Gold for local skier, silver for men’s 65+ hockey team at Ontario 55+ Winter Games

Main photo: The Huntsville men’s 65+ hockey team won silver at the 2019 Ontario 55+ Winter Games (back from left) Bart Fahlcren, Mike Berry, Dave Gordon, Barry Gonneau (Gonzo), John Winters, Peter Fetterley, Jim St. Onge; (front from left) Jim Watson, Rob Madeley, Adrian Musters, Tom Clark, and Rob Saunders (supplied)

The Ontario 55+ Winter Games are held biannually to encourage healthy, active aging. The athletes who participated in the 2019 Games, hosted by Huntsville from March 5-7, provided an excellent example for others to follow. And some local athletes came away with medals to show for their effort.

Mary Spring competed in the prediction skiing race at Arrowhead Provincial Park. Racers had to twice—on two different days—predict how long it would take them to ski the 5km route. Their predictions were compared to their actual times and the athlete with the lowest combined differential was crowned the winner.

Spring is familiar with the park—she skis there often—but didn’t know until race day which of the trails would be used for the competition.

She learned on the first race day that it would be Arrowhead Lake Trail. That day was one of the coldest days of the winter with a low of -29ºC, warming to just -21ºC by race time. “There was no question in my mind of which skis I was going to use,” said Spring. “I waxed my skis with a hard wax and it was really fast.”

Her first prediction was a time of 33:33 and her ski time was roughly 31 minutes, for a two-minute difference.

The second race day was another brisk one at -20ºC, so the athletes again anticipated a quick ski on the trail. Spring predicted a faster time for her second ski run at 32:00, with her actual time coming in at around 31:40. With the two time differentials added together, Spring’s was the lowest, earning her first place.

“I think that there was eight seconds difference between the gold and silver medals over the two days,” she notes.

Spring said she appreciated the efforts of all of the organizers and volunteers, including Rob Edmonstone who coordinated the Nordic skiing event and presented the medals to the athletes, and Greystone for sponsoring the Nordic skiers.

“Overall, I think that the Winter Games 55+ team did a superb job of organizing the events. From the word go, I was well informed of my responsibilities, where I was supposed be for my event and when I should be there. The volunteers were fantastic. Everyone pitched in to make this event so much of a success,” said Spring.

Above left: Mary Spring after one of her races at Arrowhead (photo: Louise Wilson). Above right, Mary Spring (back row, centre) on the podium for her gold in prediction skiing (photo: Oliver Wolfe).

For hockey, only one team could represent each of the OSGA (Ontario Senior Games Association) districts. A team from Huntsville represented District 11 (Muskoka and Haliburton) for the men’s 65+ category. Eleven skaters and one goalie were drawn from the players who regularly attend the senior shinny program through the Town of Huntsville.

It was the team captain and organizer of the team, Rob Madeley, who heard about the opportunity to enter the Winter Games approximately six months ago. After making some inquiries, Madeley recruited players and filled out the necessary forms to register. The team was accepted to compete as one of 10 teams in the 65+ group, which was divided into two divisions for round robin play. The top teams from each division competed in the championship game.

The Huntsville team swept their round robin series with wins over Peterborough (6-2), Chatham (3-1), Brockville (2-0) and Cornwall (4-0).

“In the round robin, our team played very well for a group of players who had never played or practiced as a team,” said team member Rob Saunders. “Our goalie, Adrian Musters, was rock solid and both forwards and defense clicked very well. Competition was good, no real chippy incidents on the ice and we had a great attitude through the four games.”

The Huntsville team met Georgetown on the Don Lough ice for the championship game.

“I personally thought that would be an advantage,” said Saunders. But Georgetown is known as an organized and disciplined team that enters tournaments to qualify for the national championships. Huntsville lost the game 5-0 and walked away with a silver medal reflective of their efforts.

“We tried hard in the final but ended up chasing the puck throughout the game as they handled it very well,” said Saunders. “Most of our group entered the Games as a personal challenge and a fun test of our skills. I think it’s safe to say we surprised ourselves going undefeated through the round robin play. Overall the players had the right approach and are all positive ‘nice guys’.”

Among the more than 800 participants competing in 10 different sports were those from OSGA’s District 11, which encompasses Muskoka and Haliburton. They were, by sport:

Alpine Skiing – Barbara Ablett
Duplicate Bridge – Mary Johnson, Ross Fletcher
Hockey – Wayne Combs, Larry Molyneaux, Robert Abbs, Tim Davies, Derrell Stamp, Steve Churko, Peter Sanderlock, Steven Harrison, Don Harrison, Brian Mulholland, Ron Yake, Gary Burtch, Eric Lucas, Jeff Cattell, Ron Strype, Ian Wilson, Raymond Luck, David Waterhouse, Larry Kent, Bob Ashleigh, Larry Everitt, Robert Madeley, Adrian Musters, Bart Fahlgren, Peter Fetterley, David Gordon, Michael Berry, James Watson, Jim St. Onge, Barry Gonneau, Tom Clark, John Winters
Prediction Nordic Skiing – Mary Spring, Lynn Montgomery
Volleyball – Brenda Duncan, Doug Oliver, Dave Lyons, George Hakin, Rick Stronks, Debbie Holtby, Monica Park, Michele Cotterchio

For full results, visit huntsville2019.ca/sports and click on each sport icon near the top of the page.

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