the board wants to do because it's not in their back yards so it's not their problems, Oxford Trustee Graham Hart who loves to go along with what the board says and will probably yet again go with what his constituents want and will probably vote to close the schools and I would imagine regardless of what Bill Mckinnon does it wont matter the Board will have gone against yet another ARC's recomendations and vote to close more schools in Norwich Township.
When the dust has settled and the outcome goes the way I think it's going to unfortunately go will someone then please tell me why the ARC process is relevant when good people volunteer their time to be on these committee's and put forth alot of hard work to come up with the recomendations that they do only to have the School Boards which supposedly value thier opinions go totally against what the ARC recomends. Problem is the whole ARC reeks of total BS and a waste of taxpayers time and money. It's time someone at the Ministry of Education figure that much out and either stop this way of deciding on School closures, or go back to the way it was before almagamation and eliminate these super boards that seem to favor urban a heck of alot more than rural areas.
After the release of Ontario's new Progress reports I think it's safe to say that my estimation last year when they announced to do away with fall report cards isn't to far off. They fail to really tell you the whole story and from Parents I have talked to seem awfully confusing. The comments sections have been pretty much limited to canned messages that don't tell you anything important that you really know. Here is a better idea, lets just eliminate the early progress reports and just go to a parent-teacher conferences systems. The Teachers would be able to give you a much better picture of the areas of improvement that a student could use over anything in a progress report. Yet again Dalton another dumb idea and even more reason why the voters of Ontario should put you on the unemployment line come next October.

Same ol Same ol

2010-10-29T00:53:00.003-04:00

After Monday nights municipal elections it looks like The Thames Valley Board will look like it did before the election with the exception of one. Bill McKinnon replaces James Stewart in Oxford. Stewart didn't run figuring after the debacle of the Norwich High School closing he wasn't going to have a shot at winning. Unfortunately the other Oxford Trustee Graham Hart who also voted to close the High School in Norwich and also voted to close schools in Woodstock, Ingersoll, Sweaburg and Beachville, got reelected. Congrats voters in Oxford you have elected two lap dog trustees that will do anything the big wigs in London want them to do, even worse they use the tagline it's to better your childrens education.
The only real problem is that since almalgamation in 98 came along the big cities have bullied their way to get new schools and fancy upgrades at the expense of the rural areas all the while having trustees bullies into voting it in.
It's time some of these rural voters wake up before it's to late. With Hart and McKinnon you have voted in two yes men, not anywhere on their campaign info did they state that they would give the parents of Oxford a bigger voice, they did not say that they would be more accountable to the people they represent. Both of them painted rosy pictures of education and with McKinnon's campaign leaflet he imagined a pipe dream, In case you haven't noticed Bill, Auto Jobs are not coming back to Ingersoll and most of the new jobs that do come to Ingersoll or anywhere else in Oxford sure as hell won't be union like all your auto buddies that elected you to your seat and in the end the pipe dream that Thames Valley would love all the parents to think.

As for the newest ARC that is being done in Norwich. I think we all know how it's going to work out, the recently closed high school was deemed surplus which the board says they are trying to sell to the township of Norwich, meanwhile they keep their fingers crossed that Norwich Township mayor Donald Doan tells the board to fly a kite(which he should), then they can pull the once deemed surplused building off the market close every school in the township with the exception of East Oxford and house all the students from the schools in the old high school. The nice thing about the committee on the newest Norwich Arc has come prepared and I get the feeling that they are not about to play nice with the board on this one, Here's hoping they win out or someone other than the township buys the old highschool to put a little more egg on the boards face.

There is a way to fix all of this mess regarding closing schools unfortunately most trustees dont have the balls to do it. First off quite blaming the province, yes we know Dalton's liberals dont know their heads from their asses so blaming them wont get you anywhere. All I want is a trustee to stand up and say do we really need as much wastefull spending as there is. The first cut I would make would be the $500 that every parent council gets, they have enough of their own money they blow needlessly without another 500 to waste. Next step call every senior management type into to my office and have them explain what their job duties intail, seems to me that there is a awful lot of these type that end up making over $100 000 a year and really cant justify to many why they have their jobs. Next up have every board employee take a wage freeze, and each trustee take a decrease, I know they have a important job but the example they would show by taking a wage decrease would be applauded by the tax payer.

I know this is just my thoughts on the Thames Valley Board but these ideas could be implemented throughout the province when it come to how School Boards should be run and maybe 4 years from now some trustee that wants someone's vote will wake up and see the light before it's to late.

Update.....

2010-09-17T14:38:00.003-04:00

I haven't been on here in a dogs age. I did drop out of the trustee's race for this year, I do plan on running in 4 years for trustee, I'll use the next 4 years to gain more name recognition across Oxford County, I also plan on working with the parent council in my childrens school as they move through the new additions and merging of schools next September. Our Education system in Ontario needs ALOT of work and I believe that the Parents deserve to have their voice heard on their childrens education. I may have given up my right to represent the people of Oxford County this time around but I promise to be much more prepared to represent the voters in Oxford at the board table and make sure their voice is heard at the board level, something that seems to have been lost on the current crop of Trustees.

An Update

2010-03-27T13:26:00.002-04:00

I know it's been forever and a day since I've last posted on this blog but I have been doing some work on my other blog.
As most of you that followed this blog last year will know that I covered the Norwich Jr C Merchants during their playoff run, well never fear I am still covering their playoff run this year just on a different blog. The Blog is called the Merchant Report and can be found at http://themerchantreport.blogspot.com.

As for news on the Ingersoll ARC front, The TVDSB trustees voted 12-o in favor of the Boards recommendations to go ahead and close 4 schools and build a brand new one in North Ingersoll, which now has been confirmed to be at Garnett Elliot Park. It's really no big surprise that the trustees vote turned out to be the way it did. I am however surprised at how easy the supporters of the schools closing caved and went along with the board proposals as quick as they did. I still have my worries that meddling parent groups are going to totally screw up the new transition groups when these school populations have to merge. It will be interesting to see how the Parent Group's merge and how the ego's of some of the leaders get in the way of the betterment of their childrens schools.

As for the proposed new school they will be lucky to get everything approved in time as some of the residents of the Garnett Elliot Park area are protesting the site and are hoping the town of Ingersoll doesn't grant the zoning change. The protesting residents have their point in there message and I whole heartedly support them. As for the some Parent Group members that are saying these protesters should drop their concerns and support the board I say SHUT UP, You've had your say already in the ARC proposals, leave the protesters alone already.

A busy week upcoming.

2010-01-24T22:26:00.002-05:00

This week will be a great week to get some vital input from parents in the area as to what they think are big issues in education and what they would like to see from the board level. Parents input will be the key, It gives me a great indication of the direction they want to see the board go. The next few years are going to be big for the Thames Valley board, there is still a glutton of ARC's on the horizon and with the province's money issues it'll make for alot of agonizing decisions on what to do with school closings and just what they do with getting the funding for building new facilities.
I am also interested to hear what parents think of the boards technology plan where they plan to make wireless schools a key goal. I think it is a great idea and opens up the idea of even greater technology in the classroom. Just think it's only been in the last few years that Smart boards came on the scene and it makes me think that the possibilities are endless. At the last board meeting outgoing trustee James Stewart brought up a question asking how far along was the possibilities of textbooks on computers, it would be a great idea, my only concern would be the cost of implementing the idea. Let's embrace the new technologies that are available to enhance the education of our students.

It's Official!

2010-01-10T19:18:00.003-05:00

Friday afternoon, 4:17 to be exact I officialy filed my nomination papers to run in this falls municipal election for Thames Valley District School Board trustee.

It'll be a new experience for me but I'm ready for it. I believe that parents deserve a bigger voice at the Board level and they also deserve more accountability from their Trustee's. Our Childrens education is important and the future of their education should be of the upmost importance of the Board. We need to stop the onslaught of school closures, rural schools are just as important as urban schools and that point should not be lost on the school board. I believe that more focus needs to be spent on improving students overall education, more emphasis should be made in teacher's continuing training and education to improve their skills to better improve the overall education experience for students.

I will work hard for you the parents, I will listen to your concerns and ideas on how to improve your childrens education, I will work hard to make Parents voice heard at the Board level. I will work hard to ensure continuing improvements in Education across the School Board. I will work for greater accountability amongst Trustees on the board, every vote would become a recorded vote so you know exactly how they voted on the issue. I will also work hard to bring more transperancy to the process.

Together we can change the way we look at your childrens education and put more voice back where it belongs with you THE PARENT!

On Oct 25th vote for change in Oxford vote ALLEN for trustee.

Another Blunder from Dalton

2010-01-03T19:11:00.002-05:00

It's been widely reported over the last few weeks that Dalton McGuinty plans on eliminating the Fall report cards for elementary schools next year and replacing them with progress reports. It's a well known fact that the Teachers unions have been advocating for years to get rid of them. They say it takes too much time and are too early in the year, That's bull as far as I am concerned. As a parent I want to know early in the year if my kid is having difficulties with his grades, sure progress reports have value to them but they don't really tell you what you need to know. If the first reports with actual grades don't come out until January it very well could be too late for alot of students to turn things around.

Eliminating the early reports seems to give the thought of schools and school boards bringing in a no fail approach to education which is rather alarming. I believe that more accountability needs to be placed on Teachers and instead of hearing about school boards getting money given to them for resources maybe it's time to spend the money on upgrading Teacher Training. Unfortunately as long as Dalton' Liberals are in charge we better be prepared for a dumming down of our children's education.

Selling off Ontario's schools to the highest bidder?

2009-12-29T21:37:00.003-05:00

A News out of London had an interesting piece on two rural schools in Midwestern Ontario that are on the chopping block. Zurich Public School and Hensall Public School. The Avon Maitland is using the usual crutch of falling enrollment. The Numbers do show declining enrollment for the two schools, however these schools are in small rural communities and according to the residents in these towns the school is lifeline of the communities. It also brings up a question, Is the province trying to kill off rural schools? Other school boards in the province have done their best at doing so. It also begs the question, How far ahead can school boards predict and plan for future enrolment,. Gil Owens a planner for the Thames Valley District School Board said they plan for 5 years ahead during the ARC Review for Ingersoll. Lets say that all the School boards have that same planning process, which begs the question do these planners ever ask themselves what happens if there happens to be a big surge in enrollment 7 or 8 years down the road. At the current rate of planning at 5 years it is possible in 7 to 10 years they are asking themselves why did they close schools and how do we deal with a capacity issue. There is one solution to all of this mess. Fix the Funding formula, it's flawed. There are area's in education that they could find room to cut to beable to put money into the funding formula.

I think there needs to be a moritirium on school closings untill the government gets the funding formula fixed. There also needs to be a mindset of before they close a school lets make sure 7 to 10 years down the road they wont have a moment of capacity crunch because they didn't plan on having a rising enrollment and a capacity crunch.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T18:48:00.002-05:00

Wishing All the readers of my blog a Merry Christmas and all the best in 2010.
I thank each and every one of you that has taken time out of your busy lives to read my musings no matter how small they seem.

