On Jan. 20, the U13 Cheryl Smith RE/MAX team played Huntsville North Country on home ice.

The Storm had a very strong first period, scoring five goals. Connor Isles scored the opening goal, assisted by Bently Bull. Nash Wilson followed with an unassisted goal. Oakley Craftchick then assisted a goal by Bull. Kelson Bagshaw added to the board, assisted again by Bull and Hunter Hamilton finished the period with a goal, assisted by Mackay Windover.

The second period started strong again for the Storm with Bull opening the scoring, assisted by Craftchick, followed shortly after by an unassisted goal by Bagshaw. Wilson added two more, with assists by Moss Davis and Bagshaw.

Huntsville never gave up and scored two quick ones on Carter Shaw. The Storm’s Travis Greer and Windover ended the second with two more goals.

The Storm again dominated the third period, scoring five more goals with contributions from Wilson, Windover, Bagshaw and Hamilton.

The final score was 16-2 for the hometown Storm.

The Haliburton County Huskies got back on track with a come-from-behind 4-2 road win over rival Cobourg Cougars Jan. 22 as the Ontario Junior Hockey League regular season enters the final stretch.

The hometown club is sitting comfortably in a playoff spot in the league’s East Conference with just 13 games to play, boasting 51 points and a 24-16-0-3 record.

Monday’s tilt in Cobourg was a big one, with the Huskies having the chance to leapfrog the Cougars in the standings.

It was a notorious slow start for the blue and white, who were pinned into their own zone for long stretches as Cobourg controlled the game. Trevor Hoskin gave the home side a deserved lead at 12:46 of the opening frame, scoring his 29th goal of the season on the powerplay, assisted by Kaiden Harmon and Andy Reist.

The Huskies were outshot 13-7 in the first period.

Head coach Ryan Ramsay got into his team during the break, and they were better for it to start the second. Centreman Charlie Fink potted his 12th of the season at 3:48, scoring on a five-on-three powerplay opportunity after Chris Brydges and Hoskin were both caught for high sticking within 15 seconds of one another around the two-minute mark.

The visitors grew in confidence, taking control of the game. They couldn’t find a way past the impressive Ryan Piros in the home goal, who made 15 saves in the middle frame. Michael De Sousa landed a sucker punch for Cobourg at 18:06, assisted by Hoskin and Jack Lowry.

The third period was one-way traffic as the Huskies took over. Lucas Stevenson tied the game 48 seconds in, assisted by Matt Milic. Ian Phillips got the go-ahead goal at 11:35, assisted by Stevenson, and Ty Petrou added a late empty netter at 19:17 to send the visitors home with two points.

A meager showing on home ice Jan. 20 resulted in the Huskies dropping a 4-1 decision to the West Conference’s Burlington Cougars.

The Huskies were flat for much of the opening period – outshot by the visitors 12-6. They went in behind at the break after Cougars captain, Jacob Bramwell, lit the lamp at 11:47, assisted by Justin Legault and Tommy Karmiris.

Owen Davies doubled Burlington’s lead 21 seconds into the second, beating Huskies netminder Brett Fullerton with a speculative shot from the boards, assisted by Eric Bertelsen and Alexander Stephen.

Lucas Digiantommaso made it a three-goal game at 2:16, taking full advantage after Fink broke his stick attempting to clear the puck – assisted by Mitchell Brooks and Gabe Runco.

Stevenson gave the home crowd something to cheer about at 14:50, scoring during fouron-four action. He had his captain to thank – Saini was relentless as he carried the puck along the boards on a breakaway before sending a pass to Stevenson, who made no mistake with the finish.

The Huskies created a few openings late in the period, but Phillips was caught trying to make a play on the blueline, sending the Cougars on a two-man breakaway, which Brooks dispatched at 19:05, assisted by Legault and Nikola Murgic.

The home side dominated the final frame, firing 16 shots to Burlington’s six, but couldn’t find a way past Kyle Metson, who finished the game with 32 saves.

Trenton 6-2 Huskies

The Huskies went face-to-face with the league-leading Trenton Golden Hawks Jan. 19, getting blown out in a 6-2 loss.

