Matthew Bertolin of the Thunder Bay North Stars scored twice and added an assist to lead Team Red to a convincing 7-2 victory over Team White. His brother Lucas chipped in with a goal and an assist for Team Red.
Brodie Wood from Sioux Lookout, Elias Eisenbarth from the Dryden GM Ice Dogs, Chance Loke from the North Stars, and Payton Hu from the Ice Dogs chipped in with singles.
Carter Poddubny and Kaden Goodwin from the Kam River Fighting Walleye potted for Team White.
Friday night during the skills competition the overall faster skater was Brodie Wood of the Sioux Lookout Bombers with a lap time of 13.53 seconds. Fort Frances Lakers forward Tie Schumacher won the shooting accuracy event. Jack Carruthers of the Ironwood Lumberjacks recorded the hardest shot at 76 mph.
SIJHL regular season action resumes Tuesday night when the Bombers travel to Thunder Bay to take on the North Stars. The same two teams will clash on Wednesday night.
Ontario’s three curling organizations are proposing to become one.
Curling Ontario, the Northern Ontario Curling Association (NOCA) and the Ontario Curling Council (OCC) would become Curling Ontario.
Laura Forget, Executive Director of the Northern Ontario Curling Association, says the goal is to improve on the administration side of the sport and strengthen support to local clubs.
“By coming together, the three organizations will be reducing duplication behind the scenes and be able to put more energy and resources into supporting clubs and curlers, especially in smaller and northern communities,” says Forget.
“It’s really about what we’d be able to offer behind the scenes. So more professional support, shared resources, stronger governance, improved programming, youth development, and higher quality service is what we’re really looking to offer our clubs.”
The three organizations are currently operating with minimal staff.
Forget is the only paid person with NOCA.
She says no one will lose their job, and the combined staff of the new body will still be smaller than similar organizations in other provinces.
“This would allow us to use people more efficiently, reduce the duplication and redirect that increased capacity back to the clubs,” says Forget.
Northern Ontario has long had separate representation in national competitions despite not being a province.
Trevor Bonot in action at the 2022 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship. (Photo, Curling Canada/Melanie Johnson)
Men’s teams were first permitted to represent the region at the Brier in 1927.
Women’s teams from Northern Ontario did not earn a direct berth to the Tournament of Hearts until 2015.
Forget says that will not be taken away by the planned merger.
“We will continue to have our own team and representation at all national championships,” says Forget.
“Team Northern Ontario and the Moose are not going anywhere. That’s been made very clear in the proposal, and we have that in writing from Curling Canada.”
“We’ve got quite the brand. I’m sure if anyone has watched any of the national championships on TV, the moose call is very prominent, and it’s not going anywhere.”
NOCA and Curling Ontario are holding special town hall meetings to discuss the proposal and gather input from their member clubs.
Both will hold special meetings on March 8th for their club delegates to vote on the proposal.
The Ontario Curling Council’s by-laws do not require its members to approve the merger, but plans for a special meeting to approve the revision of its by-laws.
The plan has the support of Curling Canada, the national body.
“We know that with limited resources in the sport system, change is coming, including integration and alignment at many levels,” states Nolan Thiessen, Chief Executive Officer of Curling Canada, in a release.
“This discussion is exactly that type of forward thinking and proactive response. The talk of this merger shows that the Northern Ontario Curling Association, Curling Ontario and the Ontario Curling Council are prioritizing long-term vision, adaptability, and sustainable growth to provide better service to curlers and the sport of curling in Ontario.”
The next class of inductees to the Greater Saint John Sports Hall of Fame is out there.
Now it’s up to someone to nominate each one.
The Hall is accepting nominations for the upcoming induction cycle until April 24.
The Hall has celebrated exceptional local athletes, coaches, officials, teams and builders whose accomplishments have helped shape the region’s proud sporting history.
Nominations can be made in the following categories:
Athletes
Teams
Officials
Builders, including coaches, administrators and other leaders involved in the development of an athlete, team or sport
Located in TD Station, the Hall showcases decades of achievement across a wide range of sports and is a lasting tribute to the athletic legacy of greater Saint John.
Eligibility and assessment guidelines, as well as nomination forms, can be found here.
The Dryden GM Ice Dogs and Fort Frances Lakers continue to hold spots in the weekly top 20 rankings by the Canadian Junior Hockey League.
The SIJHL-leading Ice Dogs have moved up a spot from last week to rank number 13.
Dryden swept a home-and-home series with Red Lake on the weekend to extend its winning streak to five games.
The Lakers, who are three points back of the Ice Dogs, hold steady in the rankings at number 17.
Fort Frances extended its winning streak to four games with a pair of victories on home ice over the Kam River Fighting Walleye.
The Rockland Nationals of the Central Canada Hockey League continue to maintain their hold on the number one spot.