Thank You
Seth

PS- To all the democrats in the senate that voted for the healthcare bill may you find a lump of coal in your stocking this year from Santa and a earful from your angry constituents.

Ontario- FOR SALE

2009-12-16T22:18:00.003-05:00

Welcome to the have not province of Ontario where apparently everything is for sale, the LCBO, Hydro One, OLG and well whatever else Dalton and his minions at Queens Park can think of. Oddly enough back in the days of Mike Harris' government it was Dalton McGuinty who was against Privatization when Mike Harris government sold off Public Assets, funny how things change when you've spent this province into financial oblivion eh Dalton? Personally If I were Dalton's Liberals I'd be hanging on to the OLG and the LCBO because of the revenue that they are able to generate. And who is to say that the Liberals can be trusted with the money they'd get for selling off Public Assets, it's not as if they have been fiscally responsible with the public purse. I would however applaud the Liberals if they sold off the Service plazas along the 400 series highways.

ARC 13 Update

Last night the Thames Valley District School Board's Senior administration gave thier report to the 68 recomendations and through their report managed to cut down the recomendations to a mere handful as the majority of the recomendations were detailed to planning commitees that look after closing and opening schools. The big unknown is still the boundaty lines once this process is done. The Public will have a chance to speak before the board on Feb 23rd in London and the Trustees will get to vote on March 9th. If I'm a betting man I'm betting that the Trustees will go along with what the administration wanted all along.

A few thoughts on a Sunday

2009-12-06T16:33:00.002-05:00

Just a few things that I'd like to bring up this great Sunday afternoon.

Saw a blurb this morning on US cable network that some US Congress members want to create a bill forcing the NCAA to have a playoff system put in place in College football. I guess they don't have bigger fish to fry and you would think that there is nothing more important than that? I wonder if thats the hope and change that Obama voters were hoping for. I could think of a few things that are more important than that.

http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/734749 According this article in the Toronto Star seems like some Liberal MP's are getting antsy with Iggy's leadership with the HST vote last week. Dumping Iggy might please some Liberals but really they would be wise to let him have one election before they cast him aside. The Liberals that want Bob Rae in charge I must ask you REALLY? Untill Dalton came along it is safe to say that Rae was the worst Premier that Ontario ever had. My advice to the Liberals, Think long and hard before you guys decide to dispose of Iggy.

My Intentions in 2010.

2009-12-05T17:25:00.003-05:00

Let me be honest with you all. I have seriously thought about running for public office now for a long time, and have finally decided that now is the time to finally run. I am unofficially announcing that I am going to run for School Board Trustee for the County of Oxford. in the 2010 Municipal elections. I believe that the time is right. We need more accountability from our Trustees and the constituents of Oxford deserve to have their voices heard at the board level. As your next trustee I would make sure that your voice is heard, that your concerns are heard and that you are made to feel that I want to hear your concerns and to my best to come up with a resolution to your concern. I also believe that Parents deserve a greater voice in their children's education. I plan on making parents voices count at the board level, too often that has not been the case with the current crop of trustees. It's time for a new voice with fresh ideas as a trustee on the board. Lets bring the Education of your children back to where it belongs YOU THE PARENT.

I will make a more formal announcement on my candidacy early in the New Year. It's going to be alot of work to get my name out thier but I believe that I am ready and willing to work hard to make sure that I am the next Trustee for Oxford County.

Stay Tuned.

If I were in charge of Ontario.

2009-11-26T00:00:00.003-05:00

If by chance one day the powers that be came to me and let me be in Charge of the Province of Ontario I would make plenty of changes and honestly make this province a better and more fiscal province.

1. Fix the Education system. First to go would be EQAQ tests. To many educators put way to much time into these tests and they take away from real teaching time. Secondly I would put a moritorium on School closures. Too many school boards are using school closings as a way to shut out small communities.

2. Introduce two tier healthcare. Lets be realistic here, our current healthcare system doesn't work and needs a desperate fix. Two tier healthcare would cut costs on our system, and would open up for profit healthcare for private clinics and doctors, It would also give current med school graduates an incentive to stay in Ontario to practise and it would give hospitals and clinics a chance to pay a competitive salary to those in the US.

3. Cut taxes, give tax incentives to attract new business to Ontario, Ontario has taxed our industries and small businesses to death they cant stay competitive. Cut taxes, give them a chance to grow. I would steal a page out of Steven Harper's book and cut the PST to 7 percent. I would also eliminate the red tape to business starting up in Ontario.

4. Privatize every highway side service plaza in the Province, I would sell them, the province doesn't need to be owning these plazas. They could make a fair bit of money off these properties when they would sell.

5. Cut back the salaries of all MPP's there is no reason why they voted themselves their last pay raise. Eliminate the HST, it's a waste and another tax grab for McGuinty.

6. Eliminate Speed Limiters on Commercial Vehicles- It's been proven that Speeding Trucks are not the problems on our highways yet our wonderful Liberal government bought it hook line and sinker from OTA president David Bradley who brought up Speed Limiters to in his eyes level the playing field which was also a line of bull.

This Province used to be a have province, eversince Dalton has took over he has slowly destroyed this province with scandal after scandal, and tax after tax. In 2011 lets wake up and give Dalton his walking papers. Lets make Ontario great again.

Buzz Hargrove would be proud of you Dolton.

2009-11-15T17:24:00.002-05:00

Well well well. With the Drive Test strike entering week 1000 and the residents in London about to be shut out of public transit come tommorow morning causing havoc to many students a people that rely on public transit. Meanwhile Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty who hasn't met a union he didn't like seems unwilling to bring up back to work legislation for the DriveTest strike causing problems for people currently with licenses that need renewing and one's that need road tests i.e. AZ road tests so that these should be newly minted drivers can go to work and GET OFF OF E.I, And I'm willing to bet that no matter how long the transit strike in London goes on Dalton won't care. Yep Buzz Hargrove would be proud of you Dalton. Here's hoping that the voters of Ontario wisen up and come Oct 2011 they send you packing. You've made a big enough mess as is.

ARC 13 a.k.a the biggest waste of taxpayer money and time!

2009-11-07T00:59:00.004-05:00

I brought this up when this ARC started in January about the whole thing is a crock, and 11 months later I think I'm pretty close on my assessment. If they really wanted a true discussion on what to do with the schools lets have a PUBLIC forum and let everyone have a say. The current system doesn't allow for that, instead the recommendations put forward at the end of this were put their by Parent Council EXECUTIVE members that had their own personal agendas in putting forth these recommendations and don't truly give a DAMN what the majority of parents wanted in the end. In the end it's the Taxpayer that gets screwed in the end. I hope that in the end the TVDSB does what they have done in every other ARC and ignore the recommendations and go with the one's they presented at the beginning. My biggest problem with the ARC all along was that the only ones that had any say in the end were overzealous Parent group people that DID NOT poll their school community to see what they thought, on top of that the recommendations that they did put forth will add up to much more cost than the cost of closing the 4 schools, again who do they think is going to pay for this. This whole ARC just reeks of self interest and secrecy from the public and in my opinion that's the true crime of the matter.

There are changes that Desperately need to be implemented in the way they decide to close schools.

1. Eliminate the use of ARC's from the process outside of the community reps the only people on these committee's are self serving and doesn't give a DAMN what the rest of the parents in their school community want. I have proof of this claim, just ask I will tell.

2. Make it mandatory that OPEN public meetings are held at EACH school, eliminate Parent Councils from running the meetings. Have a vote on the recommendations that are brought forth during the meeting, and that the only ones that go forward are ones that passed a PUBLIC vote.

3. Dissolve the current school boards and return to the school boards from pre-amalgamation, which would add trustees from your LOCAL area and Eliminate the current system of voting where there are only 2 voting from the area and the rest are from out of the local area.

In the end there are some of you that think that I'm spewing out sour grapes, I can assure you I am not the school that my kids attend is one of the one's in the study that will get an addition. I feel that the Thames Valley District School Board has had a vendetta against schools outside of London, just look at the facts. They have built plenty of new schools within London and only a handful in the rural area while closing way to many schools. I have a even better idea, the next school board elections are next year, let's hold these trustees accountable and vote EVERY one of them out. I can think of one in my area that should have been run out of office years ago. Lets put new faces and new ideas on the board of trustees and lets keep them accountable each and every one of them. If they know they are going to have their feet held to the fire then they will soon learn that when their constituents say something they better damn well listen.

The public input meeting on the current recommendations will be held at Princess Elizabeth Public Schools in Ingersoll on November 18th at 7pm, to get your name on the list to speak at the meeting email Susan Van Aarsen at s.vanaarsen@tvdsb.on.ca A group will be granted 10 minutes to present and an individual will be given 5 minutes. I urge people to come out and see what the future education of your kids will look like if these people get their way, It's time to get off the sidelines people and time to get involved what better time than now to start.

To view the recommendations put forth by the ARC just click on the title of the blog.

Niagara Champs 2009-10 Preview

2009-09-19T16:31:00.004-04:00

As Norwich Merchants opened up thier 2009-10 campaign against the Paris Mounties last night in Norwich they looked alot different then when we last saw them in April. Norwich did lose some key memebers of thier 2009 Niagara Championship team. Gone are Sean McLeod, Dan O'Hearn, Ryan Devos, Kevin Keuhl who is now playing in Brantford, Cody Vinnai who is in Stratford. Also not returning are Ryan Baetz, Dan Graul and Kris Krouluski. There were also changes made with the coaching staff when Dave Smith stepped down after last season. Chad Paton was brought into replace him. They also added some Jr B players to fill the void. On the Blueline Brett Green was brought in from Guelph. Ben Pearson was brought in from Cambridge, up front they added Addison Fisher from Cambridge and Curtis Logan from St. Marys. In goal they brought in Matt Coutts from St. Thomas.

They should be more physical as a team both on the bluelineand up front they should have enought talent to get back to the Niagara Finals. It should be a fun year and this blogger will bring you all the highlights.

Early Season thoughts from the Tri-County League

2009-05-13T18:51:00.002-04:00

It's early, most teams have 3 to 4 games into the season but here is my thoughts on the start of the season.

Harwood Corners 4-0: They have always been in the top half of the league and thats probably where they will finish, but have been a early surprise.

Innerkip Eagles 3-0: Defending Champs will be hard to beat this year, pounded Woodstock 12-0 just to show that they will not give up thier crown easily.

Simcoe Red Devils 2-0: The reincarnated version of the Simcoe Jrs from 2 years ago should be on the A side come playoff time.

Ayr Vics 2-1: Pitching will be thier make or brake spot for the year after Dwayne Oberle retired. Brad Thomson will be relied upon heavily.

Woodstock Kelseys 2-1: Looking to get back to the top of the league after losing in the finals to Innerkip last year.

Hickson Heat 2-2: The offence has been a early surprise and they will need it to keep up, if not they are in for a long year cause the pitching leaves much to be desired.

