Gold, silver and bronze medals were handed out to several members of the Dryden Dolphins during the annual Northwest Regional Swimming Championships hosted at the Canada Games Complex in Thunder Bay Feb. 26-28.
Sarah Urquhart, 8, placed third in the 50m and 100m butterfly; Alex Urquhart, 11, placed second in the 50m breaststroke; Jacob Anderson, 12, placed third in the 400m and 800m freestyle.
Kira Kuzemchuk, 12, finished second in the 50m freestyle and third in the 400m and 800m freestyle, the 100m and 200m breaststroke and the 400m individual medley.
Patrick Gould, 13, finished first in the 800m freestyle and 100m backstroke and finished third in the 50m freestyle and the 200m backstroke.
Chris Draper, 15, finished second in the 50m freestyle and third in the 200m breaststroke; Garrett Lindquist, 15, finished third in the 400m freestyle.
Three members of the Dryden Dolphins earned qualifying times to compete in the Manitoba Saskatchewan Short Court Provincials March 18-21 at the Pan Am Pool in Winnipeg.

The Ice Dogs are looking to re-gain their playoff lead tonight at home against the Fort William North Stars.

The team is 2-0 in the round robin playoff round and is looking to capitalize in their next two games.

Puck drops at the Dryden Memorial Arena tonight at 7:30 p.m.

There was a quiet crowd at the Dryden Memorial Arena on Sunday, March 7 after the Eagles lost their second straight game to the Fort Frances Muskies for the NorWOSSA gold medal.
The Eagles gave the Muskies a run for their money at home in Fort Frances on Friday, March 5; a game that needed overtime for the Muskies to win the game 5-4.
The Eagles found themselves trailing the Muskies on three separate occassions and managed to come back to tie the game and send it to the extra period.
Ryan Lobreau added two goals while Jared Stratford and Blair Dingwall added a goal apiece for the Eagles.
Coach Jamie Oltsher says the boys kept their “never say die” attitude and an unlucky break in overtime cost them the game.
“We had several golden opportunities late in the third to break the tie but sometimes the puck just doesn’t bounce your way and putting the finish on the game is tough.”
The Muskies managed to score the overtime winner on a partial breakaway to take round one of the series.
“Our message to the boys before OT was to keep up the hard forecheck and to minimize their mistakes. It was unfortunate that Fort Frances captalized on such a small error…but hey, that’s hockey.”
Round two was a different story as the Eagles couldn’t solve the Muskies’ goaltending, failing to score in the 60 minutes.
The Muskies were up 1-0 after the first period and the Eagles just couldn’t capitilize on their chance and eventually lost round two with a 3-0 decision.
The Muskies scored twice on the powerplay and sealed the deal with an empty-netter in the last minute of the game to earn their trip to OFSAA.
Oltsher says the drive from Friday just wasn’t there on Sunday but they didn’t give up.
“Their goalie played well but we didn’t test him often enough. Our forecheck wasn’t as good as it was on Friday and Fort Frances seemed to play a better defensive game this afternoon.
Despite this, our guyes didn’t give up and they left it all on the ice. The coaching staff is very proud of our team and would like to congratulate them on a very successful season despite finishing in second place.

By Sarah Madussi
The Eagles girls’ hockey team has done it again. The team earned their fifth NorWOSSA gold medal in the last six years and is off to the OFSAA Championships in Wingham, ON March 22-25.
The girls needed a third game to beat out the Thomas Aquinas Saints in the semi-final after taking game one at home with a 5-1 decision and losing to th Saints 3-1 on their home ice.
The Eagles managed a 5-2 decision in game three at the Dryden Memorial Arena on March 2 to earn their spot in the NorWOSSA finals.
The girls beat out the Beaver Brae Broncos in two straight games in the best-of-three series, earning a 3-2 win at home on Thursday, March 4 and a 2-1 win in Keewatin on Sunday, March 7.
In round one of the two-game final, Dryden took the Broncos in a thrilling 3-2 victory, which saw all but one goal scored on the powerplay.
Lauren Shoguchi opened the scoring for the Eagles in the first five minutes of the game to take an early lead. The Broncos retaliated, however, with a goal of their own on a 5-on-3 powerplay.
Claire Paquette would regain the Eagles lead with a late powerplay goal, bring the Eagles up 2-1 before the end of the first period.
The Broncos would score once more on the powerplay to tie the game at two before Alex Wesley netted the winning goal for the Eagles, also on a powerplay.
Coach Brad Bartlett says 5-on-5 hockey between these two teams is pretty equal and that both games could have gone either way.
“One goal in the entire series was scored with 5-on-5 so I think that’s a testament to both teams’ ability to play defence for sure and both goaltenders in the series I thought played fantastic, both Bree Brown and Ferguson for Kenora.”
Game two between these two teams saw similar action with all three goals in the game being scored on the powerplay.
Kristen Bartlett tapped in the first powerplay goal eight minutes into the first period and the Eagles carried that lead through to almost the end of the second period when Morgan Church slammed in the one-timer off a pass from Lauren Shoguchi, also on the powerplay.
The Broncos would get on the board two minutes later with a hard one-timer past goaltender Breanna Brown during a Broncos powerplay. The Eagles fended off the Broncos for the rest of the second period.
The third period proved to be a nail-biter as the Eagles and Broncos played end-to-end ice for a solid 20 minutes. Brown made some crucial saves late in the third to keep the girls in the lead after a few scrambles in front of the net had the Dryden crowd holding their breath.
The Eagles managed to hang on to the one-goal lead for the win and the NorWOSSA gold medal. The team’s next step is the all-Ontario championships at the end of the month and they’re looking for more than just round robin action.
“To guarantee us a spot in the championship bracket, we’re probably going to have to come out of the round robin 3-0, which we did last year. The expectation this year is to make it out of the round robin play at least. It’s a long ways to go to play three games and then get shipped back home really quick.”
The team has a couple of weeks to get some practice in before heading down to Wingham, ON for the OFSAA tournament.

The Eagles just couldn’t hold on to their four point lead as General Amherst pushed past to take the gold medal at the OFSAA championships in Perth.

The Eagles earned a silver medal, their highest achievement yet in a three set game, losing 19-25, 19-25, 10-15.

Check out the Dryden Observer next week for full details.

The Eagles are headed into the OFSAA final after beating out Gisele Lalonde in three sets in the OFSAA semifinals, 22-25, 25-23, 15-11.

The girls are going for gold at 6 p.m. against second ranked General Amherst.
Check back for updates.