The Niverville Nighthawks of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League continue to sit at No. 2 in the listings, which are compiled by an independent scouting service. The following are the current CJHL Top 20 rankings as of January 26th:
Melissa Adams, from Fredericton, returns to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts this year but this time as coach for Team New Brunswick.
Skip Mélodie Forsythe, third Rebecca Watson, second Carly Smith, and lead Jenna Campbell won the Women’s Provincial title without a coach, defeating Team Kelly to represent New Brunswick in Mississauga.
“Every little girl’s dream is to go to the Scotties, and collectively that was our big goal of the season. We knew that if we played well, we would have a chance,” said Forsythe.
After the victory, the group asked Adams to be their coach. Watson, Smith, and Campbell are clubmates with the veteran curler, which made the choice simple.
“As curlers growing up, watching Melissa was like, ‘we want to be like her!’ She was the inspiration, her going to represent New Brunswick. We watched her on TV so many times and then we started playing against her,” the skip said.
Adams’ prior coaching experience comes from her time as mission staff at the Canada Games and as a team leader in volleyball for Jeux de L’Acadie.
“I was actually playing this year, but I showed interest in coaching. It is always something I have been interested in,” said Adams, who has made 6 appearances at the Scotties, the latest just last year.
Adams’ highest placement as a player in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts was just shy of playoffs. Her goal as coach is to get them there.
Although the group has grown up watching some of the teams they will be playing against, nothing has changed about their mindset.
“We are super solid in our routines and our systems that we have for pre-games, so we will be bringing the same plan that we had for provincials,” said Campbell.
“These girls, they are young, but they have a lot of gathered experience. It is about getting in that zone,” added Coach Adams.
The four have experience playing together prior to the Women’s Provincial title. Watson and Campbell have played together for 15 years and currently play for the Women’s University of New Brunswick Curling team alongside Smith. Watson and Forsythe have also played together for 5 years.
“It’s really great to play with my best friends,” said Watson.
Although the team is used to bi-annual trips to Alberta to use curling facilities available through the NextGen program, Smith said herself and the team are taking the unique experience in. The team went to a Maple Leafs game the night they landed in Toronto.
The 2026 Scotties Tournament of Hearts will take place Jan. 23 – Feb. 1 at Mississauga’s Paramount Fine Foods Centre.
The first game for the New Brunswick rink is against Team Peterson from Manitoba Sunday at 10a.m. Atlantic.
All seven teams within the Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL) will be represented for the All-Star Weekend in Dryden.
40 players were selected by both Head Coaches (Larry Wintoneak of the Kam River Fighting Walleye and Jake Gushue of the Dryden GM Ice Dogs) with each bench boss featuring a heavy presence of the players that they get to guide during the season.
In all seven players were selected from both the Sioux Lookout Bombers and Fort Frances Lakers. The Dryden GM Ice Dogs, Thunder Bay North Stars and Kam River Fighting Walleye each had six players picked. Finally, the Red Lake Miners and Ironwood Lumberjacks will take part in what the league is referring to as a two-day celebration of junior hockey excellence.
The festivities begin on Friday, February 6th with the Skills Competition and 3-on-3 Showcase. The All-Star Game will happen on Saturday February 7th.
TEAM WHITE
Head Coach Larry Wintoneak (Fighting Walleye)
Goalies (2)
Sam Keene (Fighting Walleye) Brady Cates (Lakers)
Defenceman (6)
Edwin Liang (Fighting Walleye) Caleb Labelle (Fighting Walleye) Michael Casey (Bombers) Olan Norton (Bombers) Carter Anton (North Stars) Zack Green (Lakers)
Forwards (12)
Carter Poddubny (Fighting Walleye) Kaden Goodwin (Fighting Walleye) Evan Lachimea (Fighting Walleye) Evan Simeoni (North Stars) Easton Glousher (North Stars) Daniel Tokariwski (Lakers) Pierce Gouin (Lakers) Tie Schumacher (Lakers) Timothy Hanulik (Lumberjacks) Will Porter (Lumberjacks) Reid White (Miners) Hayden Seib (Miners)
TEAM RED
Head Coach Jake Gushue (Ice Dogs)
Goalies (2)
Matthew Ofukany (Bombers) Mavric Welk (Ice Dogs)
Defencemen (6)
Kaden Veller (Bombers) Chance Loke (North Stars) Jake Scott (Lumberjacks) Judd Pesch (Lakers) Carter Welke (Ice Dogs) Nicholas McCallen (Ice Dogs)
Forwards (12)
Payton Hu (Ice Dogs) Elias Eisenbarth (Ice Dogs) Adrian Mendoza (Ice Dogs) Lucas Bertolin (North Stars) Mathew Bertolin (North Stars) Nickolas Fagnilli (Lakers) Jacob Boekelder (Miners) Elliot Kuprash (Miners) Jack Carruthers (Lumberjacks) Owen Cotter (Bombers) Brodie Wood (Bombers) Ty Love (Bombers)