Ingersoll Masters 1-1: Last years B champs will end up on the B side by the end of the year.

Straffordville Express 1-1: The question will be how far can Jason Nesbitt carry this team?

Burgessville Bulls 1-2: If Neil MacDonald has a good year they will be fine.

Innerkip Jrs 1-3: Hitting won't be the problem, pitching will.

Mt. Elgin Mets 1-3: The loss of Dave Rooke will hurt this team, only having 2 pitchers will be thier downfall.

Norwich Storm 1-3: A dissapointing start, but should be fine after adding Luke Raymer to thier pitching staff.

Ingersoll Crush 0-2: Another team off to a slow start but should be fine with Adam Martin back again.

Pt. Burwell Lakers 0-2: should be another long year in the Port. will be on the B side come playoff time.

The Woodstock Kelseys are hosting thier annual tournament this weekend at Southside Park. Action starts at 11 on both Saturday and Sunday with the playoffs on Monday.

Right Back In It.

2009-04-11T01:13:00.002-04:00

It may have took till the second overtime to finally get the winner but the Norwich Merchants got back into their Schmalz Cup Semi Final series with Essex with a 2-1 win. Todd Kemp scored the winner at 27:59 of overtime as he tipped in a Chad Barclay pass over a sprawled Essex goalie Chris Zelko. Dan Beacon's shorthanded goal at 5:50 of the third to tie the game, Chad Barclay score Norwich's first goal in the first period. Cody Vinnai made 28 saves in the win. Game 4 goes Saturday night in Essex, game time is 7:oo.

Not over yet

2009-04-06T20:15:00.002-04:00

The Essex 73's are up 2-0 in thier Schmalz Cup Semi Finals series with Norwich after a 4-3 win yesterday afternoon. In alot of people's minds Norwich is done, but I'll give you reasons why I say don't lose faith folks. Norwich has game 3 at home Friday night, they'll come out motivated wanting to get back in this series. Essex goalie Brenden Robitaille who didn't play in game 2 is reportedly out for the rest of the series with a blown out knee, and backup goalie Chris Zelko isn't that great and got lucky alot in game 2. Sure Essex is a good team but they are not invincible, they can be beaten and for the better part in game 2 Norwich was the better team, they can play with these guys, they've both been 1 goal games if you don't count the empty netter that Essex got in game 1. All they Norwich has to do is believe that they can win Friday night and anything can happen. Just have to believe folks.

Ugh.....

2009-04-04T13:38:00.002-04:00

If not for referee Greg Campbell being a homer referee last night, perhaps Norwich would have had a better outcome than thier 3-1 loss in Essex last night. Both Essex goals were direct results of horrible penalty calls against Norwich. I would have thought that the OHA could find a referee that doesn't live in Essex or has relatives on the Essex coaching staff for a ONTARIO SEMI FINAL SERIES GAME!, it's not like there are any Jr B teams still playing down there. No wonder Essex is 28-0 in thier barn( yes literally a barn) when it seems like the ref is in thier back pocket.

Then There Were Four

2009-04-01T21:12:00.003-04:00

Thier are now Four teams left to battle it out for the Schmalz Cup after Amherstview defeated Uxbridge last night. It now sets up the Semi Finals which both start Friday night.

Norwich Merchants vs Essex 73's

Regular Season Record:
Norwich 24-7-5, 1st in Niagara West, Niagara League Champs.
Essex 39-0-1, 1st in Great Lakes South Division, Great Lakes League Champs

Playoff Record:
Norwich 12-4, 7-2 at home, 5-2 on road.
Essex 12-1, 7-0 at home, 5-1 on road.

Key Players:
Norwich
Chad Barclay 7-19-26
Sean McLeod 10-11-21
Cody Vinnai 12-4, 1.69 GAA, 92.4 SPCT, 3 SO

Essex
Mike Dobric 7-13-20
Tanner Gallant 7-12-19
Brendan Robitaille 10-1, 2.19 GAA, 89.6, 2 SO

Series Outlook:
Look for Norwich to continue what they have done all during this playoff run, shut down the other teams best line, Norwich will be the best defensive team that Essex has played all year. Essex has a good defence as well but hasn't looked as air tight as it did during the regular season.

Norwich will win this series in 7 games.

Alliston Hornets vs Amherstview Jets

Regular Season:
Alliston Hornets 40-2, 1st in Georgian Mid Ontario League, Georgian Mid Ontario Champs.
Amherstview Jets 29-8-3, 2nd in Empire B League, Empire B League Champs

Playoff Record:
Alliston 12-2, 6-1 at home, 6-1 on the road.
Amherstview 12-3, 5-2 at home, 7-1 on the road.

Key Players:
Alliston
Kyle McDowell 5-18-23
Ryan Algar 8-14-22
Breton MacKinnon 6-2, 2.21, 90.2, 1 SO
Troy Doswell 6-0, 3.43, 85.6

Amherstview
Marshall Hubband 11-9-20
Brent Gilmour 6-12-18
Brennan Hoy 6-2, 3.38, 90.0
Zach Desousa 6-1, 2.66, 92.5, 1 SO

Series Outlook:

Alliston easily disposed of the Western League Champs Walkerton in 4 games, while Amherstview took 6 games to dispose of Uxbridge. Alliston has the better defence, and is better offensively. Amherstview pulled off a upset against Napanee to win the Empire League so don;t count them out.

Alliston in 6

Alliston-Amherstview Schedule

Game 1- Friday April 3 Amherstview at Alliston 7:30 pm
Game 2- Sunday April 3 Alliston at Amherstview 4:00 pm

Norwich-Essex series schedule

2009-03-31T17:49:00.002-04:00

Game 1- April 3 Norwich at Essex 7:30 pm
Game 2- April 5 Essex at Norwich 2:00 pm
Game 3- April 10 Essex at Norwich 8:00 pm
Game 4- April 11 Norwich at Essex 7:00 pm
Game 5- April 13 Essex at Norwich 7:00 pm
Game 6- April 15 Norwich at Essex 7:30 pm
Game 7- April 17 Essex at Norwich 8:00 pm

NIAGARA CHAMPIONS!!!

2009-03-29T02:57:00.003-04:00

For the first time in 22 years the Norwich Merchants are Niagara District Champions after defeating Grimsby 3-0 Saturday night to win the Niagara Final in 5 games.

Norwich showed from the start of the game that they wanted to end this series Saturday night. They played smothering defence everytime Grimsby touched the puck, they hit Grimsby every chance they had and they flat outworked them. Sean McLeod opened the scoring on a powerplay goal 2:40 into the first period. Bryan Phillips would put Norwich up 2-0 with 27 seconds left in the first period when his wrist shot went off of Mike Tardif's glove and into the net. Norwich outshot Grimsby in the first 10-6.

Todd Kemp would put the nail in Grimsby's coffin 3:22 into the second scoring into a half open net. The rest of the period Grimsby tried to get any kind of momentum going but couldn't getting outshot 14-3.

The Third period was a lot like the second where Grimsby couldn't get anything going as Norwich outshot them 8-3 for the period and 32-12 for the game. Norwich goalie Cody Vinnai picked up his 3rd shutout of the playoffs while upping his record to 12-4.

Up next for Norwich is Schmalz Cup Semifinals against the Essex 73's that will start sometime next weekend. When the Schedule becomes available it will be posted on the blog. Essex won the Great Lakes League defeating the Dresden Kings in four straight games.

One to go!!!

2009-03-28T00:12:00.002-04:00

The Norwich Merchants are one win away from a Niagara league title after winning game four 4-3. Game 5 goes in Norwich Saturday night at 7:30.

Grimsby opened the scoring when Steve Manojovik would score a powerplay goal at 10:52. Norwich would tie at 13:23 on one of the more uglier goals you will ever see. Dan O'Hearn's pointshot would go wide of the net but would bounce off of the dasher board and deflect into the net off of Grimsby goalie Brad Pope and into the net. Norwich would take a 2-1 lead at 19:10 and bang in a loose puck past Pope. Norwich would outshoot Grimsby in the period 13-11.

Grimsby would tie it midway into the second period when Kyle Fraser would hammer home a loose puck from the top of the circle past a screened Cody Vinnai. Grimsby would grab the lead on the power play at the 17 minute mark when Chris Lane's pointshot would find the inside of the post past a screened Vinnai. Chad Barclay would tie it for Norwich 29 seconds later when he banged in his own rebound. Norwich would score the winner two minutes later on the powerplay when Sean McLeod would drive to the front of the net and slide a backhander past Pope. The shots in the second period were 7-7.

Norwich spent the third period playing dump and chase while wearing down and frustrating the Grimsby team. Norwich out shot Grimsby in the third 8-3 and 28-21 for the game.

Looking ahead at Game 5 for Grimsby you have to wonder who Dave Brownridge will start in goal, Brad Pope looked human in Game 4 and gave up 3 softies, and Mike Tardif got yanked in Game 3. Not a spot I'd want to be in knowing that my season is on the line.

Halfway home.

2009-03-24T23:41:00.002-04:00

The Norwich Merchants are halfway to winning the Niagara Title after defeating the Grimsby Peach Kings 3-1 in game 3 of the Niagara League final. Norwich now leads the best of seven series 2-1 and host Game 4 Friday night.
Norwich controlled the play in the first period and at 13:54 Tom Brady would put Norwich up 1-0, Bryan Phillips and Ryan Baetz would get the assists on the goal. Norwich would outshoot Grimsby in the first period 13-2.
Grimsby would tie it up 1:25 into the second period on a Justin McCormack goal. Norwich would retake the lead at 10:18 when Todd Kemp would score making it 2-1, Bryan Phillips and Dan O'Hearn would get the assists on the goal. Two minutes layer at 13:20 Kris Krouluski would add the insurance goal making it 3-1, Chad Barclay and Sean McLeod would get assists on the goal. That goal also ended Grimsby goalie Mike Tardif's night. Norwich would outshoot Grimsby in the second 13-11.
Grimsby came out with some jump in the third as they outshot Norwich 11-8 but could not get one past Norwich goalie Cody Vinnai who made 23 saves on the night. Norwich held the shot advantage for the night 34-24 as Norwich outplayed Grimsby for the third straight game of this series.

Other series:
Essex leads the Great Lakes final 3-0 and has a chance to close out thier series with Dresden Wednesday night. Alliston leads Walkerton 2-0 with game 3 in Walkrton Thursday night. Uxbridge and Amherstview are tied at a game a piece with game 3 of that series Wednesday night in Amherstview.

Clean Sweep

2009-03-24T23:32:00.002-04:00

Hockey fans in Norwich have reason to smile tonight, first off the novice rep team won a OMHA championship beating Thamesford 3-0, then the Midget rep team also won a OMHA championship defeating Grand Valley 2-1. Congratulations to both teams for great seasons.

