It was a tough start for two northwestern Ontario high school teams at the all-Ontario curling championships being played at the Port Arthur Curling Club in Thunder Bay.
Hammarskjold Vikings girls team built a 4-1 lead against Marymount Academy from Sudbury, but gave up 3 in the 5th end, 2 in the 6th and 2 in the 7th to fall 8-4 in their opener.
Fort Frances Muskies girls team also lost their opening game, giving up 5 straight points in a 7-2 defeat at the hands of Frontenac Secondary School from Kingston.
Hammarskjold’s girls next play Thursday morning against York Mills.
Fort Frances faces Oshawa’s RS McLaughlin CVI in that morning draw as well.
Meanwhile, the Vikings’ boys team is currently on the ice against Maxwell Heights from Oshawa.
Kenora’s St. Thomas Aquinas Saints boys team is opening the championships with a game this evening against St. Patrick’s High School from Sarnia.
Thunder Bay’s St. Patrick’s High School and its boys team play Iroquois Falls Secondary School in the evening draw.
The Fort Frances Muskies boys hockey team is now in a must-win situation at the all-Ontario AA high school hockey championship in Belleville.
The Muskies lost 3-0 in their afternoon game to the Sydenham Golden Eagles, leaving them in a tie for second place in their pool with the Korah Kolts of Sault Ste. Marie has a win and a loss.
The Muskies beat the Kolts 3-2 on Tuesday morning.
A win over E.S.C. L’Essor Aigles on Wednesday would give the Muskies a berth in the playoff round.
That game scheduled for 9 a.m. Central time.
In their game against Sydenham, the game remained scoreless until late in the second period when a point shot slipped past netminder Keaton Cooper.
The Golden Eagles added to their lead with a goal early in the third and another with just over a minute remaining.
A pair of goals from Troy Veldhuisen helped the Fort Frances Muskies boys hockey team to a 3-2 win over the Korah Kolts from Sault Ste. Marie in their opening game at the all-Ontario AA High School Hockey Championship in Belleville.
The Muskies opened the scoring early in the first on the power-play with Veldhuisen finding the back of the Kolt’s net with Gavin Hill picking up an assist on the play.
The Kolts tied the game with 4:30 left in the opening period, but Aiden Loerzel put the Muskies back in front with an unassisted marker 28 seconds later.
The teams played a scoreless second period before Veldhuisen scored his second of the game early in the third to give the Muskies a 2-goal lead.
Tarran Enge earned an assist on the goal.
The Kolts battled back with a goal with just under 4 minutes remaining, then pulled their netminder in the final minutes, but could not come up with the equalizer.
The Muskies are back on the ice at 2 p.m. Central to take on the Syndenham Golden Eagles, who defeated the E. S. C. L’Essor Aigles 8-1 in their opening game on Tuesday.
That’s the goal of the Fort Frances Lakers, who earned the regular season championship and a bye directly to the Bill Salonen Cup semifinals.
“We’ve had breaks throughout the season and every time we’ve came back, we’ve had energy and ready to play,” said Lakers Captain Pierce Gouin. “This break is no different and I know we will be ready to go for our first games.”
The Lakers had a run of three consecutive seasons where they not only clinched the top spot after the regular season but were also able to win the Bill Salonen Cup (2013-2016). Since the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Lakers have failed to get out of the Quarterfinals.
“We have a great group of guys this year that are driven to win,” Gouin added. “Obviously there’s been ups and downs throughout the year, but we’ve always been able to bounce back and stay on the right track.”
“I believe we are ready to just play hockey and win and that’s the only thing that’s on our minds.”
The Lakers will match up against the lowest remaining seed following the first round, which is scheduled to begin this weekend.
Gouin was asked how his group will prepare for an unknown opponent in the semifinals.
“Watch video, practice hard, and just have fun. There’s not going to be any change in what we do to prepare. We just have to play our game,” Gouin answered.
Gouin is one of six players that will graduate after the season:
Gearing up for playoff hockey should be easy for those Lakers who haven’t played in the post-season before.
“We will prepare just as we always do,” Gouin repeated. “There’s not going to be any change in what we do to prepare. We just have to play our game.”
There are two games on the schedule Friday as the North Stars host the Lumberjacks while the Fighting Walleye play host to the Bombers.
The Ice Dogs and Miners will kick off their best of seven series in Dryden on Sunday.