Blueliner Milic gave the Huskies a deserved lead 8:53 into the first, assisted by Noah Lodoen and Adam Smeeton. The visitors outshot their heavily favoured hosts 14-12 in the opening frame.

The Golden Hawks came to life in the second, firing four goals without reply.

Lucas Marshall gave the Huskies hope in the third, scoring his sixth goal of the season on the man advantage at 2:37, but that was as good as it got for the blue and white.

A busy period for the Huskies sees the team host the St. Michael’s Buzzers at S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena Jan. 27 (4 p.m. puck drop), before a road game against the Wellington Dukes Jan. 28. They’ll end the month on the road in Georgetown Jan. 31.

The Milwaukee Admirals – the Nashville Predators’ AHL team – announced Jan. 17 they’d signed Haliburton’s Cody Hodgson to a professional try-out contract.

Hodgson is returning to the ice for the first time since the 2015-16 season, when he split time between the Admirals and Predators. Following that season, he retired after being diagnosed with malignant hyperthermia.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported during a Leafs telecast Jan. 13 that Hodgson, 33, was eyeing a comeback, since he had been given a clean bill of health and was back skating multiple times a week.

“He understands he’s not starting in the NHL, he knows nothing is guaranteed, but he’d like to resume his career and he’s looking for an opportunity,” Friedman said.

Hodgson has declined comment for now.

A first round pick of the Vancouver Canucks in 2010, Hodgson played in six NHL seasons, scoring 64 goals and adding 78 assists for 142 points in 324 contests between the Canucks, Buffalo Sabres, and the Predators.

Hodgson also earned a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2009 running of the World Junior Hockey Championship, scoring an incredible five goals and 16 points in just six games.

Haliburton’s Owen Nicholls will test himself against some of the best up-and-coming curling talent in Canada next month when he takes to the ice for the U18 national curling championships.

Taking place in Ottawa Feb. 5 to 10, the competition will feature 21 of the nation’s top performing teams – with representatives from all provinces and territories, apart from Nunavut.

It will be a second successive appearance at the competition for Nicholls. Last year, he was a member of the Ontario champion, Team Stratton, while this year he will fly the flag as skip on Team Nicholls.

“At the end of last season, Team Stratton all went our separate ways. I started a U20 team with a former teammate, but I knew in the back of my mind I still had another year of U18 eligibility,” Nicholls said.

Having relocated to Ottawa in the fall, Nicholls said he didn’t know many locals from the Rideau Curling Club, where he is now a member, interested in competing. He had almost given up hope of putting a team together when he remembered a young curler, Kole O’Connor, who had reached out to him last year asking how to break into the competitive circuit.

“Turns out he had another year of eligibility, so he became my lead. We connected mid-November and the qualifiers for provincials was in early December. So, it was a week of scrambling trying to find players,” Nicholls said.

They recruited the team’s third, Drew Zettler, after Nicholls connected with a friend from Nova Scotia he met at last year’s tournament who knew someone looking for a team in Ontario, while their second, Tye McCutcheon, is friends with O’Connor.

The team was able to practice together once before going 3-0 at the provincial qualifier in Ottawa Dec. 1 to 3. That qualified them for the Ontario championships, which were also in Ottawa Jan. 10 to 14.

Team Nicholls went 5-2 in round robin play and beat Team MacDougall 6-4 in the semi-finals. They lost the final 6-3 to Team MacTavish from Waterloo, though claimed silver, and a spot at nationals, by again defeating Team MacDougall in the ‘B Final’, this time 10-5.

“It’s a huge accomplishment, especially given our team’s circumstances and how late we came together. It’s really special for me, because I’m skipping the team this time,” Nicholls said. “Getting back to nationals again so soon is amazing. It’s very special for me to get back. If we put a few games together, we all make some shots, I think we have a decent chance of at least making the playoffs.”

Haliburton County mountain bike racer Nick Emsley had a big 2023 – winning the Canadian Rockies 24 Hour race and starting his own business; Fix it Nick.

Emsley finished second in the 2022 version of the gruelling Alberta race, saying “it was a close race, a tough one.”

So, he was determined to return this past summer to the world-renowned Canmore Nordic Centre.

“The race was exceptionally good… truthfully, I couldn’t have asked for a much better race,” he said of the win.