GAME NIGHT

2009-03-24T18:55:00.002-04:00

Tonight the Niagara Final continues in Grimsby as Norwich and Grimsby will try to get a leg up on each other. If you don't feel like driving to Grimsby for that game, come to Norwich to watch the Norwich midget rep team as they attempt to win the deciding game of the all Ontario Championship against Grand Valley at 8:15 pm

All Even

2009-03-22T20:46:00.002-04:00

Through 3 periods and overtime period the Grimsby Peach Kings and the Norwich Merchants had traded chances, a goal and some shoddy penalty calls. Then in the second overtime referee Tom Searle decided to play god, he whistled Norwich forward Chad Barclay for a marginal hooking call, and on the ensuing powerplay Josh Rogal scored the winner at 25:00 of overtime to give Grimsby the 2-1 win tying the best of seven series at a game a piece. It bothers me to no end that the OHA lets some of these referee's do playoff games, Norwich has played 12 playoff games on thier current run, out of the 12 games only 3 of them have had competent reffing. Prior to the Barclay call in the second overtime, Searle had whistled Norwich for 2 other marginal penalties in the first overtime. It would be nice to let the players decide a game of that magnitude and not the referee, I'm sure that Norwich head coach Dave Smith probably can't stop thinking he got screwed today and quite honestly I can't blame him. Lets hope the OHA can find a compentent ref for Game 3 in Grimsby Tuesday night, but I somehow doubt it, it's been like this for years why would they want it to change now.

GO MERCHANTS GO

Norwich-Grimsby Schedule

2009-03-21T22:24:00.002-04:00

Here is the rest of the Merchants-Peach Kings series.

Game 2- Sunday March 22 at Norwich 2:00 pm

Game 3- Tuesday March 24 at Grimsby 7:30 pm

Game 4- Friday March 27 at Norwich 8:00pm

Game 5- Saturday March 28 at Norwich 7:30 pm

Game 6- Sunday March 29 at Grimsby 7:30 pm

Game 7- Wednesday April 1 at Norwich 7:30 pm

Norwich takes early series lead.

2009-03-21T13:05:00.003-04:00

Norwich has accomplished yet another playoff feat in these 2009 playoffs, they won the first game of the Niagara Final in Grimsby last night 3-2. Norwich now leads the Niagara Final 1 game to none and play game 2 in Norwich Sunday afternoon at 2.

The first period started out slowly while Norwich found their skating legs as the first period rolled along the better Norwich played, The first perod would end up scoreless. Grimsby held a 9-4 shot advantage.

Norwich came out in the second with a lot more jump and would score the opening goal of the night at 3:21 on the powerplay when Tom Brady deflected a Bryan Phillips pointshot past Grimsby goalie Mike Tardif. Less than 3 minutes later Chad Barclay would grab a loose puck in the nuetral zone and with a head of steam roof one over Tardif's glove hand grabbing a 2-0 lead.
Grimsby would break Cody Vinnai's shutout streak at 11:48 when Josh Rogal would score on a wrist shot up high making it 2-1. Norwich would restore thier 2 goal lead when Kris Krouluski would score on the powerplay at 18:58. Norwich would outshoot Grimsby 14-12 in the second period.

The third period was a more defensive period as Norwich played dump and chase and most of Grimsby's shots were from long range as Norwich played tight defence in front of Cody Vinnai.
Grimsby would add a powerplay goal with 48 seconds left as he beat Cody Vinnai with a wrist shot. Norwich held Grimsby at bay after that not letting them get a shot away. Grimsby out shot Norwich in the third 9-5 and outshot them for the game 30-23.

Other Playoffs series: The Niagara League Final also doubles as the Schmaltz Cup quarterfinals, The Schmaltz Cup goes to the Ontario C Champion, in the three other quarterfinal Essex leads Dresden 2-0, that series is also the Great Lakes league final. Alliston who won the Georgian Bay league plays Walkerton who won the Western League that series starts tonight in Walkerton, and the last quarterfinal has Uxbridge who won the Central League playing Amherstview who won the Empire League that series opens up tonight in Amherstview.

HAIL TO THE VISTORS. 2008-2009 NIAGARA WEST CHAMPS NORWICH MERCHANTS

2009-03-15T14:37:00.002-04:00

For 35 minutes the outcome of Game 5 was in doubt until Ryan Devos scored to extend Norwich's lead to 4-2. From that point on it seemed like the Simcoe Storm knew their fate. And if the Devos goal wasn't enough Chad Barclay's seeing eye shot was the nail in the coffin on Simcoe's playoff run. Norwich would add 3 more before the end of the night to make it 8-2.

Norwich played this series with more determination and wanted it more than Simcoe did, and played better defensively than Simcoe. Norwich now awaits for the winner of the Dundas-Grimsby series, Grimsby leads the best of seven 3-2, game 6 goes tommorow night in Dundas.

The One that got away

2009-03-14T08:46:00.002-04:00

Up 1-0 going into the third last night only 20 minutes is what kept the Norwich Merchants away from wrapping up thier West Division Final against Simcoe, unfourtunately somone forgot to tell Simcoe how the plot was supposed to end. The stands packed full of fans ready to celebrate a division title at home. But Simcoe manned up and played like they wanted to win that third period more than Norwich did. Simcoe's Phil Bethune would tie it with 12 minutes left in the third, and with 2:54 to go Kris Purawec scored the winner. Simcoe tacked on 2 empty netters to finish up a 4-1 win. Simcoe goalie Kris McCoubrey stood on his head in the first period to keep Norwich at bay. Brian Phillips would finally break the goose egg four minutes into the second, that would be the only blemish on Mc Coubrey's night as he made 29 saves on the night.

Game 5 goes tonight in Norwich same senario as last night win at home in front of a packed house ready to celebrate a division title. Norwich needs to play much better tonight than they did last night, And treat tonight like a must win game you don't want to go back to Simcoe for a game 6.

Character Builder

2009-03-10T22:44:00.002-04:00

Down 4-0 12 minutes in it would have been easy to fold up the tent. But the Norwich Merchants had something to prove against the Simcoe Storm, they battled back to score 3 goals before the end of the first. I'm sure that during the first intermission Norwich coach Dave Smith gave his team a tongue lashing, it seemed to work. They spent the next two periods playing Merchant hockey and getting timely goaltending from Cody Vinnai. The Powerplay also kicked in tonight scoring 4 of thier 5 goals on the powerplay.
Simcoe has to be thinking that they blew it tonight, up 4 they quit playing hard and started to take stupid penalties Chris Marco was in the box for roughing after the whistle when Norwich's Kris Krouluski scored the winner with 2:33 to go sealing the deal on a 5-4 win and the nail in Simcoe's coffin, yes the Storm still have a game 4 Friday night to try to salvage a game but honestly deep down I'm sure they are thinking that right now they are lacking heart while Norwich is playing with all kinds of heart.
This series will be over Friday night, Simcoe can spend to thier hearts content, but it wont win them a championship, teamwork and heart does and right now Norwich has that on thier side.

One Up

2009-03-07T22:00:00.003-05:00

Last night the Norwich Merchants accomplished something against Simcoe that they hadn't done in a real long time, They won the opening game of the division final against Simcoe. Led by Kris Krouluski's 2 goals and 27 saves by Cody Vinnai, Norwich would grab a 3-0 lead into the third and eventually hang on to win 4-2.
As I had posted in my last blog I said that Simcoe's lack of goaltending would come back to haunt them and it did last night Kris McCoubrey was pulled after 3 goals, Chris Willis played out the rest of the night, which should make it interesting to see who Storm coach Brian Paton starts in Game 2 tommorow night in Simcoe.

Bring on the Storm.

2009-03-02T21:49:00.002-05:00

The Norwich Merchants cast aside Woodstock Saturday night in a 3-1 win. It now sets up the West Division against the Simcoe Storm. Simcoe defeated Norwich the last 3 times they met in the division finals the lst being in 2005. They met last season in the Division Semi Final last year where Norwich won in 5 games. The two teams split the season series 3 a piece as for this playoff series I give Norwich a slight advantage. Offensively Simcoe has the advantage with thier big line of Zane Nielly, Jordan Paton and Kris Purawec can light it up at will it seems but after that their depth up front becomes surprisingly thin although the addition of Cody Thornton at the trade deadline should help out up front. Norwich needs to get another line other than their big line of Chad Barclay, Sean McLeod and Kris Krouluski to start scoring. On the Blueline I give Norwich a big advantage they have a much more mobile unit than Simcoe and have more firepower from the blueline than Simcoe does. In goal the advantage goes to Norwich goalie Cody Vinnai over either Chris Willis or Kris McCubrey of the Storm, and After Vinnai's performance in the Woodstock series( 1.28 GAA, 94.3 save percentage) he'll be hard to beat. It should be a good series to watch, the rivalry between these two teams is still like it was the last time these two teams met in the finals three years ago. Norwich will take this series in 6 games. All the fun starts Friday night in Norwich.

RELIEVED

2009-02-28T00:25:00.005-05:00

If not for goalie Cody Vinnai perhaps the Norwich Merchants would have lost Friday night but thanks to him and Defenceman Kevin Kuehl who scored the game winner 15:42 of overtime to give Norwich a 2-1 win. Norwich now leads the best of seven series 3 games to 2 and can wrap the series up with a win Saturday night. Woodstock's Taylor Jones scored with just over 4 minutes left in the third to break thier 3 plus game scoreless streak in Norwich. Brian Phillips scored a powerplay goal late in the second giving Norwich a 1-0 lead.

Though the story of the night was the goalies Vinnai for Norwich and Woodstock's Alex Gegeny were terrific. Vinnai kept his team in the game in the second in third when Woodstock had a ton of chances. Gegeny was also terrific giving Woodstock a chance to win in OT making big save after big save. Vinnai ended the night with 28 saves, Gegeny had 49 saves in the loss.

Norwich's depth also proved to be to much for Woodstock to handle as Woodstock coach Wayne Maxner only played 2 lines while Norwich went with 3 lines in the overtime, Norwich slowly wore Woodstock down. It'll be interesting to see what Woodstock has left in the tank after tonight. Game 6 goes Saturday night in Woodstock starting at 7:30pm.

Also Congrats are in order to Norwich Forward Justin Bremner and his girlfriend Michelle Davis who gave birth to a healthy baby boy Thursday night.

The Great Choke Job...The Post Mortem of Game 4

2009-02-25T18:55:00.007-05:00

Up 3-1 going into the third period last night it looked like the Norwich Merchants were well on their way to grabbing a 3-1 series lead, Woodstock Renegade Forward Travis Horvath would have other ideas. Horvath scored 39 seconds into the third period cutting the lead to 3-2 and giving Woodstock life. For the majority of the third period it seemed as Woodstock had the Merchants on their heels and looking like they were playing not to lose. It seemed like they might get out of it with the win but with just under a minute left Woodstock called a timeout and lifted goalie Alex Gegeny in favour of a extra attacker, with 41 seconds left Horvath would bang in the tying goal past Norwich goalie Cody Vinnai. With everyone in the building thinking overtime Horvath again would have something to say about it racing in along the far boards and cutting in front of the Norwich net and wristing a shot past Vinnai with 11 seconds left to take a 4-3 lead. Al McEwin would add a empty netter in the dying seconds to seal the 5-3 shocker and set up Game 5 Friday night in Norwich.