The Bill Salonen Cup champion will represent the SIJHL at the Centennial Cup in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. Here’s what the round robin schedule looks like for that event:
Friday May 8th vs. Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) champions Saturday May 9th vs. Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) champions Monday May 11th vs. Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) champions Tuesday May 12th vs. Summerside Western Capitals (HOSTS)
Six Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL) teams kick off their quest for the 2026 Bill Salonen Cup this weekend.
The Fort Frances Lakers clinched the regular season crown and a bye directly to the semi-finals.
Here is a preview of the quarterfinal matchups:
DRYDEN GM ICE DOGS vs. RED LAKE MINERS
The Ice Dogs are searching for a return trip back to the Bill Salonen Cup Final after losing in six games to the Fighting Walleye in 2025.
“Everyone in the room wants to get back to the league final,” states Ice Dogs Captain Elias Eisenbarth. “Regardless of whether guys were here last year or not, there is a feeling of responsibility that we all owe it to the organization to get back and change the result.”
The franchise has won four Bill Salonen Cup Championships, capturing their last one in 2018.
The Miners finished with five wins in the regular season and were winless in eight head-to-head games with the Ice Dogs this season.
“We are a younger team with only two graduating players,” notes Miners Captain Elliot Kuprash. “The sense of drive and competitiveness from them is definitely pouring into the whole group to try and make the season go as long as possible.”
Both Captains know that getting to the semifinals won’t be easy.
““Dryden will be a tough team to compete against,” Kuprash added. “They had the top three point leaders in the regular season. We will have to respect them and do our best to limit their options throughout the series, by playing our game.”
“[Playing the Miners] will be a good test for our team,” notes Eisenbarth. We know that they’re going to be physical and try to capitalize on our mistakes. We have to come into every game focused and ready to go from the drop of the puck if we want to have success in this series.”
The Miners won the Bill Salonen Cup in 2022.
These franchises have met twice in the post-season in recent memory. The Miners have won both previous meetings (2022 semi-final, 2024 quarterfinal).
THUNDER BAY NORTH STARS vs. IRONWOOD LUMBERJACKS
The North Stars reeled off six consecutive victories to wrap up the regular season and are looking at having a long playoff run.
“From the 17-year-olds to the 20-year-olds, we all want to play meaningful hockey for as long as we can,” said North Stars Captain Easton Glousher. “Going through the grind of playoff hockey together builds a bond that lasts long after the season ends. It’s the kind of experience that brings a team closer than anything else.”
The North Stars franchise has won six championships with their last one coming in 2019.
Even though they collected seven wins against the Lumberjacks this season, Glousher stresses that they are a skilled team with strong goaltending.
“They have a good power play, work hard, and compete for the full sixty minutes,” Glousher noted. “There’s never a game where they’re just going to give up—they play until the very end every single night. If we want to win, we need to make sure we’re matching their work ethic and executing our game the right way.”
The North Stars have quarterfinal wins against the Lumberjacks in 2022 and 2024.
The Lumberjacks franchise last made it out of the first round in 2023.
KAM RIVER FIGHTING WALLEYE vs. SIOUX LOOKOUT BOMBERS
The Fighting Walleye are looking to become the first back-to-back league winners since the Dryden GM Ice Dogs in 2017/2018.
They dropped to fourth place after back-to-back regulation losses to the North Stars to conclude the regular season.
Despite the setbacks, Captain Max Wright feels the games were a good taste of what to expect in the post-season.
“I think we just need to have that mental fortitude to come out with the results that we need. This was a good test for us going into the playoffs,” Wright said after their 2-1 loss on March 13th.
The Fighting Walleye outscored the Bombers 23-17 and won six games during the regular season series.
The Bombers won their last two games of the regular season and have victories in six of ten entering the Bill Salonen Cup Playoffs.
“We were in a lot of games during the season,” said Captain Kaden Veller. “Yes, we didn’t have as many wins as we would’ve liked, but we have a lot of confidence in ourselves after having a lot of one goal games with the top teams in the league. I don’t think not having home ice will affect us.”
The Fighting Walleye have made the finals in four consecutive years, winning it all in 2023 and 2025.
“The Bombers are a hardworking team,” Wright added. “They don’t give up. They’re physical, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. I’m confident in the group of men we have in that room that we can go to the distance.”
The Bombers won the Bill Salonen Cup in 2024, which was their second year as a franchise.
“Kam River is definitely more of a skilled team. I think if we play are structured and physical game, I’m confident that we will be able to shut them down,” Veller stated.
These franchises went toe to toe in the 2024 league championship with the Bombers sweeping the Fighting Walleye in four games.
