Selling off Ontario's schools to the highest bidder?

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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

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.

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

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.....

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

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

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!!!

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!!!

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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 VICTORS!. 2008-2009 NIAGARA WEST CHAMPS NORWICH MERCHANTS

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.....

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.