I Hope Norwich coach Dave Smith can get his players to respond and play like they did in Game 3, I do however have to question a few of his moves in last nights game.

1. Why in the last minute up by a goal is the defence pairing of Kevin Keuhl and Dan O'Hearn are out on the ice, Nate Geerlinks and Dan Graul were their best pairing all night why not have them out there in the last minute, chances are Horvath doesn't get a chance to play hero if they were not out there.

2. Why change the lineup from Game 3, I would have left F Matt Brown in the lineup and kept Shayne Ross out of the lineup if it wasn't broke don't fix it.

Disappearing Act: Norwich Captain Ryan Baetz who last year during the playoffs was their leading scorer has looked invisible through the first four games only garnering an assist in last night loss.

Other Choke jobs: Last night wasn't the first time Norwich has had a collapse of that nature in the Dave Smith era. It has happened on 3 other occasions.

January 2 2009 vs Simcoe: Simcoe scores 3 goals in 15 seconds to overcome a 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead they would go onto win 5-3.

December 10 2006 at Simcoe: Simcoe scores 3 goals in 2:20 to overcome a 6-4 deficit to win 7-6.

February 3 2007 vs Simcoe: Simcoe scores 3 goals in 5:26 to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3.

Playoff Time is hear, Is there a better time of year.

2009-02-22T17:48:00.000-05:00

The second round of the Niagara West playoffs are underway, In the one Division Semi has the first place Norwich Merchants playing the fourth place Woodstock Renegades. The Merchants had a bye in the first round thanks to finshing first in the regular season. Woodstock defeated the New Hamburg Firebirds in 5 games.

Game 1-Wednesday February 18 at Norwich

Norwich 6, Woodstock 0

Norwich came out firing on all cylinders, Norwich would open the scoring with Chad Barclay beating Woodstock goalie Alex Gegeny four and a half minutes in. Two minutes later Barclay would score again, this time on the powerplay to make it 2-0 and send Gegeny to the bench in favor of Chris Lee who would hold of the Norwich attack untill the three minute mark of the second period when Sean McLeod would add another powerplay marker to make it 3-0. Steve Boyd would score the back breaking goal 10 minutes later when he blasted one over Lee's glove side to make it 4-0. Woodstock coach Wayne Maxner would put Gegeny back in to start the third period. Woodstock would spend the third period taking undisciplined penalties topped off with Maxner being given a bench penalty for chirping off to referee Kevin Morton. Norwich did tack on 2 more powerplay goals as Chad Barclay added his 3rd of the night and Kris Krolouski would round out the Norwich scoring. Cody Vinnai stopped 18 shots for his first career playoff shutout.

Game 2- Friday February 20th at Woodstock

Woodstock 2, Norwich 1

Woodstock came out with alot more jump in front of the home crowd, Norwich on the other hand looked flat and the defence couldn't seem to stop turning the puck over in thier own end. Craig Thompson would take advantage of a turnover and give Woodstock a early goal at 4:39 of the first. Then referee Kevin Umansky decided he would steal the spotlight making horrible call after horrible call against Norwich, giving Woodstock several 5 on 3 advantages and if Woodstock had any kind of powerplay could have easily added on to thier lead but thanks to some strong goaltending by Norwich goalie Cody Vinnai and some great work by the Merchants penalty killers Woodstocks lead was kept at 1-0. Before the end of the first Woodstock would take advantage of Norwich lackluster D as Kevin Lanni scored on a 2 on 1 after a nice feed from Travis Horvath to take a 2-0 lead. Woodstock had several more chances in the second period but were turned aside by Vinnai. Norwich would finally show signs of life in the third period they would get several chances to score but were turned aside by Woodstock goalie Chris Lee. At the Halfway mark of the third period Justin Bremner would bring Norwich within a goal on a wrister that beat Lee up high. The rest of the night Chris Lee would turn aside every Norwich shot as Woodstock would hang on to tie the best of seven series up at 1 with a 2-1 win.

Game 3- Saturday February 21 at Norwich

Norwich 3, Woodstock 0

Early on in this game physical play seemed to be the way this game would go, Powerplays would be the story of the night as Woodstock had several 5 0n 3's early but could not capitalize on them. Fortynine seconds into the second period Sean McLeod would break the ice putting Norwich on the board puting one past Woodstock goalie Chris Lee. Ten minutes later McLeod scored another beauty beating Lee high to go ahead 2-0. Tom Brady would fininsh of the scoring for Norwich on a goal mouth scramble with eight minutes left making it 3-0. Cody Vinnai picked up his second shutout of the series stopping 18 shots. It was the third straight game this year going back to the regular season that Woodstock has been shutout in Norwich and in 5 games in Norwich this year has only scored twice. Game 4 goes Tuesday night in Woodstock at 7:30.

Schedule for the remainder of this series:

Game 4- Tuesday February 24 at Woodstock 7:45pm

Game 5- Friday February 27 at Norwich 8:00pm

Game 6- Saturday February 28 at Woodstock 7:30pm

Game 7- Sunday March 1 at Norwich 7:30pm

The Other Niagara West Semi is Simcoe against Aylmer, Simcoe has won the first two games, the first one 8-6, and the second game last night 5-3. Game 3 goes tonight in Simcoe at 7.

Ontario ARC Comitees- A BIG WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY.....

2009-01-17T10:16:00.002-05:00

So the high priced suits in the Thames Valley School Board only months after going against the Accomodation Review Comitee in deciding to close the high school in Norwich, thier back at it again seeing how many people the can piss off in Ingersoll and Beachville by closing 3 schools in Ingersoll and closing the school in Beachville, and adding on to Harris Heights, and believe it or not actually building a new school in Ingersoll.
I went to the first meeting in Ingersoll and a few things actually got me thinking, First off the Education system needs a major overhaul, There are way to many people that work for the school board that do Sweet dick all, they could cut half the office people in the school boards. Less staff on payroll means more money for schools. Second, Go back to the old school boards that they had 10 years ago, I'm sure not every school board is run aimlessly by idiots, but In my kids school board Thames Valley they seem to only give a hoot about London, if you live out in the rural area too bad we'll close your school and send you to the city. If the school boards were the old ones, the rural schools would stand a fighting chance. I would get rid of ARC comitees altogether, they are a waste of time and money, why you ask?, well in every ARC comitee that TVDSB has ever done no matter what kind of recomendation has ever come up with the Trustees have always gone woth the original proposal was regardless of the ARC input sounds like a waste to me.

I have one more thing I would love to see outlawed in schools is student councils who are nothing more than popularity contests who are given way to much money to spend unwisely. Lets say a high school has 950 students, the fee that they have to pay in is 25 a student that works out to a total of 23 750. Would someone please explain to me why they need that much money, here's a thought lets rename it a School Improvement council, you have 3 reps from every grade for a total of twleve and the School's principal will oversee it and have veto power on on every decision reached by council so if there was a pointless item to spend money on it would never see the light of day, and I would throw a provison in that if there is any money left at the end of the year it would be paid back to the students who paid in, it would eliminate Student Councils sitting on the money at the end of the year. The group would be responsible for doling out the money on what improvements the school could use, i.e text books, school sports uniforms, sound equipment and things like that actual building improvementswould be the School boards responsibility thus also eliminating spending like the IDCI SC did one year dumping 12.ooo into a new gym floor that wasn't needed and another 2.000 into cover also not needed. I have put much thought into this idea and think it would work if given a chance to be implemented, and it would be a whole lot better than the brokrn system we have i place now.

Just leave Stephane, and take the other 2 idiots with you.

2008-12-03T22:08:00.002-05:00

I for one am hoping that Harper can put off parliament till January 27th when his government delivers the budget, It would be just enough time for some Liberal, NDP and Bloc MP's to get a earful from thier constituents on why they are acting like sore losers, my guess is that even though Dion, Layton, and Ducceppe all ruled out a coalition during the campaign it was a big LIE, They probably started talking about a coalition the moment Harper won, and would have tried this stunt regardless of what the Conservatives did. Ah maybe on second thought let this thing go to a confidence vote I bet there are a bunch of Liberals getting that really uncomfortable feeling right now and may end up absent for the vote. I also get the feeling that the next time thier is a election i get the feeling that it will be a Conservative Majority and Dion, Layton and Duceppe will have some splaining to do.

US election thoughts

2008-11-06T22:32:00.003-05:00

Well Congratulations America, You've out done yourselves, and four years from now I don't want to hear you complaining about your Messiah, because rememeber you were DUMB enough to listen to all the hype and cult worship and elected a MARXIST. I'm sorry folks but promising the people the world is not going to work, it can't the government will go bankrupt, and when you don't follow up with your promises that the people bought hook line and sinker, how do you tell them to trust you for four more years. It will be very interesting to see just how far he does go left and even more interesting to see how the electorate reacts in 2 years when the mid term elections roll around. As for 2012 the GOP will have to find a conservative candidate that will run on conservative principles, McCain was to much to the left, and was not the best candidate.My pick would be Mike Huckabee or Sarah Palin who got unfairly ripped by the left wing media. As for the GOP it's time to get back to Conservative Values, the last 8 years they spent like druken sailors and acted like Democrats, they only have themselves to blame.

Election night Post Mordem

2008-10-15T20:44:00.000-04:00

Well it's not what I had hoped for but hey the Conservatives are still in power and the Conservative guy in my riding won by a landslide. (Mckenzie). The Good news is the Conservatives gained 16 seats, and well the Libs lost 19, which should pretty much seal the casket on Stephane Dion's leadership of the Liberals, not that the the alternative choices are any better, Bob Rae no thanks you did one hell of a hatchet job to Ontario when you were in office in the early 90's, not a chance in hell that Ontarians would vote for you. Micheal Ingnatief no thanks as well, you are way to arrogant for my liking and quite frankly the fact that the only reason you left the states was to be a Star Candidate for Paul Martin and a shot for leadership. Gerard Kennedy thanks to you Dion won in 2006 so no thanks. Ken Dryden not a great choice but the best of this bunch.
As for the Greens I'm glad that they didn't win a seat as for Elizabeth May running against Peter Mckay in Nova Scotia was not a bright idea, but then when she and Dion were in kahoots they really didn't deserve a seat.
Jack Layton did well taking votes away from the Libs and gaining 7 seats, I can't see Captain Mustache getting more than 40 seats this is probably the peak for the party.

Election Bricks: CAW national leader Ken Luenza on 2 fronts, the first I'm glad that your anything but Harper campaign blew up in your face, funny how all the "Automotive ridings" went Blue exept for 2 in Windsor. And while we are at it your little comment about your hoping that the Opposition parties would form a coalition government to overthrow Harper, well excuse me you arrogant prick last I checked the auto plants and suppliers that have all closed down or layed off recently were all UNIONIZED, I think maybe the Unions high demands come contract times have led to the problems not Harper.