The lowest remaining seed following the quarterfinals will play the Lakers in the semifinals.
QUARTERFINAL SCHEDULE
Friday March 20th
Lumberjacks @ North Stars Bombers @ Fighting Walleye
Saturday March 21st
Lumberjacks @ North Stars Bombers @ Fighting Walleye
The Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay is set to host six days of elite curling competition in December.
16 men’s and 16 women’s teams from around the world will gather in northwestern Ontario for the Grand Slam of Curling (GSOC) Open. Thunder Bay last hosted in 2018 at the Tournament Centre.
“For us at the Grand Slam of Curling, returning to Thunder Bay was an easy decision. This is a community that truly understands and embraces elite sporting events,” said Nic Sulsky, CEO of The Curling Group. “The knowledge, the energy, and the appreciation for high-performance curling in this community make Thunder Bay a special stop for our athletes.”
The GSOC Open is the fourth stop on a five-event Canadian tour. It is scheduled for December 1-6, 2026. Curlers will arrive from the GSOC National in Sydney, Nova Scotia and depart to the GSOC Players’ Cup in Kingston, Ontario for the final event. More details regarding participating teams and full event schedules will be announced in the coming months.
“Sport tourism is a major economic and social contributor to Thunder Bay, and attracting more events to the city, particularly in the winter months, aligns with the new CEDC Strategic plan to grow Thunder Bay into a true year-round visitor destination,” said Paul Pepe, Thunder Bay’s Manager of Tourism. “The Grand Slam of Curling brings athletes from around to Thunder Bay and has a significant media element, generating global awareness of our community to other sport and leisure enthusiasts.”
Early-bird full-event and weekend passes for the GSOC Open are on sale today at purchase.thunderbay.ca.
It has been a decade since the Fort Frances Lakers last finished first in the standings in the Superior International Junior Hockey League.
That drought ended last week when they clinched the 2025-26 regular season title with a pair of wins over Ironwood.
Local hockey fans cheered the town’s first hockey championship nearly 100 years ago.
It happened in March 1927, when the Fort Frances Maple Leafs swept the Eveleth Miners in three straight games to win the inaugural Arrowhead Amateur Hockey League crown.
The six-team league came together in the fall of 1926 with the Virginia Hawks, Hibbing Falcons, Duluth West Ends and International Falls Insulites joining the Leafs and Miners.
Before then, Fort Frances hockey teams played mostly exhibition contests.
The first league in the Rainy River District was established in 1905, with teams from Emo, Rainy River and Fort Frances playing a six-game schedule in January and February.
The league received little local press coverage, though it was reported that Emo won the championship.
The genesis for the Arrowhead league goes back to the winter of 1925, while Fort Frances, then classified as an intermediate team, was playing exhibition games in Minnesota.
The team was suspended by the Thunder Bay Amateur Hockey Association in December for travelling to Minnesota, violating an edict issued by Canadian Amateur Hockey that forbade Canadian amateur clubs from playing in the U.S.
The Central Amateur Hockey League formed that season, with teams from Duluth, Winnipeg, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Eveleth-Hibbing and Sault Ste. Marie.
Upon completion of the season, team officials opted to transition into a professional league, satisfying the interests of the Minneapolis and St. Paul clubs.
Eveleth and Hibbing considered staying but decided the cost would be too great.
This led to the discussions of a new amateur league, with interest coming from Duluth, Marquette, Michigan; Virginia, Superior, Hibbing and Eveleth.
Fort Frances and International Falls also sent delegates to a meeting in Hibbing in November to discuss its structure, rules and schedule.
Harry Marr, assistant treasurer of the Fort Frances Hockey Club and town clerk, was selected vice-president, while O.E. Olson would represent the International Falls on the board of directors.
Each club was required to remit a membership fee, though the amount of money was not disclosed.
A balanced 20-game schedule was drawn up, with each team playing 10 home games.
International Falls did not have its own arena and was forced to play its home games out of the Fort Frances Curling Club, which also doubled as the home rink for the Maple Leafs, a name selected by the Fort Frances club’s board of directors.
The clubs agreed to play according to rules established by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and issue fines of $100 for failing to play a scheduled game.
A provision was included that if International Falls was unsuccessful in establishing a team before the start of the season, a second team sponsored by the Fort Frances Hockey Association would be permitted but play as International Falls.
The Insulites were able to assemble a team, securing several Canadians, but found themselves shorthanded for a few games early in the season, prompting some Maple Leafs to suit up.
