Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Pontiac Lions’ U18A team was one of 16 that played in this year’s Pontiac Provincial Tournament, which took place at the Shawville arena over the past two weekends.
The first weekend of the tournament (Jan. 5-7) featured the U11 and U13 divisions, while the second weekend’s tournament (Jan. 12-14) saw the U15 and U18 divisions take the ice.
Ed Rusenstrom is head coach of the Lions U18A team, and sits on the tournament’s board of directors. He said that this was the first year since before covid-19 that the tournament has been played over two weekends.
“Last weekend was a lot of fun to see the younger age groups back. It’s kind of the grassroots part of hockey where everyone is pretty innocent, just loves the game,” he said.
In last weekend’s tournament, Gaulois St-Lin-Laurentides won the U11 A-division, while the U11 B-division was won by the Lakeshore Jaguars. The Maniwaki Mustangs were champions of the U13 A-division while the U13 B-division was won by the Fort Coulonge Comets.
Ben Richardson won the Jimmy Russell Award for top Pontiac Lion PeeWee (U13) player of the tournament.
“You get into this [second] weekend where there’s a little more to it, kids are older and a little more intense,” Rusenstrom said. “But all in all it’s awful fun to see hockey back, and everywhere busy.”
This past weekend, the U15 A-division was won by Nepean – Dave’s Dusters and the U15 B-division by the Cassleman Vikings. The St-Constant Cougars won the U18 B-division, and U18 A-division was won by the Nepean – Beasts of Barrhaven.
U18 Shawville beats Coulonge
While the Shawville U18 team were not champions of their division, players celebrated a close second.
“I can’t be disappointed in this weekend, we still made it to the finals,” said Lucas Barre, Captain of the U18 Lions A-division team, which lost 2-0 in the final to the Nepean – Beasts of Barrhaven in a game coach Rusenstrom described as “really well-played on both sides.”
“We got to this point, and I’m just happy with that,” echoed fellow player Liam Dowe. “We made it to the finals. We’re the only Shawville team that did, and we beat Coulonge, so that’s a bonus,” he added with a grin.
The win over long-time rivals Fort Coulonge Comets U18 A-team on Saturday was the highlight of the weekend for many of the Lions players.
“We came into the [Coulonge] game underdogs, we went and tried our best, worked as hard as we could and came out on top, so that was very special to me, something I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” said Lions player Brodee Campbell.
“We had that circled on our calendar for a while. We know a lot of the guys on that team, we’re close and it’s been a rivalry forever,” explained Lions player Cade Kuehl. “It [the win] brought us together as a team.”
“It’s the best hockey we’ve played so far this season,” said Rusenstrom. “And there’s nothing better than getting a chance to play in front of your hometown.”
For several U18 Lions players, 2024 will be their final year playing minor hockey and their last experience in the Pontiac Provincials Tournament.
“It was nice to be out here one last time with people I‘ve played with since I was four years old,” Campbell said. “These guys are pretty much family now.”“We’ve played hockey since as long as I can remember and it’s been a great experience,” echoed Colton Mohr. “We’ve had many memories over the years so it’s just getting to play in it [the tournament] one more time.”
An overall success
Nepean – Beasts of Barrhaven head coach John Mason said the tournament had been “a great experience all around.”
“Each game was like a video game, like they [players] were levelling up and able to succeed,” he said.
“Both teams played really well [in the final], it could have gone either way. Fortunately for us we were able to hang on and weather their pressure and come out on top. I’m very proud of them.” Tournament committee member Angie Ireland said that overall, the tournament had gone extremely well.
“There was lots of excitement, we had praise from both local and away teams, and lots of help from dozens and dozens of volunteers,” she said. “We couldn’t do it without them.”
A 50/50 draw and raffle was held upstairs at the arena during the first weekend of the tournament, and the second weekend of the tournament featured a market, with more than 10 local vendors selling their merchandise.
“Getting to talk to some of the kids from our local teams, how they’ve enjoyed the experiences of the last two weekends, they just love playing in their home tournament, and that’s what we love to hear,” said tournament president Jeff Ireland.
“That’s what these tournaments are all about. It’s all about the kids and the community.”