Cornwall_2013_05_01

NEWS

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Colts celebrate CCHL championship

CRIME SCENE

Teens nabbed for B&E’s Two Cornwall teens are facing charges after they were caught on surveillance video breaking into a Montreal Road store around 4 a.m. April 22. The two 18-year-olds removed some property after breaking the store window and then fled the scene. The two were identified with aid of the stores surveillance video system and lo- cated a short time later. One 18-year-old is charged with break and enter and two counts of breach of a probation order. The other 18-year-old was charged with break and enter and breach of a probation order. They were both held in custody until court later that day. Their names were not released as per provision under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Police officer assaulted Kristopher Johnsen, 31, of Cornwall, faces charges after he was accused of at- tempting to assault a city police officer while intoxicated on April 20. It is alleged that on April 20 , he refused to provide his name to members of the Cornwall Community Police Service. Upon his arrest, he resisted and attempt- ed to assault a police officer. He was charged with assaulting a peace officer and resisting arrest. He was re- leased to appear in court on June 4. At school with speed A 16-year-old Cornwall girl faces a drug charge after she was found in posses- sion of speed, an amphetamine, by staff at her school on April 2. She was arrested on April 20 and charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking. She was released to an adult to appear in court on May 16. Her name was not re- leased as per provision under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Cashier threatened A St. Andrews West man has been charged after a 23-year-old cashier at a Vincent Massey Drive store was threat- ened with a plastic pipe on April 23. Robert Menard, 58, was arrested the same day. He is charged with assault with a weapon and released to appear in court on May 21. Push came to shove An 18-year-old Cornwall teen faces charges after she was accused of push- ing her 22-year-old boyfriend down the stairs on April 18. The girl had also pushed the boyfriend once before the fateful push that sent him tumbling down the stairs, according to Cornwall police. The boyfriend did not require medical treatment. The girl was charged with two counts of domestic assault and released to appear in court on May 21.

GREG KIELEC greg.kielec@eap.on.ca

The Cornwall Colts scored their last big home victory of the season Sunday, but it wasn’t on the ice. Instead, members of the Tier 1 Junior A hockey team scored points with adoring fans signing autographs and posing for photos with a piece of hardware that has eluded them for 12 years – the Bogart Cup. The shimmering trophy was fittingly car- ried into the lower salons of the Cornwall Civic Complex, to rousing applause from fans, by Colts captain and overtime hero Stephen Johnson, who scored the goal which won the Colts the CCHL champion- ship last Wednesday over the Nepeap Raid- ers. It was the league’s top scorer, Michael Pontarelli, who spotted Johnson pinching in from the blue line late in the first over- time period last Wednesday after grabbing the puck sent behind Nepean’s net by Colts forward Pietro Antonelli. “I saw Johnson out of the corner of my eye. He had snuck in and he was by himself in the slot,” said Pontarelli, taking a break from the mob of fans seeking autographs and pictures. “So I just threw it out front to him and he’s not going to miss from there. He’s too good of a goal scorer to miss those.” “I guess I had a good angle. I was still be- hind the net and I saw the puck just trickle past the line and I don’t remember anything from there.” Johnson recalled his initial feeling when he saw the puck trickle past Nepean goal- tender Matt Zawadzki for the monumental victory. “I couldn’t believe it. We finally won it. It’s been 12 years long now,” he said in an inter- view with The Journal just outside the cel- ebrations about 50 metres away from their home rink. The Game 6 victory over Nepean earned the Colts a ticket to the Fred Page Cup in Truro, N.S., to compete for the Eastern Canada championship which begins this (Wednesday) afternoon and wraps up on the weekend. Victory in Truro would send the Colts fur- ther east to compete for the Royal Bank Cup in the Canadian Tier 1 Junior A champion- ship in Summerside, P.E.I. which runs from May 11-19. It was poetic justice for the Colts, who were eliminated by the Raiders in last year’s final, despite trailing the Colts three games to two in the best of seven series. “I definite- ly will never forget it.” Colts’ goaltender Jordan Piccolino, who stole key games for the Colts throughout the playoffs, said all he could think of dur- ing overtime was that he did not want to return to Cornwall for Game 7. Piccolino, who saw a ton of rubber

Photo - Greg Kielec

Cornwall Colts sniper Michael Pontarelli, far right, smiles as he stands next to the Bogart Cup along with fellow team mates as head coach and team owner Ian Ma- cInnis delivers accolades to individual members during a victory celebration Sunday afternoon at the Cornwall Civic Complex. The team won the cup by eliminating the Nepean Raiders in six games in the CCHL final seriesWednesday.

through much of the playoffs, said his fa- vourite series was against the semi-final against the Carleton Place Canadians. In the series against the Canadians, Piccolino faced 286 shots over seven games and 126 shots and 81 in two must-wins in games 6 and 7 to clinch the series. “I like the action. I don’t like standing there and watching the other goalie out play me.” One person who was

trade deadline which saw Antonelli and An- thony Sanniti added to the team. “God I made some good deals this year,” he proclaimed in half jest to the laughter of players and fans. He also singled out scorer Mitch Zion’s de- cision to leave college hockey in the United States to help the Colts out in their stretch run which saw them finish just shy of sec- ond place overall. “It’s so coura-

certain about Colts’ chances of bringing the Bogart Cup back to Cornwall again was city councillor Syd Gar- diner, a regular specta- tor at the team’s home games throughout the season. “Yes I did,” he said, when asked if he thought the team would win it all. “I have them taking it (the final) in five, but six

“So I just threw it out front to him and he’s not going to miss fromthere. He’s toogood of a goal scorer to miss those. I guess I had a good angle. I was still behind the net and I saw the puck just trickle past the line and I don’t remember anything from there.”

geous and unbe- lievable and Mitch I’m so happy you came to hang out with us. Thank you very much,” MacIn- nis said. As for what made the team the most successful Colts ensemble in more than a decade, Ma- cInnis singled out three qualities the

(games) will do,” he said, beaming a smile. He thinks one of the keys to the Colts’ late season success is a mantra often heard recited on CBC’s Coach’s Corner by former Boston Bruins’ coach Don Cherry: “Let the goalie see the puck.” He said when the Colts began opening up the shooting lanes in their defensive zone to allow Piccolino to see point shots that is when they began to turn their game around. “The defence in our zone did their job so Piccolino could see the puck.” Ian MacInnis, the teams’ owner and head coach, pointed to deals before the league’s

team embodied this season. “It was compete, energy and will. And that’s how you become champions,”he said. “And boys, congratulations. We’ve got some work to do and we’re going to do it. That’s all there is to it.” Mayor Bob Kilger, a former National Hock- ey League referee who coached the Major Junior A Cornwall Royals to a Memorial Cup in 1981, congratulated the team on its ac- complishment and also offered some words of wisdom to take with them to Nova Scotia. “Just be true to yourself individually and as a team and do what got you here.”

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