Election night thoughts

2008-10-14T20:59:00.000-04:00

9:00 PM EST- Half hour left to vote, hope like hell people in this country do the right thing and tell Dion and Layton to go take a hike, they are the wrong people for Canada.....If Green Party Leader Elizabeth May honestly thinks she has a shot at defeating Peter McKay in her riding, she's even more looney than I thought.
9:07- Gotta love all the left wing think tanks that these election coverage shows use....
9:22- God I Hate Dion apologists.... just admit he's weak dammit.
9:30-Closing Time, the Early returns from the Atlantic Provinces, Dion with the early lead but looks like they will lose at least three seats, So far so good for Mckay with a big lead over May....
9:51- Damn a Conservative Mionority, well maybe they are wrong....
10:03- McKenzie projected a winner in Oxford, looks like the NDP candidate might finish ahead of the Liberal candidate.
10:08- Nice to see CAW's golden boy Taras Natyshak get defeated in Essex shows that the Unions don't always get there way.
10:22- Conservatives sweep Alberta 28-0, Liberals look like they have lost votes in Ontario and I would imagine in alot of places in Canada.
10:35- If I'm a Conservative I'm doing everything I can to get those 2 or 3 independents on board they night just give them the magical 155.
10:47- Looks like Dion probably won't stand a chance of keeping the leadership of the Liberals....
10:57- No Greens get elected, wonder how much of a success Elizabeth May will say it was.
11:53- waiting for Dion to finally speak, wonder how he will spin the loss....

All Canidates meeting thoughts.

2008-10-08T23:31:00.000-04:00

Tonight they had the All Candidates for the Riding of Oxford in Woodstock, If I had walked in there as a undecided voter at the beginning of the night, I would have had the list knocked down to 2 candidates by the end of the night, Conservative Dave McKenzie and CHP candidate Shaun MacDonald they both came prepared knew thier parties platforms and were very well spoken, and thier parties platforms represent my views of this country. As for the rest of the candidates, get your facts right and know your platform that you are speaking on, The Liberals are pushing a BS greenshift plan and their candidate Martha Dennis couldn't remeber some of the points of the plan, If you want any undecided voter to really take you seriously learn the platform that your party plans on screwing the country into the ground with. As for Captain mustache's aka Jack Layton candidate Dianne Abbott sounded way to ditzy and also had to read out of the platform binder, again come prepared. As for the green party sorry I can't vote for their silly policies. Seriously though If I wasn't voting for the Conservatives I would seriously give a hard long look at the CHP party the only downfall to voting for them is that it seems like a wasted vote because really does anyone really think they got a chance in hell of ever getting elected. Next Tuesday Candians have a important choice you can vote to stay the course and know that Harper is a strong leader that is looking out for Canadians best interests or you can vote for Dion and his dumb little greenshift tax grab, and then really see how bad this country gets f'd up. Seriously folks the best thing would be a Harper majority really this country would be better for it.

Here is my prediction for how it will all shake out next Tuesday night,
Conservatives 185
Liberals 75
Bloq 30
NDP 18

So Far So good

2008-09-21T00:15:00.000-04:00

The Norwich Merchants are off to a 2-0 start after thumping Simcoe last night in the Mechants home opener 7-3, they followed that up by beating Aylmer in thier home opener 2-0. The Defence has been rather impressive in Aylmer holding the Spits to 13 shots for Cody Vinnai's first shutout of the season, The early surprises so far up front Ryan Baetz who has 6 assists and rookie Tom Brady followed up last nights four point night, by scoring again. Defenceman Todd Kemp has looked impressive so far in 2 games. They play again next Friday night in Norwich when they host the Paris Mounties.

Thoughts

2008-09-14T21:20:00.000-04:00

First off It does indeed look like the Salford Blacksox will play fastball in 2009 with 12 currently on the roster, I am still looking to add a few pitchers and a catcher, and at the time are still working on coaches I have one coach confirmed for sure and am still contacting a few more.

The Niagara District Junior C season starts Sept 19 and it's time for this blogger to preview and predict how I think the standings will shake out come the first of February.

1. Norwich Merchants- Last years division Champions just got alot stronger with adding Chad Barclay after 2 seasons away and adding his linemates from St. Thomas. They also added a stud dman and return thier league leading goaltending tandem of Justin Alyea and Cody Vinnai.

2. New Hamburg Firebirds- After a surprising season last year they return most of the team from last year and should be even better.

3. Simcoe Storm- If anything they will be much better defensively with Pat Lenehan starting from scratch this season. They won't be as lethal up front as they have in the past after losing Cam Sault.

4. Aylmer Spitfires- It will be a rebuilding year after losing most of thier scoring punch, they still have vetran keeper Brandon Rohrer back for another season which should be enough for a top 4 spot.

5. Woodstock Renegades- Another season of promise will turn out in dissapointment after losing goalie Matt Fallowfield to injury and losing several player to overage, it will be yet another up and down year. If Chris Lee bounces back from a awful year last year they might be a surprise this year.

6. Paris Mounties- Maybe this year they might be in position to battle for 5th spot, A new attitude by management and a whole new coaching staff may just be what this team sadly needs.

Team Building Part One.

2008-07-29T19:56:00.000-04:00

I think it's coming along quite well I am still working on lining up pitchers for next year, but the rest of the roster is coming along nicely. As for the coaching search it's still a work in progress. It's been a interesting expirience but I am confident the team will get off the ground. And if there is anyone that has coached before, let me know.

Ball, Ball and more Ball

2008-07-12T22:07:00.001-04:00

Well where to start, Those wonderful Mount Elgin Mets won't go 0 and 22 this year, they got thier first win last Sunday night by pounding on the Burgessville Bulls 9-2. Three nights prior to that they had to come from behind in the last inning just to beat the Oxford Pirates who happen to be a midget all star team. As for the Mets who now stand at 1-14 are a complete mess, thier starting shortstop has gone MIA since getting tossed in a loss to Ingersoll in mid June. They spend most nights with only 10 or 11 guys and to top it off a team that is supposed to be getting better seems to have regressed, If I'm the one running the team first thing I do at the end of the year is tell head coach Barry Irwin to take a hike and let Lee Hartnett run the team next year, Hartnett seems to know alot more about how to win then Irwin ever has or ever will.
As for other ball notes The Salford Blacksox look forward to making thier debut in the Tri-County fastball league next May a team that is bieng started up by this very blogger. I have the head coach in mind, now I just have to ask him. I have a idea in the kind of team I want, I want 3 or 4 throwers, one vetran pitcher at least, with 2 or 3 younger kids to learn off the vetran guy. Hopefully I can talk my brother into moving down this way when he gets done school in January, if he does he should be the starting shortstop and bat leadoff as for this fellow blogger I am the first baseman and will be perfect in the 7 or 8 hole, or at least it's worked out fine for me this season. Now the fun starts getting sponsors on board, getting the diamond details worked out and then off to scout some midget teams during thier playoff runs and try to get them on board. If you are interested in playing competetive fastball in 2009 let me know.

Thanks Ozzie and the Wings

2008-06-05T21:42:00.000-04:00

Last night was for me a great night of hockey and a celebration of a great season with Stanley being awarded to the Detroit Red Wings. The whole team played awesome throughout the playoff run, but my MVP is goalie Chris Osgood who was cast aside in 2001 after Hasek came to town and I seriously thought I'd never see Ozzie in a winged wheel again and with the way it had ended in 2001 getting beat out by LA in the first round was a sour way for Ozzie to leave town, and when in 2005 he resigned in Detroit I was thrilled that Ozzie was back and since his return to town he has been nothing short of excellent and when he was given the number 1 job in the first round against Nashville it seemed like the team relaxed and Ozzie gave them super goaltending as he backstopped them to the cup and as far as I'm concerned he is the best in the NHL and now has 3 cups to boot.

wish it were warmer

2008-05-19T17:33:00.000-04:00

You'd never know it isthe 19th of May by stepping outside today it felt alot like late October or early November, hopefully mother nature decides to warm up sooner than later.
Went and caught a couple games of the Woodstock tournament, and they were both excellent games and as usual really made me wish I was playing on a more competitive team but as I look at it this year is a way to stay playing fastball till next year when hopefully I'll be back in the tri-county league, although am still floating the idea of starting up a team although am looking at options of where to play out of, anyone in Salford or Thamesford that can let me know diamond rentals for either diamond to get back to me on a price.

Baseball and Government waste.

2008-05-12T12:59:00.000-04:00

Last night was the first action on the field for me as I started play in the Brantford Fastball League, I find that the pitching wasn't quite up to snuff and most of these pitchers in this league would get hammered in the tri-county league yes even by the offensively enemic Mount Elgin Mets. split the two games of the double header got the first hit out of the way in the first game, even got the first error of the year out of the way playing short. All things considered though it was great fun and can't wait till the next 2 games in 2 weeks, in the meantime I'll get my ball fix by helping my 5 year old sons team out as they prepare for thier league opener in a week.
If anyone of you are looking for some good fastball action the Woodstock Kelseys are having thier annual Fastball tournament in Southside park in Woodstock this long weekend action gets underway Saturday morning, it always seem to be a great tournament to watch and bring the family out to watch.
This morning I had to rewrite the AZ test to renew my license which is all fine and dandy but it bugs me when I have to go to 2 different offices to accomplish the task, one office to write the test and another office to actually renew the license seems like a waste to me but I guess the government likes to make things complicated.

The most wonderful time of the year

2008-03-27T20:55:00.000-04:00

Gotta love hockey this time of year, NHL playoff races heating up and playoffs in the junior ranks. I don't think I've ever really seen a playoff race this tight for as long as I have watched the NHL. Toronto will fall short again for the third straight year, time for the rebuild to begin there is only a handfull of players I would keep on the Leafs roster, Toskola, Kaberle, Tucker, Stajan and Steen. As for the rest of the teams chasing the 8th spot in the east, If Buffalo can't get the eighth then I'm hoping the Capitals can get in cause it would be fun to watch Ovechkin in the playoffs. In the West I'd love to see Edmonton get in, they have a ton of young guys that can play.

One Win away!!!!!!!!!

2008-03-16T16:04:00.000-04:00

The Norwich Merchants are a win away from winning the Niagara West Division for the second straight year after last night comefrom behind 4-3 overtime win in Aylmer to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the best of seven division final. Things looked good early on for Aylmer as they roared out to a 3-0 lead midway through the first period, Justin Aylea's night was done as Cody Vinnai was brought in to help stop the bleeding. Vinnai stopped all 20 shots he saw the rest of the way. Norwich would score before the end of the period to make it 3-1 after one period. Ryan Baetz scored a shorthanded goal in the second to make it 3-2 after two. With thirteen seocnds left in the third Aylmers resident dumbass and goon gets a roughing penalty and with 7 seconds left in the third Justin Bremner would tie the game at three and send it to OT. The overtime was a short one as Patrick Fergus would pot the winner 2:56 into the extra frame.
Big props go to Norwich backup goalie Cody Vinnai who spent majority of the playoffs as a afterthought having only seen action in mopup duty in game 2, bieng pressed into action early into last nights game and answering the bell. Honurable mention to Norwich Bench boss Dave Smith who has completely out coached Aylmer head coach Steve Thompson also known as Butterball who for the second year in a row.

