Peterborough team wins mixed triples tourney
The last time John Tavares played in the MSL he was in Peterborough Lakers colours but he’s now on the opposing side in this year’s league final.
Tavares, 47, retired from senior lacrosse after helping the Century 21 Lakers win the 2012 Mann Cup. This year he’s returned as offensive co-ordinator for the Six Nations Chiefs another team he played for in the 1990s.
The Lakers lead the best-of-seven series 3-0 and look to clinch their second straight MSL title, and the right to host the Mann Cup, at 7 p.m. Sunday in Ohsweken.
Tavares said his return to the Memorial Centre didn’t elicit mixed emotions as he’s been on the opposite side with many other teams, but he does have an appreciation now of what it’s like on the Lakers side of the floor.
“The only difference is I know what it’s like to be on the other side. I know how great the organization is. I know the people working behind the scenes. I know they have a massage therapist, a physiotherapist and a lot of people working to
There were mixed emotions for three local rowers competing at the World Under-23 Rowing Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Burleigh Falls’ Trevor Jones and partner Cody Bailey placed fifth in the men’s heavyweight pair final on Friday. They were both attending their first U23 worlds and had been together for only two months.
Trent University’s Alex Watson and his lightweight men’s quad sculls placed fourth on Thursday.
The disappointment came for Omemee’s Graham Peeters who last year won a gold medal with the heavyweight men’s quad sculls. With three returning members this year’s crew finished 10th.
“We thought we had a good leadup to the worlds and we were really disappointed with our results,” Peeters said, in an email. “Once you get a taste of being a world champion it is hard to take anything less then a podium performance.”
Rowing Canada coach Carol Love, who runs the Row to Podium program out of Trent University, said the result was surprising.
“The rest of the world has gotten a lot faster,” Love said, by phone from Rotterdam. “It was an incredibly competitive event this year. They didn’t row up to the speed take care of the guys,” he said.
“My time in Peterborough was several years ago,” he said. “We had some great teams and it was a lot of fun, exciting times and great fans. Now I’m part of the Six Nations’ organization as a coach and that’s where my heart is now. I played many years in Six Nations as well. I’m all business. The team I’m on is the team I’m devoted to.”
Having said that, he added: “I have no regrets and loved my time in Peterborough, but now I’m a Chief.”
Tavares also played for Brampton, Akwesasne, Vancouver and Victoria during his senior days so he’s used to switching allegiances. That’s a contrast to the NLL where he spent his entire career with the Buffalo Bandits. He said it wasn’t always his choice to switch senior teams as he was traded several times.
The Lakers claimed him in the Akwesasne dispersal draft. Growing up in Mississauga there was no local senior team to play for like John Grant Jr. who he said was always drawn back to his hometown. He said he was happy to see Grant honoured by the Lakers with a jersey retirement ceremony this month.
“I enjoyed playing for a lot of different organizations,” he said. “I got to know a lot of different people and be involved in a lot of different communities. They were all different and exciting to be a part of in different ways.”
Tavares is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time. Certainly that argument can be Cody Bailey (blue), of St. Mary's, and Trevor Jones (white), a Burleigh Falls native and Trent University student, train on the Otonabee River at the Peterborough Rowing Club on July 20. The pair placed fifth Friday in the men's heavyweight pair final at the World Under-23 Rowing Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands. they’d shown before they arrived. That’s part of the learning curve of these international starts.”
Jones and Bailey went to worlds more as a development experience than an expectation to win a medal. Love, who was handed the pair as a special project in June, said those expectations changed after strong preliminary races.
“It was really exciting that this really new partnership rowed themselves into a final at the world championships,” Love said. Peterborough Lakers' John Tavares celebrate the Lakers' Mann Cup win over the Langley Thunder on Sept. 15, 2012 at the Memorial Centre. Now retired as a player, Tavares is with the Six Nations Chiefs as offensive co-ordinator in the 2016 Major Series Lacrosse championship series that continues Sunday night in Oshweken. made statistically. He’s the NLL’s all-time scoring leader in regular season and playoffs and the all-time leader in goals, assists and points in Canadian senior lacrosse. Earlier this month the NLL announced he is part of the 2016 NLL Hall of Fame induction class. He retired last year from the NLL and has transitioned into coaching.
“It keeps me involved in the game I love so much,” Tavares said.