He was naturally pleased as, “with 24-hour races, you never really know. You can go in as prepared as you want but you never know. I mean it’s 24 hours. How do you prepare?”

For example, he said riders can train for six to eight hour stretches but never actually train for 24 hours straight.

“So, it’s hard to prepare yourself for that 24-hour period, but overall, physically, mentally, you’re all ready to go,” Emsley said.

In the 24-hour solo open men under 40 category, the local completed 21 laps in 23:14:14.2, beating out Magnus Stenlund, who did 20 laps.

“He was a great competitor, we were really neck and neck,” Emsley said of Stenlund. “He kept me really going and we were playing a little cat and mouse for awhile there. But I took the lead in the start and kept a consistent pace at the front. And he kept trying to catch me. Couldn’t have asked for a better 24-hour race. Everything worked out great. My mental picture, physical picture, everything was good.”

He said it is challenging trying to get nutrients right in a 24-hour race. He estimates he burns 700 calories an hour in the first eight hours of an endurance race. Then, muscles deteriorate, requiring less. Near hour 20, he might be burning 500 an hour. But he did burn about 15,000 in 24 hours, “which is a lot.”

He said while riding, he tries to consume about half of what he burns. The challenge is riders cannot take on a lot of solid foods as it takes energy to digest. So, there are a lot of smoothies and “foods that won’t make you sick. Which is hard,” Emsley said.

And while riding, there were only three spots he could actually eat food. “You have to consume around 400-500 calories in three bites. It’s hard to get the right foods. It’s a big challenge but this year everything worked out well.”

It was Emsley’s fourth 24-hour race win in his career.

After that, he did an eight-hour at Harwood Ski and Bike near Orillia. But as it was just a month after the 24 Hour, and he said his deep tissue muscle was not healed from Alberta, he finished fourth.

As for this year, Emsley said he had already registered for the Canadian Rockies 24. It’s July 27-28. He is undecided about Albion Hills since it is only a month prior to the Alberta race. He is planning some eight-hour events.

Fix it Nick

As a person who “likes to do his own thing,” with a “design fabrication mind” and being into construction and maintenance, Emsley started Fix it Nick in April 2023.

“I know there’s a little lacking in the handyman industry right now. All of the contractors, or most of them, have been doing bigger work.”

He said in his first year, he was not expecting anything big but knew it would be hard. “In the spring, I hit my max of 87 hours a week,” he said, which was why he did not train and race as much last year.

It went from not expecting much to a lot of phone calls, Emsley said. It expanded faster than he thought it would. He said he’s tripled what he originally envisaged in one year. “I’m expanding even more this year. So, it’s really good.”

At just 24 years of age, Emsley still wants to race and said he can do so once his business is firmly established.

“It’s been something I’ve been doing for 13 years, having put all of this effort in.”

The Highland Storm U13 Rep team have returned victorious from the Jan. 21 International Silver Stick Championships in Forest, Ontario.

Team manager Cynthia Hutchinson said the team went 4-0 in the preliminary round against four other regional champions, from Columbus, Ohio, Dresden, West Niagara and Frontenac.

In the finals, the Storm were up against the scrappy Ice Dogs from Arran-Elderslie.

Hutchinson said the Storm made use of their speed and passing to create space and generate goals from Travis Rowe (2), Chase Kerr and Henry Neilson to secure a 4-0 win behind the shutout goaltending of Blake Hutchinson.

Strong defensive support from Levi Rowe, Hudson Meyer and Tyler Hughes kept Frontenac at bay. At the same time, forwards Lyla Degeer, Cruize Neave, Hawksley Dobbins, Linus Gervais, Jaxon Hurd, and Brycen Harrison were all over the ice with incredible forechecking and back-checking, generating chances. Marshall Heasman was again at the ready if needed in goal as the Storm brought home the title, Hutchinson said.

For head coach Scott Neilson, this finishes what he started last year after a narrow loss in the semi-finals. Supported by assistant coaches James Reilly, Shawn Walker, trainer Marcus Rowe, and team manager, Hutchinson, the U13 team was well prepared, organized and motivated.

“For the kids, the banners hanging in Minden and Haliburton will represent memories that will last a lifetime,” Hutchinson said.