Fort Frances was led by Horton Scott in net, Jimmy Angus and Art Torseth on defence, and Bert Gillon, Maurice Godin and Warren Menthe up front.
The Leafs opened their season in Eveleth on December 10, 1926, dropping a 2-0 game to the Miners.
They found their footing three days later, defeating Duluth 3-1, and proceeded to win 12 of their next 13 games to keep pace with the Miners for first place overall.
Fort Frances ended its schedule with a 10-0 pasting of Virginia to finish with a record of 16 wins and 4 losses, six points back of Eveleth, which lost just once, a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Leafs.
This set up a best-of-five final series for the championship that opened in Fort Frances on March 8, 1927.
The Leafs controlled much of the play in the first 20 minutes, firing 18 shots at the Miners’ Pat Bryne, but failed to sneak a puck past the Ottawa-born netminder.
The Miners scored twice in the opening period and held the 2-goal margin until the third, when the Leafs scored goals three minutes apart to tie the game.
Both teams had equal chances to pull ahead, but neither found the back of the net, forcing overtime.
Just minutes into the extra frame, Jim Kelly fired a hard drive that whizzed past Bryne, sending the hometown fans happy.
Game 2 was played the next night at the Fort Frances Rink, where the Miners carried a 4-1 lead early in the third period.
A goal by Buck Hanson narrowed the Miners’ lead and gave the Leafs momentum.
Godin scored a pair of unassisted markers midway through the period to even the score before Kelly and Ross Creasy scored in succession to give the home team a 6-4 victory and a 2-game series lead.
The series resumed in Eveleth on March 11th, with more than 300 Fort Frances fans catching a train for the game at the Eveleth Hippodrome.
Eveleth News article of final game in 1927 Arrowhead Amateur Hockey league, Eveleth News, March 17, 1927
The Miners outplayed their visitors from the drop of the puck, but no results showed from their effort.
Eveleth had three goals nullified by referee Billie Hill, who once played hockey in the Minnesota city.
The Leafs broke the scoreless game in the second period.
While a scramble for the puck ensued in Eveleth’s end, Angus skated around the net, picked up the loose disk with his hand and threw it into a clear spot where Godin snapped it past a startled Bryne.
The Miners’ argued, but Hill claimed he did not see the illegal manoeuvre and allowed the goal to stand.
Shortly after the play, Hill left the game and was replaced by another official from Virginia.
It would be the game’s only goal. Fort Frances held off a determined Eveleth squad for the rest of the game to capture the championship.
The team was recognized at an event at the town hall auditorium at the end of March.
Each player received a sweater coat adorned with their monogram and other gifts.
Team secretary, H.A. Tibbetts, recited a poem that recognized each player’s achievements.
As quoted by the Fort Frances Times, April 7, 1927;
Jimmy Angus;
Our team has a captain named “Jim,” who supplies it nerve, pep and vim; When we’re down on our luck, and he gets the old puck; For a goal we can count upon him.
Horton Scott;
Horton Scott picks ’em off with his chin, his eyebrows, an elbow or chin; In spite of their boasts, when Scott twists the posts; Their chances of scoring are thin.
Tommy Mathieu;
To’ Mathieu, they all look the same, no matter their “rep” or their fame; Big or small, short or tall, when they hit this stone wall; They retire for the rest of the game.
Art Torseth;
Now Torchy is there with the stuff, and it don’t pay to start something rough; He can block, he can check, and rush, too, by heck; And they find when they bump him, he’s tough.
Maurice Godin;
A speedy red demon is Morris, who sent Eveleth home sick and sorry; For his work with his stick was so clever and slick; That he covered Fort Frances with glory.
Bert Gillon;
There’s not much the matter with Bert, down the wing he proceeds with a spurt; When they try to check Gillon, they think he’s a villain; And frequently someone gets hurt.
Ross ‘Bo’ Creasy
They may think our centre is slow, but that’s only because they don’t know; For a lightning streak greasy, no faster than Creasy; And a black eye don’t bother our ‘Bo.’
Buck Hanson;
We were licked – down and out – out of luck, but that didn’t bother our Buck; For, not once, but twice, he sailed down the ice; And in Eveleth’s net placed the puck.
Warren Menthe;
Then Menthe came on with a shout, and the foemen were soon put to rout; For when Menthe got thru the whole Eveleth crew; They wound themselves all “Warren” out.
Jim Kelly
There’s also a wee fellow called Jim, in stature, there’s not much of him; But when playing the game, Kelly was there just the same; He made Eveleth’s chances look dim.