“With some of the times we had in the heats we were starting to get excited that, maybe, there was a medal possibility here, but not today. Trevor was disappointed in the outcome. Kind of relieved a little that it was over.
“Both those boys are excited about the future so the disappointment didn’t last long. They realized they came up short but are prepared to train more and train harder and are looking at the next step already. That’s exciting.” “I don’t have to get pushed around or knocked down all the time and go through the physical abuse the lacrosse game endures.
“I also get to enjoy my days more because I don’t have to rest up all the time. My wife appreciates that a lot.
“Yeah, sometimes I kind of wish I was playing but I definitely know I can’t play any longer and don’t have it in me to play anymore.” Jones has been nursing a rotator cuff injury since the spring so that required some attention through training, Love said. Peterborough physiotherapist Kevin Hickey has helped him through it.
“We just have to be careful,” said Love. “He’s been going through a lot of growth and is probably just ending his growth. He has to put on some strength to be able to support the amount of work required to make the next steps. We have to make sure he has the strength and posture to support the loading we’ll be doing the next few years.”
Watson’s crew just missed the podium.
“Alex said they put it all out there and couldn’t have rowed better,” Love said. “There were no regrets on that race.”
Three other rowers with Peterborough connections will row this weekend in the non-Olympic world championships also in Rotterdam. Andrew StewartJones, Bethany’s Jill Moffat and Trent grad Josh King will row in different disciplines. Peeters and Jones will take a train to Poland this weekend to represent Trent at the World University Games next week in a pair. They will have less than a week to prepare after spending the summer training in different boats. Pictured with the trophy at the mixed triples tournament at the Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club are the Peterborough team of Al Handlechner, Mary Minich and Bob Reynolds with tournament sponsor Bill Arthur. A Peterborough team won the 16-team mixed triples tournament sponsored by Louisa and Bill Arthur on Aug. 18 at the Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club. The Peterborough team of Bob Reynolds, Al Handlechner and Mary Minich beat Cobourg's scratch team of Hewitt, Ferguson and Stender by 17-5 in their first game. After their opening win, the Peterborough team faced a much stiffer challenge from the Cobourg team of Roy Thorneycroft, Janet Taylor and Dianne Lauder and an extra end was needed to break a tied game of 11-11. Unfortunately for Thorneycroft's team, they lost the tie breaker but then went on to win their final game and finish in third place. Reynolds' Peterborough team finished with an easy win by 16-4 to give them a total of 44 points and the tournament win. The Peterborough team won the trophy with three wins and 44 points. Second was David Saliba, Rick Matthews and Cara Booth (Pickering) three wins and 42 points; third Roy Thorneycroft, Janet Taylor and Dianne Lauder (Cobourg) two wins and 44 points; fourth – Martin Foxhall, Ben van Steijn and Emmalee Smith two wins and 38 points. The prize for the team with the highest one game win score was Bob Souch, Doreen Souch and Sylvia Poulain (Oshawa) with 34 points. Baseball: 2016 Little League World Series: International Championship: Teams TBA, ABC. 1 p.m. Baseball: MLB: Minnesota Twins at Toronto Blue Jays, NET. 3 p.m. Auto racing: NASCAR: XFINITY Series: Road America 180, FOX. 3:30 p.m. Baseball: 2016 Little League World Series: U.S. Championship: Teams TBA, ABC. 4 p.m. Baseball: MLB: Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, NET. 4:30 p.m. Horse Racing: Travers Stakes and King's Bishop Stakes, NBC. 7 p.m. Baseball: MLB: Kansas City Royals at Boston Red Sox, NET. 7:30 p.m. Soccer: MLS: Montreal Impact at Toronto FC, TSN. 8 p.m. Football: NFL pre-season: Tennessee Titans at Oakland Raiders, CBS. 9 p.m. Auto racing: IndyCar : Firestone 600, NET360. 10:30 p.m. Soccer: MLS: Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Los Angeles Galaxy, TSN. 1 p.m. Baseball: MLB: Minnesota Twins at Toronto Blue Jays, NET. Football: NFL pre-season: San Diego Chargers at Minnesota Vikings, FOX. 2 p.m. Auto racing: NASCAR Racing Sprint Cup Series: Pure Michigan 400, TSN. 3 p.m. Baseball: 2016 Little League World Series: World Series Championship: Teams TBA, ABC. Golf: The Barclays 2016 Golf Tournament: Final Round, Global,