Jr C Hockey playoffs

2008-03-15T12:13:00.000-04:00

So far in the Niagara West Finals there have been one close game and 2 games that well weren't so close. Norwich won game 3 last night with a 5-2 win over Aylmer which made up for thier 8-4 shellacking they suffered last week in game 2. Last night Norwich did exactly what they needed to do they came out and hit anything in sight in the first while roaring out to a 4-0 lead at the end of the first period sending Aylmer goalie Brandon Rohrer to the bench for the rest of the night. The second and third periods Norwich sat back and played dump and chase while frustratting the Aylmer forwards. Justin Aylea returned to form for the Merchants after having his worst outing of the year in game 2. Game 4 goes tonight in Aylmer. A Norwich win would give them a chance to finish out the series Sunday night.

Norwich-Aylmer Series preview

2008-03-03T23:03:00.000-05:00

As the Niagara West Division final starts up Wednesday night in Aylmer it's time for this blogger to preview this matchup which will be the fifth straight year that these two meet in the playoffs with Aylmer never having won.

Offence: Aylmer gets the edge in this category having scored 197 goals compared to Norwich's 158, Aylmer has had great out put from Rob Vanwyseberg, Graham Spriel, Jeff Gardner along with strong offenseve contributions from super pests Rob Gavey and Adam Vandepoele. Norwich's offence seemed to struggle at times and picked up in the playoffs as they were led by Bryan Phillips, Ryan Baetz and Ryan Devos as they averaged 5 goals a game in thier win over Simcoe.

Defence: Norwich gets the edge as a group over Aylmer. In my opinion the best group of Dmen that Norwich has had in a long time, Aylmer's D is prone to a lot of odd man rushes and tend to let thier opponents get alot of shots on net and a ton of scoring chances.

Goal: Norwich's rookie goalie Justin Alyea gets the edge over Aylmer's Brandon Rohrer. Alyea won every statistical category in the division except wins. Rohrer has always been considered Aylmers weak link and will continue to if Norwich wins again .

Aylmer finished first in the division by 2 points over Norwich and as was mentioned earlier Norwich has won the previous four playoff meetings and with Dave Smith behind the Norwich bench a fifth playoff win and a second straight division title should be within reach and a possible rematch with Grimsby in the Niagara final, Norwich takes this series in 6 hard fought games and wins the crown in front of the hometown fans.

Super Bowl Aftermatch, Parenoid Religious Righties

2008-02-05T17:58:00.000-05:00

Well as much as the Giants won the Super Bowl over the Patriots I have some dying questions that need to be asked that alot of the national pundits haven't.
1. Going for it on 4rth and 13? why not let Gostkowski kick a field goal it would have been a 48 yarder, if he makes it it makes the game 10-3 and instead of bieng down 3 at the end the game goes to OT.
2. What was with the playcalling at the end of the game 29 seconds left and three time outs and only needing to get within field goal range why not try 15-20 yard passes instead of three shots for the endzone.
3. Why not use Lawrence Marouney more, had they used the run on their Touchdown drive than chances are that the Giants don't have almost 3 minutes left on the clock.
Anyways enough of my ranting about the Patriots losing.

Today in the US is Super Tuesday and it's been quite entertaining listening to some of the conservatives talking doom and gloom if Mitt Romney doesn't win the Republican Ticket, in fact I think the best thing would be if John McCain win the Republican nomination, It would be music to my ears to listen to the religious righties have to pick two staunch democrats in either Obama or Hillary or a middle of the road McCain. Oh how James Dobson would scream gloom and doom to the future of the US to bad the religious righties can't figure it out that Bush has pissed the country into the ground for 8 years so I don't think another Bush type president would be in the US best interest

Super Bowl Sunday is here!!!!!

2008-02-03T16:58:00.000-05:00

Yes I can say that with a smile this year because the Patriots are playing in the game, and yes I won't be at home to watch the game, I'm off to the Pub in Woodstock to watch with football fans and root the Pats on to win thier 4rth Super Bowl in 7 years. My one complaint is the lame pregame show, they started showing it at noon and it seems like all they've shown is musical acts for the last two hours, quite lame and boring. Whatever hapened to breaking down teams and having analysis by the pregame show experts I guess they figure that won't bring in ratings as well as these lame singing hacks.
I spent last night spliting my time watching the Leafs beat Ottawa and checking out ticket prices for a game in Detroit, If all works out I'm hoping to score tickets for a playoff game, I figure I can turn it in to a family trip, let the wife and the kids go shopping since she loves shopping in the Detroit area and I know of some great eateries I want to try while I'm there. Really if you are wanting to go see a NHL game I urge you to try Buffalo or Detroit before Toronto, you're pocketbook will thank you.

Thoughts

2008-01-27T20:57:00.000-05:00

Watching the All Star Game tonight bought back memories of just how much down hill it has gone downhill. It just plain sucks, It seems like Gary Bettman is trying his best to ruin it. A live band during the player intro's that was horrible, a boy's chior that sounded like they were all gay to sing the US anthem and some broad I have never heard of to do the Canadian Anthem, And the whole marching band in the second intermission what are they trying to do with that it's not a halftime show. The game was ok, the usual no defence, no hitting, a ton of scoring. I felt bad for the goalies who seemed to get hung out to dry most of the game. It would be nice if someone would at least throw a hit. oh well back to real hockey in a few days.

Thoughts

2008-01-20T21:57:00.000-05:00

That Green Bay-NY Giants game was one heck of a finish, I was hoping Green Bay would pull it out. Oh well looks like the Pats will get a rematch with the Giants, If it's anything like there matchup at the end of the season it will be a heck of a game, GO PATS!!!.
I've figured that next winter I want to get back into coaching hockey It's been 12 years since I've done it and I figure I've learned more about the game watching it since I was last behind a bench, I have alot of knowledge about the game that I'd love to pass on to youngsters, and the message I had coaching ball to the kids seemed to work well and with the right coaches working with you, you can really teach kids the fundamentals of the game, but as every year goes you have to be adaptable to change, I know what worked last year with the ball team and I want to make a few changes on how I handled some game situations, and the one advantage to this years ball team will be Most of last years kids will be back for another year so I know what thier strenghths and weaknesses are and I can work off of that, now getting that plan to work for hockey shouldn't be to hard right?

I guess the old man was right.

2008-01-03T22:16:00.000-05:00

When My Dad still roamed this earth he spent the majority of it driving longhaul, sure he tried to retire but as he always said, It was in his blood. Fast forward to now, I was working as a longhaul driver up until about a year ago when I got a local gig, It was a one year contract with a service and after a year it would be up to the company to hire me on, well with the contract's end coming up and no word on my future my heart is slowly pulling me back on the road. I miss going to differeent places, I was thinking about all the different companies I've drove for over the years and all the places I've gone and how much I enjoyed going to them, Laredo was a place I loved going to and miss. My perfect job would be running coast to coast in Canada or doing Laredo runs. Soon my future pondering will hopefully be done and Yes Dad was right.

Merry Christmas and things that make you go hmmm.

2007-12-24T22:38:00.000-05:00

First off Merry Christmas. I was watching the Santa tracker on norad's website and the thought occured to me with a truckers mind in overtime.....

1. Does Santa have to follow the FAA rules when flying over US Airspace.

2. Does Santa have to set up gifts on a Fast Clearance or Does he have to clear thru ACE when crossing thru the US.

3. Would all the millions of cookies he eats every trip not seriously not qualify for a FAA medical.

4. Are there some families that leave something other than milk to drink, i.e rum and coke.

5. What kind of exemption did he have to apply for to go over his hours for FAA regs.

6. Why is Rudolph the only reindeer that gets carrots, just because he's the only on with a red nose means he's any more important than the rest of them.

I hope you all get what you want this Christmas and get to enjoy the time with Family ( even the ones you hate)

Snow and the road....

2007-12-17T22:28:00.000-05:00

Well I survived yesterday's dumping of snow, I tried shovelling out the driveway but after 2 hours and only accomplishing a quarter of the driveway I called the nieghbour who was nice enough to help out and plow out the rest of it for me. Thanks Don!
As I figured, It took a little bit of extra time to get out of the yard this morning getting the snow of the truck and then navagating thru a half plowed yard to get hooked to my trailer, luckily didn't get stuck and wasn't overly shocked that during my travels at the amount of cars in the ditch some people just never get the message. Maybe the tow bill and the hike in your insurance rates will clue you in.

this wacko world of ours.

2007-12-08T16:27:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking alot this week about the nut job in Nebraska that went ape shit in a busy shopping mall earlier this week, It got me thinking, how can the way the new generation is being brought up in this BS politically correct society. I'm only 28 but believe me things were much better when I was going thru the school system than they are now, first off in Ontario I am convinced that they are trying to raise a generation of pussified wussies that can't stick up for themselves with this safe schools program they have had along with the zero tolerance, lets say someone pisses your kid off or perhaps throws a punch your kid is now expected to sit there and take it and not defend himself or he faces expulsion if he does defend himself, now explain to me what the fuck is wrong with that picture, the other thing I got thinking about was when I was in school when we played spots we kept score somebody won and somebody lost and guess what you learned to lose and have good sportsmanship in the process, now they don't keep score and now everyone wins a participation ribbon because god forbid you hurt some kids feelings. This world would be a hell of a lot better if kids were told no instead of yes everytime they ask for something, some kids think they deserve everything because well thier parents say yes to everything and spoil them to no end. Maybe better yet we should give parents a test and license them before they are aloud to have kids. No my kids aren't perfect but they can deal when I tell them NO. I could be wrong but better parenting just might be the answer to this issue but I could be wrong

The three ring circus at MLSE

2007-11-28T21:31:00.000-05:00

Looks like things should get mighty interesting around the Air Canada Centre the next few days as rumors swirl that Leafs GM John Ferguson Jr is about to get canned and while they're at it why don't they tell Richard Peddie to go to. (like they should have done when they canned Pat Quinn). Peddie has proven over the years that he knows shit about hockey. He was with the Raptors when MLSE bought them out, and to make matters worse they intrusted him with running the hockey team. Over the years he has managed to run the hockey minds (Dryden and Quinn) out of town and hired at the time what he said would be a future star GM when he hired JFJ, well in the 4 years since he has been in charge and the Leafs look worse than when he took charge and looking ahead to next year they already have 40 million commited to salary with the cap likely to be set at 50 it's high time to rid them selves of some bad contracts i.e., McCabe, Raycroft and Kubina.

Face it Leaf fans it won't get better till the Teachers pension fund decides to sell the team off to a owner that cares about winning, desperate Leaf fans deserve that much, unfourtunately with the corporate suits buying out the ACC the real fans get shutout and the Owners don't care. Hey Jim Basille do yourself a favour give up on buying the Nashville Predators and offer up your money to MLSE. Leaf Nation will thank you.

