NEW JUNIOR HOCKEY TEAM COMING TO HAWKESBURY S P O R T S ANTOINE MESSIER antoine.messier@eap.on.ca
The Knights will be recruiting players both locally and internationally but Anderson said his goal is to ensure players from the region get a chance to develop at a high level. The new team will offer players four prac- tices per week, and a 44-game season from September to March. Playoffs will be played within the division, and the winner will move on to the USPHL national championship. The USPHL welcomed its first Canadian team in the 2023-2024 season with the addition of the College Universel Gatineau team. The new division will begin play in the 2024-2025 season, with five teams already announced. Along with the Knights, four more teams will be joining Gatineau in the USPHL Canada division, the Somang Laurentides Lanaudiere (SLL) Hockey, Kingston Wran- glers, Montreal BlackVees and College Universel Sherbrooke. More teams are expected to be announced later in the year as negotiations are ongoing with other junior hockey associations throughout Canada. The USPHL Premier is the third tier of American junior hockey. In 2023-2024, it had 61 teams in the league from Maine to Miami, and Seattle to San Diego. The USPHL is not affiliated with Hockey Canada.
The United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) announced the crea- tion of a new junior hockey team based in Hawkesbury as part of the league’s expansion into Canada along with the creation of a division based in Ontario and Quebec. The Hawkesbury Knights will be under the ownership of Shawn Anderson, alongside the Le Sommet Faucons prep team. This will allow more upwards mobility for the players already in the organization, with the goal of training young players to reach higher levels like the NCAA, Junior A or Junior Major, according to Anderson. “We’re trying to create sporting opportu- nities for our kids,” he said. “We’ve already helped a lot of players move up to Junior A.” Anderson said he launched the new program because he believed the area is missing development opportunities for young hockey players, filling the gap between Les Faucons prep team and Junior A. He explai- ned the level of hockey will be slightly under what the Hawkesbury Hawks and the CCHL have to offer, giving players who don’t make the Junior A team the opportunity to join a serious organization to develop their skills.
Shawn Anderson, propriétaire de l’équipe Le Faucons de l’ESP Le Sommet, amène une nouvelle équipe de hockey à Hawkesbury, les Knights de Hawkesbury, qui évolueront dans la USPHL dès cette année. (Antoine Messier, EAP)
COUGARS TAKE THE LEAD
ANTOINE MESSIER antoine.messier@eap.on.ca Les Cougars de Vankleek Hill ont gagné 6-0 et 3-1 contre les Aigles de Saint-Isidore pour prendre les devants dans la série. (Photo d’archives) The Cougars travelled to St-Isidore on Sunday Night, looking to build on the victory the night before. Jérémy Marcotte scored the first goal for the Cougars in the first period, followed by Connor Stewart in the second. Olivier Chagnon gave St-Isidore a fighting chance with a goal in the early third period, but Jérémy Marcotte intervened with his second goal of the game with eight minutes left to play in the game. The game finished 3-1.
STEVE HARTLEY NOMMÉ À LA BARRE DES HUSKIES DE ROUYN-NORANDA ANTOINE MESSIER antoine.messier@eap.on.ca
The Vankleek Hill Cougars took a two- game lead in the first round of playoffs against the St-Isidore Eagles with two back-to-back victories to make the series 3-1. The Cougars were looking for a strong start on Saturday night, February 17, in Vankleek Hill after a lukewarm start to the series last week, tying the Eagles 1-1. But on Saturday night, they didn’t give the Eagles a chance, scoring six goals and not conceding one. Both Joshua Desjardins and Andy Lightle-Blais scored two goals. The other goals were scored by Zachary Bigras and Garrett Cunning.
l’Acadie-Bathurst dans son tout premier match à la tête de l’équipe. Le fils du célèbre entraîneur profession- nel Robert Hartley, de l’aréna éponyme, a été entraineur-adjoint des Mooseheads de Halifax entre 2011 et 2014, avant de rejoindre les Voltigeurs de Drummondville en tant qu’entraineur adjoint entre 2016 et 2018. Il est ensuite devenu entraineur chef à Drummondville pendant quatre saisons, de 2018 à 2022.
Steve Hartley a été nommé entraineur- chef des Huskies de Rouyn-Noranda dans la LHJMQ. Les Huskies ont annoncé l’arrivée du Franco-Ontarien, originaire de Hawkesbury, à la barre de l’équipe le 7 février, après avoir relevé Martin Dagenais de ses fonctions. Hartley a mené l’équipe à une victoire écrasante de 11-0 contre les Titans de
The fifth game of the series will be played at the Vankleek Hill arena on Saturday February 24 at 7:30. If the Cougars win, it will be the final game of the series. Otherwise, they will have to travel to St-Isidore arena on February 25 to face the Eagles again.
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