Winter and other thoughts.

2007-11-22T12:24:00.000-05:00

I was hoping that it wouldn't come this early but it did. SNOW, not much but enough of it mixed with some freezing rain to cause havoc on the roads. A note to drivers....SLOW DOWN!!!!!. I'd prefer not to have to see your sorry ass in the ditch somewhere because you didn't have the brains to slow down.

Happy Thanksgiving to our nieghbors to the south enjoy your fill of football and turkey, and with the weather the way it is here it's probably just as well I get the day off too.

Off to watch the Packers and Lions

Thank You Vetrans

2007-11-11T11:50:00.000-05:00

If you see a vetran today do a simple thing and say thanks, with out thier sacrifices we would not enjoy the freedoms that we have today.

Welcome back Byrd, not so much for Borowski

2007-11-10T15:56:00.000-05:00

Well it looks like another year of nailbiting ninth innnings for Indians fans as they picked up Borowski's option to return as closer. Just once I'd love to see the Indians get a fireballer closer that has a nice ERA instead of Borowski's 5 plus ERA, oh well at least he's only back for 08. As for the better news for Tribe fans Paul Byrd is coming back for 08, with 15 win in 07 he'll be a lock to be at least the 4rth starter.
Congrats to Grady Sizemore for winning his first of many gold gloves. Next week we get to find out who wins the MVP, rookie and Cy young winners.

I have now seen it all!!!

2007-11-04T14:11:00.000-05:00

As I was reading the sports on cleveland.com i noticed a story about how you can now have a urn decked outwith your favorite baseball team on it and likewise with a casket, it's absoulutely brilliant!, I know when I go someday I want to be buried in a casket with the Indians logo on it. Cudos to whoever thought up the idea!

AROD, and my year end Baseball awards

2007-10-29T21:58:00.000-04:00

Well I see ARod got his first ever hit in a World Series last night, by upstaging the clincher of the World Series by announcing that he would opt out of the last three years of his deal with the Yankees. I hope when ARod does make it back to the playoffs he chokes miserably like he has every other year. If I was running a team I know what free agent third baseman I would be going after and it's not ARod, It would be Mike Lowell the MVP of the series....(Please Mark Shapiro bring him to Cleveland!). And heck while were on the subjectof MVP I would have given it to Pedroia or Ellersby. The Red Sox have a very bright future.

Well now that the season is over:( it's time for my year end awards.

Playoff MVP- Dustin Pedroia- from game 5 of the ALCS on he was the spark the Red Sox needed, between him and Youkolis they were constanltly getting on base for Ortiz and Manny.

Pitcher of the Playoffs- Josh Beckett- 4-0 in the post season with a 1.20 ERA, he is the one pitcher that I would want to pitch for me in a big game.

Regular Season MVP American League- Sorry ARod but my pick goes to Maglio Ordoniez of the Tigers who was really the only productive bat in the lineup in the second half after Shefield went down.
National League- Matt Holliday of the Rockies hit 340 with 36 HR and 137 RBI, and singlehandedley helped carry the Rockies into the playoffs.

Cy Young AL- CC Sabathia, had a career year in leading the Indians back to the playoffs for the first time since 01. He went 19-7 with a 3.21 ERA and threw 241 innings and came up big all year for the Indians.

NL- Jake Peavy, the only pitcher in the NL with a ERA under 3. He also had a career high in wins (19) and innings pitched (223.1)

AL Rookie of the Year- Astrubal Cabrera, call me a homer but when the only other option is DiceK or Alex Gordon, I can't pick either one of them, when Cabrera was inserted into the everyday lineup in August the Indians went on a run, he gave them a huge spark offensively abd defensively and was one of the reasons the Indians won the AL Central.

NL Rookie of the Year- Troy Tulowitzki, the Rockies rookie short stop only made 11 errors all year, and on his defence alone should win the ROTY, his offensive numbers weren't to shabby either .291 with 24 HR and 99 RBI.

Thoughts.....

2007-10-27T17:48:00.000-04:00

Playing in a Slopitch tournament this weekend....the best thing about it is getting to play. I started out in May playing coed and really didn't care for it, quit the team in June, and played a couple tournaments, before working out with the fastball team in my village ( Mount Elgin Mets). And played in a year end tourney in September, well I got the itch this week to play ball, well I ended up finding a slopitch team that needed guys to play so i get at least one last weekend of playing ball. I enjoy fastball over slopitch because it's alot bigger challenge, but I use playing slopitch to have fun and use it as practise. the first game today proved to me why ball is one of the few sports that anything can happen the team we played led pretty much the whole game , we were able to tie it in the bottom of the seventh, and traded runs back and forth untill the temth inning when we finally put them away. The up's and down's and total momentum shifts is why Ball is my favorite sport to play.

Ah So Close- Thanks for the ride!

2007-10-22T19:45:00.000-04:00

1 win, thats all that was needed for the Cleveland Indians, It was all for naught. Yes it was dissapointing, but in the scheme of things a learning experience. In all reality they were lucky it went 7 games, Carmona looked awful in his 2 starts, Sabathia looked awful in game 1 and got outpitched by Josh Beckett in game 5. It also didn't help that Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner couldn't produce when it counted. Huge props to Jake Westbrook for gutting out 6 innings last night, and should have come back out for the seventh the way he had found the grove the last 2 innings, he kept the Indians in the game and gave them a chance. It should have been tied going to the bottom of the seventh when Third base coach Joel Skinner held up Kenny Lofton on Franklin Guettierez single down the left field line, It felt like a let down at the time, but the final blow came on Dustin Pedroia's 2 run shot in the bottom of the seventh off of Rafy Betancourt who picked a fine time to blow up.

Thanks for a great year and a great run, I know I didn't even expect they would win the division in April. They played hard all year and in the end collapsed in the bright lights of October, hopefully next year will be different.

GO TRIBE!!

The Tribe, Manny and Dion

2007-10-17T21:54:00.001-04:00

Huge props to the Indians offence last night putting up a 7 spot in the 5th, on thier way to a 7-3 win. Paul Byrd was brilliant, along with Jensen Lewis and Raffy Bentancourt. Hopefully C.C Sabathia can have his best outing of the year tommorow night as the Indians look to finish off the Red Sox and advance to the World Series for the first time since 1997.

Manny Ramirez, I can only hope that when the Indians face you next season Carmona or C.C buzz a 95 mph fastball up around your chin for your little show boat act last night. You're home run didn't mean shit. Or was that Manny being Manny.

Cudos to Liberal leader Stephan Dion for deciding that now is not a good time to force a election, hopefully you're advisors told you that your party would get wiped off the map in a election, not that it would be a bad thing.

2 wins away!!!!!!!!

2007-10-15T23:28:00.000-04:00

who would have thought that the best pitching performance in the ALCS for the Indians would come from someone not named Sabathia or Carmona. Jake Westbrook pitched brilliantly tonight pitching 6.2 innings and only allowing 2 runs, the defence came up big for the Indians tonight with 3 double plays and even weasling thier way out of a bases loaded nobody out situation in the second.
Huge props to Kenny Lofton who started the ball rolling with a 2 run homer in the second, he looks like he's in his twenties, not forty. And how bout Joe Borowski working a 1-2-3 ninth, keep that up and us Indians fans won't have to worry about close games.
The Indians send Paul Byrd to the mound to face the knuckle baller Tim Wakefield as the Tribe look to go up 3-1.

GO TRIBE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Atta Boy Trot

2007-10-14T02:15:00.000-04:00

Funny how a guy can go from being a goat most of the year to the hero in one swing, With the Tribe and Red Sox tied at 6 in the top of the 11th and Grady Sizemore at second and Astrubal Cabrera at first Trot Nixon had easily his biggest hit as a Indian, hitting a Javier Lopez pitch into center to score Sizemore from second. The Tribe would go on to score 7 runs in the inning capped off by a Franklin Guietierez 3 run homer over the monster in left. With the series now tied I like the Indians chances with the next 3 games at home, and hopefully Sabathia can return to Cy Young form for game 5.

The College Football season just keeps getting more interesting by the week, who would have thought that the top 2 teams would get knocked off this week. If this trend keeps up the folks that decide who gets to play in the national championship game would be better off at drawing names from a hat. It's been that kind of year in college football.

Baseball playoffs and other thoughts

2007-10-13T00:22:00.000-04:00

Well that sucked, I never thought that the Red Sox would light up Indians starter C.C Sabathia like they did tonight, the only good thing about it is it was only one game and the Indians do have Fausto Carmona going Saturday night in Fenway. As for Sabathia he has now given up 11 runs in 9.2 innings in the playoffs, not what you would expect from a Cy Young contender, at least his next start will be in Jacobs field for game 5.

I'm watching the NLCS and the thought occured to me, could TBS not have found better announcers than Chip Carey, Bob Brenly, Tony Gwynn and Craig Sager. As for Sager one has to wonder who the hell picks out his suits that he wears, they are freaking hideous. Give me the Fox broadcast team doing the ALCS over these guys any day of the week.

Conflict of Interest??- Election night I went to Ernie Hardeman's (PC- Oxford) victory party, slowly one by one all his competitors come in to congratulate him, the last one to come in was Family Coalition Party candidate Leonard Vanderhoven wearing a poll official badge on his shirt, which begs the question how can a candidate that is running beable to also work at the polling station on election day, there is just something that seems a little off about that. Or maybe it's just me.

Ontario- Post Election and other musings

2007-10-11T19:35:00.000-04:00

Well another 4 years of Dalton McGuinty, it really could have been different had John Tory run even a good campaign, Tory screwed the pooch with the funding of religious schools idea in the PC platform, he should have just left it alone and focused on giving more funding for school's, Tory's idea of funding religious schools put him on the defensive from the start of the campaign and in reality stopped him from bringing up the real issues like health care and education. John Tory made his bed and now will have to face the facts that his days as leader of the Ontario Conservatives are over, I'm hopefull that the party will elect a leader that will take the party in a new direction (more towards the Mike Harris days).

As for Dalton's promises, he came out today in announcing a new stat holiday in February, I personally don't like the idea of another holiday in the winter. It should only be a matter of time before he comes out with the speed limiter legislation on trucks, in reality they really should limit all vehicles to 110 kmh, I can only hope that common sense prevails on this issue, but I somehow doubt it.

My last election night thought, thank god the people of Ontario had enough sense to reject the MMP proposal, If your party can't win a riding why the hell should they get a seat in the first place.

The Baseball playoffs resume tonight with the LCS in the National League, I likie the Rockies in this series, I love thier offensive lineup and thier never quit attitude, I'm picking the Rockies to win in 6 games.....In the American League I like the Indians who have 2 stud pitchers in thier rotation, thier lineup is equal to Boston the only edge I would give Boston is thier Closer Jonathan Papelbon who doesn't scare the hell out of me like Joe Borowski does, having said that the Indians should win in 7.